How many bands of EQ do you prefer?

[St. Louis Scot]

My amp has a 3 band, as does my DI/Preamp. I'm pretty happy with that setup. Although in the 90s I played through a 12 band Trace Elliot. Today that just seems like so much work to me.

What about you? What do you use/prefer?

 

[B-string]

4

 

[dincz]

I use a 4 band - low shelving, 2 x parametric mids, high shelving - but I could easily live without the second mid control.

 

[Passinwind]

Which amp and preamp do you have that have a three band PEQ? That's not a very common feature set IME, unless you really mean swept mids and not fully parametric.

In the last couple of years I've settled on something like this format as my favorite:

 

[ZenG]

The more bands there are down at the low end of the spectrum the happier I am.

Lots of bands in the upper spectrum don't seem to make a huge difference.

But the more there are down at the bottom does it for me....

 

[dukeorock]

For upright my Grace Felix pre has low shelving, two fully parametric mids and high shelving. Also has a notch filter and HPF. Works great and on upright I like having a fair amount of eq. On electric a simple 4 band like the one on my MB800 or my Reiner 6SL7 does the trick for me

 

[fretlessguy]

I have a Genz Benz and an old Nemesis with the shelving/parametric sort of thing, but really, an old fashioned three band with knobs does me fine. I understand that better, lol.

 

[Makatak]

At least 4. Low/low mid/hi mid/high. Would have thought this would be an option on the poll aside from " other " ?. For me a three band just isn't enough to eq out different basses or rooms........

 

[Jazz Ad]

On an amp, I prefer 4. Low and treble shelves, low mid, hi mid.
I find a single medium band unpractical, even in semi parametric form.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

4.
Plus the 3 band onboard (for my actives)
oddly my Mesa Subway D800 is set ALMOST flat.... (4 band EQ)

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I'll settle for 3 but I like to have low, high, and two mids. I need simplicity because 30+ sliders does me more harm than good.

 

[Hot Rats]

I prefer 4. Strangely, all my amps have 3. Hmmmm.

 

[wcriley]

4 bands: High and Low shelving + 2 bands of semi-parametric mid.

 

[BogeyBass]

Other...
Tone is in the hands
For most part.

After years of playing just want a sweet 100 watt tube amp with a input jack n volume knob. That's it lol

 

[Munjibunga]

Four.

 

[Vince Klortho]

220, 221, what ever it takes.

 

[Vince Klortho]

The point of my flippant response is I don't care because that is not one of the criteria I use to choose an amp. If I can get a good sound in different playing situations then that's what I like. Those situations would be small room, large room, and outside, as a start. Often the equalization needs to be different for each of those so I prefer an amp that is flexible enough to deal with all of them. I don't say to myself, I need seven bands of EQ, or I need a three-band semi-parametric EQ, or anything like that. If it works well then that's what I'm into.

The reason for this is even with seven or nine bands of EQ, or whatever, you are not guaranteed to get a good sound from an amp. I tried a few very popular amps and could not find a sound I liked from them. I ended up with something else and it works very well for me, to my surprise. Of course, your mileage very likely will vary.

 

[Nev375]

Much depends on the sound of the amp in question.

On a sterile sounding amp finding a good tone can be tricky.
Sometimes more detail and control in the EQ can help find the sweet spot.
Hopefully that sweet spot also matches the mix.
Other times more knobs means more settings that suck.

On a great sounding amp pretty much every setting is a sweet spot.
It's just a matter of fitting in the mix at that point.
In those amps 3 knobs is plenty.

 

[chris_b]

The least I can get away with.

I have a 3 band EQ on my Lakland and the treble and mid controls have never been turned. 1 tone control on my P bass is perfect.

I spend ages finding amps that just work without any fiddling from me. Every amp in the last 20 years has only ever been been set within 1 click of 12 o'clock.

 

[Arjank]

It really depends on the bass that I'm using. With my Ibanez RD500 I don't need much (and flexible) EQ but with my Ibanez SR1200-VNF I would like to have a parametric mid (300hz - 900hz) with variable Q.