How Much is Too Much EQ?

[Geddyfleaharris]

As the title says, how much is too much EQ? I have 3 different Tech 21 preamps that find themselves on my board at various times. Always one, sometimes 2. I usually leave my GK Fusion 800's EQ's set pretty flat. I adjust EQ with the T21 pedals.

A fellow bass played friend claims I need to add an EQ pedal to my board. He says that would complete my board and I would thank him later.

Is adding an EQ pedal overkill? Seems like it to me. I have never had that pedal on any of my boards. Maybe I don't know what I am missing.....

 

[sloppy_phil]

Do you feel you are lacking for EQ/tone control? If not, I see no reason to add another pedal to the chain.

I have two EQ sources; one on my board (preamp) and one on the amp itself. The one on the board is responsible for my FOH sound, the one on the amp is for EQ'ing to the specific room and stage. Anything more than that, for me, would be superfluous. But hey, YMMV

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

Hey Sloppy. Your thoughts are the same as mine. Which is why I have never seen the need for an EQ pedal. Thanks.

 

[KidAmnesia]

No such thing as too much eq; you use the tools you need to get the tone you want.

An eq pedal is a nice utility pedal, it can do a lot of things. It can be an always on, a hpf/lpf, a versatile booster, a preset to get a diferent sound for certain songs or sections, a compliment for other pedals...

That being said, if you don't feel you need it, you don't.

 

[ddnidd1]

A parametric EQ would give you control and options not available on the other pedals. And add,as mentioned above, an Hpf and a LPF.

 

[Bassmike62]

In my case, I EQ the amp and keep the EQ settings flat on pedals that have them. I do keep a Boss GEB-7 on the board just in case I need to cut annoying frequencies (like booming freqs) but I rarely use it.

 

[Killing Floor]

If it sounds good and you add something that makes it sound less good you've reached the point at which it is too much.

Otherwise, if it sounds good it is good.

 

[Lo-E]

Are you happy with your tone? If so then you don't need an EQ pedal.

What's good for your friend may or may not be good for you. In your case an EQ pedal sounds like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[JimmyM]

Way too many bass players think you should do whatever they do or you're doing it wrong. We're a damn passive aggressive bunch, you know? Ignore him if your needs are being met already.

 

[Topkat13]

His recommendation plus $4 will, however, get you free cup of Starbucks.

 

[Wasnex]

It's too much when it starts to degrade the sound or it gets too confusing to make efficient adjustments.

 

[SAlcott]

Years ago, I played through the bass rig belonging to the bassist in the second band on a show; MXR 10 band EQ into a 400RB, don't remember the cab. He was adamant that I not change anything on the amp other than master volume, as it had taken "months" to find the perfect EQ settings on amp and pedal. It sounded ok, and I got through the set no problem. I did notice, though, that the EQ on the amp and pedal were set to completely cancel each other out. I decided to wait til I was on my way home to laugh.

 

[Dust2Dust]

it gets too confusing to make efficient adjustments.

Amen!

Knobs on the bass, knobs on the pedals, knobs on the amp . . . It's enough to make me wonder if somebody is just messing with me

ok, being serious now. . I leave my amp flat, the bass knobs dimed, and just used a pedal pre with 3 knobs (bass/mid/treble) to get the tone . . . and sometimes a compressor

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

As the title says, how much is too much EQ? I have 3 different Tech 21 preamps that find themselves on my board at various times. Always one, sometimes 2. I usually leave my GK Fusion 800's EQ's set pretty flat. I adjust EQ with the T21 pedals.

A fellow bass played friend claims I need to add an EQ pedal to my board. He says that would complete my board and I would thank him later.

Is adding an EQ pedal overkill? Seems like it to me. I have never had that pedal on any of my boards. Maybe I don't know what I am missing.....

No

 

[superheavyfunk]

Like sloppy_phil, I too have two EQ sources - one is on my bass since I use an active one, and the other is on my amp. I tune my amp to the room (which honestly, doesn't usually require much tweaking) and I tune the one on my bass to the required tone for any particular song (and again, this is never usually any kind of dramatic and sweeping tonal change).

I think it's important to keep in mind that too many contrasting/conflicting frequency changes can have a negative impact on your overall sound. If you have the resources at hand, play around with several EQ plug-ins in a DAW environment on the same track and listen to what happens when you've got three or four different EQ points overlapping in the same area. You'll probably notice that there is a lot of phasing issues that develop and that the end sound is not very pleasing… This is the same thing that is likely to happen if you stack a bunch of them in your live rig.

If you're happy with your sound, just smile and nod when your friend tells you that you need to shell out for some other piece of kit. I'm willing to bet that 5 years down to the road, they'll have a bunch of pedals and still be struggling while you'll have great tone and are still smiling all the while.

 

[GTx2]

Tell him to buy you that pedal.

 

[Savage_Dreams]

3 bands is too much if you dont know how to use it. no such thing as too much as long as you know how to use it. eq in different places of the signal path can be useful. also not all eqs are set at the same frequency centers.

 

[brianrost]

Anything more than two EQs in the chain is ridiculous. Your amp has one, if you use an outboard preamp, a preamp in your bass or an EQ pedal that's two.

Unless you have golden ears and find the sound lacking in many situations, you don't need anything more...period.

 

[InhumanResource]

As the title says, how much is too much EQ? I have 3 different Tech 21 preamps that find themselves on my board at various times. Always one, sometimes 2. I usually leave my GK Fusion 800's EQ's set pretty flat. I adjust EQ with the T21 pedals.

A fellow bass played friend claims I need to add an EQ pedal to my board. He says that would complete my board and I would thank him later.

Is adding an EQ pedal overkill? Seems like it to me. I have never had that pedal on any of my boards. Maybe I don't know what I am missing.....

Depends on whether your sound is missing something (in a practical sense, not just talking about personal taste). In my experience, multiple layers of EQ/preamps start to sound "weird" pretty quickly and I end up favoring the basics. Do you think you need something else in play?

 

[InhumanResource]

Amen!

Knobs on the bass, knobs on the pedals, knobs on the amp . . . It's enough to make me wonder if somebody is just messing with me

ok, being serious now. . I leave my amp flat, the bass knobs dimed, and just used a pedal pre with 3 knobs (bass/mid/treble) to get the tone . . . and sometimes a compressor

I've left the days of knob fiddling behind me. I used a bass with all kinds of on board eq controls for years but now I go for something simple, leave the controls open and tweak the amp into something I can use all night. I don't want to be thinking about it while playing on stage.