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I need info from people using EQ's. Pros, Cons, Beneficial?

descendent22

descendent22

Jul 29, 2015
1,543
924
39
Connecticut
#1
I been putting together a Rack setup. I'm contemplating on getting a Rackmount EQ. I recently messed around with an MXR 10 band eq pedal at GC. Obviously it wasn't my rig but i liked how I was able to dial in my tone and get some boost out of it. With that said i don't care for effect pedals and if I do get an EQ I'd rather it be part of my rack. With that said, I would like more info from anyone who uses an EQ. I would like to know why you use one, the pros and cons etc...
 
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#2
Back 25 years or more, bass cabs were not designed at all. They were rectangles that fit under that manufacturers head. Their frequency response was awful. A lot of people used EQ's to try to flatten spikey cabinets. Likewise, they were popular with hollow body, and upright basses to flatten response. Skip forward- bass cabs are designed by engineers, and lab coat types, and don't really need any extra EQ.
Bottom line- you don't see a lot of the in bassists rigs anymore.
Experiment with one- it may be your sound.
They are usually used to fix deficiancies.
 
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#4
Paulabass said:
Back 25 years or more, bass cabs were not designed at all. They were rectangles that fit under that manufacturers head. Their frequency response was awful. A lot of people used EQ's to try to flatten spikey cabinets. Likewise, they were popular with hollow body, and upright basses to flatten response. Skip forward- bass cabs are designed by engineers, and lab coat types, and don't really need any extra EQ.
Bottom line- you don't see a lot of the in bassists rigs anymore.
Experiment with one- it may be your sound.
They are usually used to fix deficiancies.
Click to expand...
You don't seriously believe that, do you?
 
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#6
I use EQ for 2 things in particular. Firstly I run direct so EQ in my preamp are super important to sculpting my tone as I don't rely on the characteristics of an amp. Secondly I also use an EQ to then adjust my tone for whatever room i'm playing in seperate to my tone shaping EQ.

Also I absolutely prefer parametric EQ's to graphics.
 
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#8
descendent22 said:
I been putting together a Rack setup. I'm contemplating on getting a Rackmount EQ. I recently messed around with an MXR 10 band eq pedal at GC. Obviously it wasn't my rig but i liked how I was able to dial in my tone and get some boost out of it. With that said i don't care for effect pedals and if I do get an EQ I'd rather it be part of my rack. With that said, I would like more info from anyone who uses an EQ. I would like to know why you use one, the pros and cons etc...
Click to expand...

Whether you need an EQ depends a lot on your rig and how much you like to fiddle with the sound. I am pretty picky so I appreciate if an amp has a great EQ that allows me to dial in my sound a bit and compensate for variances in room acoustics. If your amp has a great EQ then you probably don't need anything else. If the EQ in your amp is limited, than an additional EQ can be invaluable. I tend to prefer amps with 4 to 5 bands of EQ.

If I am using outboard gear, I prefer using fully parametric EQ as you can really hone in on a specific frequency band and make precise adjustments. This is because parametric EQ allows you to set the center frequency, bandwidth, and how much cut or boost you apply. Many people find parametric EQ overly complicated and confusing, so they are not for everyone.

There are also semi-parametric EQ. With this type of EQ you can vary the center frequency and how much boost and cut you use, but you don't have a continuously variable bandwidth control. Instead you have either fixed bandwidth or may choose between a few preset bandwidths such as wide or narrow.

If you go with graphic EQ, the center frequencies and bandwidth are fixed. The number of bands determines the width of the filters. In generally, if you are using graphic EQ, the more bands the better. With a 5-band graphic, you may not be able to achieve tonal goals, because frequency centers may be in the wrong place. This is unlikely to be a problem with a 31-band EQ.
YMMV
 
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#9
Rack mount EQs generally have a broad and even spectrum for tuning components of a PA system to work within an acoustic space. While there are some rack EQs that are good for tone shaping instruments generally they are really not the right tools for that job. Generally for instrument tone simpler is better.
Something like a 10 band Eq can sometimes be a good tool but any more bands really starts to be less effective.
If you are lucky there are some half rack units that were very useful from Roland\Boss and a very sweet instrument Eq from Sholtz. Peavey had a bass preamp with useful features and interesting Eq points the ProBass1000.
 
#10
Paulabass said:
I don't know. What are you talking about?
That bassists are, or are not using rack mount graphic eq's?
I haven't seen one in a rack for years.
Click to expand...
No...that bass cabs weren't designed 25 years ago and their frequency response was awful. I don't think that's true at all...look at how many people are still using those cabs that were designed years ago. Those other types of rigs existed back then, too.
 
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#11
JimmyM said:
No...that bass cabs weren't designed 25 years ago and their frequency response was awful. I don't think that's true at all...look at how many people are still using those cabs that were designed years ago. Those other types of rigs existed back then, too.
Click to expand...
It's true that bass cab design has gotten more sophisticated over the years. I think if you go back 50 years, you will find that bass cab design was as much aesthetics as acoustics. But delivery of serious low end from stage began in the '60's (take Ampeg & Acoustic Control as just 2 examples) and never looked back. Bassists today can reliably get whatever they want for sound and EQ devices are as sophisticated as cab design and as complicated as a bassist wishes. But you need to be careful what you wish for ;). It's very easy to kill a front-of-house mix with errant EQ choices from stage.
 
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#12
JimmyM- The first TWO generations of bass cabs were modified guitar cabs with beefier speakers. Early Fender efforts being the most guilty. Sunn, and Ampeg began fiddling with the idea that bass cabinets were a different beast, and made great strides in improving bass tone. Almost all bass combos had sadly difficient cabinets well in to the eighties, as their design was secondary to the dimensions and asthetics of the combo designer.
In the early 80's bass players flocked to Thiele designed (EV tuned TL606) cabinets as the first real foray into HiFi design for bass players. The TL cab was really the first scientifically tuned cabinet for bass guitar frequencies.
Several companies, in an attempt to both add bottom, and increase efficiency, tried folded horns. Accoustic had marketing success. These cabs, by design suffered very badly above about 600HZ. and a lot of amp companies added EQ's to their product to help add any thing usable in the midhighs/highs. Despite dreadful specs,
Accoustic sold quite few of these cabs, and had some heavy hitter users.
My company- Magnum Touring Speaker Enclosures (long defunkt) briefly attempted to build a full range bass reinforcement system using two Klipsch designed compact 15" folded horns, and 2 12" speakers with a phasing plug (borrowed heavily from the Martin Audio Philishave) these were augmented with either piezo tweeters, or JBL bullet radiators. It was a very good, loud system that worked well together, but unfortunately weighed in at 200 lbs. and cost far more than bass players of the day were willing to spend.
There were a few early cab designs that have stood the test of time, some by accident, and some by design. The Ampeg 810, and the Ampeg portaflex 15" (The Ampeg Portaflex 18" suffered many ills, and never really took off) were very good, and are still popular, although a tweeter has been added to the portaflex. The rest have fans, but are a very niche market.
The modern, efficient, pleasingly tuned, linear bass cab really came into it's own around 1995 thanks to good designers like David Eden, and SWR
 
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#13
I use EQ pedals quite simply. I usually use them as effects. What I mean by that is I set them up with extreme sounds so I can have some contrast in my tone for drop out parts or solos. Sometimes I use them to reinforce my clean tone though.
 
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#14
descendent22 said:
I been putting together a Rack setup. I'm contemplating on getting a Rackmount EQ. I recently messed around with an MXR 10 band eq pedal at GC. Obviously it wasn't my rig but i liked how I was able to dial in my tone and get some boost out of it. With that said i don't care for effect pedals and if I do get an EQ I'd rather it be part of my rack. With that said, I would like more info from anyone who uses an EQ. I would like to know why you use one, the pros and cons etc...
Click to expand...

What else is going in the rack set-up? Your choice of pre...maybe power...amp will have some bearing on my response. Why the *meh* for effect pedals?

Riis
 
#15
descendent22 said:
I been putting together a Rack setup. I'm contemplating on getting a Rackmount EQ. I recently messed around with an MXR 10 band eq pedal at GC. Obviously it wasn't my rig but i liked how I was able to dial in my tone and get some boost out of it. With that said i don't care for effect pedals and if I do get an EQ I'd rather it be part of my rack. With that said, I would like more info from anyone who uses an EQ. I would like to know why you use one, the pros and cons etc...
Click to expand...
The only eq I use is on my overdrive pedal. Eq on the basses are always flat, eq on my Avalon u5 is always turned off. Imo the more you eq your sound at your rig the less FOH at a gig or the engineer at the studio has to work with and likely the more processed your sound will end up sounding to everyone else but you
 
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#16
IMO, a separate EQ is overkill. Get a good amp with maybe 4-5 EQ bands, a built-in graphic EQ if you want, and call it a happy day. Save your $ and your back.
 
#18
I have an mxr 10 band eq and I pretty much use it as an hpf. I drop 31hz down all the way, lower 62hz significantly, and then boost or cut other frequencies pretty mildly to my preferences. It's always on, but I also keep my amp's eq mostly flat.
 
#20
Paulabass said:
Back 25 years or more, bass cabs were not designed at all. They were rectangles that fit under that manufacturers head. Their frequency response was awful. A lot of people used EQ's to try to flatten spikey cabinets. Likewise, they were popular with hollow body, and upright basses to flatten response. Skip forward- bass cabs are designed by engineers, and lab coat types, and don't really need any extra EQ.
Bottom line- you don't see a lot of the in bassists rigs anymore.
Experiment with one- it may be your sound.
They are usually used to fix deficiancies.
Click to expand...
Good thing my cab is only 24 years old (it’s not even a joke).
 

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