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Recommend an equalizer

M

Mahumadi

Inactive
Apr 19, 2009
171
1
North Eastern PA
#1
I play in a hard rock band. My board is coming together and I expect it to look like this: Big Muff, Bassballs, Chorus, OD, Pitchblack, and an equalizer. My idea is to run the EQ at the front of the chain, dial in my tone, and leave it there. How practical is this? How do you use your EQ.. is it used in the same fashion im wanting to use one for, or do you use it differently?

What should I look for in an equalizer? Which would you suggest?

Very broad questions, I know, but this pedal beginner needs some advice!! :bassist:
 
#3
Do you live near any music stores? The Boss GEB-7 and other EQ pedals are common at guitar center, samash, etc. I'd recommend you go and try out a pedal to see how the EQ effects your tone and see if this is particularly what you're looking for.

When I would use my GEB-7 I would have run it after my Russian Muff to EQ the fuzz itself.
 
#6
I use a Barber Linden for eq at the very front of my chain. It's a pretty simple 2 band eq, (taken from the original Ampeg B15 amp), but it adds alot of depth to my tone. Not a tweakers dream, by any stretch, but seriously musical, anyway.
 
#8
You haven't specified what sort of amp you will be using, or whether you will be using a DI or a mic for live gigs (or just your amp with no PA support). Those factors make a huge difference in whether you will benefit from an EQ pedal at all, and how you use it.

Also your budget is important. Under $100, your best bets are probably the Boss or MXR, and they are about equal in quality. Over $100, the options open up quite a bit: Carl Martin, Barber, Empress, Fromel, several others. Plus there are some amp-emulating pedals like the Sansamp VT which include EQ.

So give us some more info, and we can give you more solid recommendations. :)
 
#9
bongomania said:
You haven't specified what sort of amp you will be using, or whether you will be using a DI or a mic for live gigs (or just your amp with no PA support). Those factors make a huge difference in whether you will benefit from an EQ pedal at all, and how you use it.

Also your budget is important. Under $100, your best bets are probably the Boss or MXR, and they are about equal in quality. Over $100, the options open up quite a bit: Carl Martin, Barber, Empress, Fromel, several others. Plus there are some amp-emulating pedals like the Sansamp VT which include EQ.

So give us some more info, and we can give you more solid recommendations. :)
Click to expand...

I use a markbass LMii with a SWR 410, Eden designed. As far as I know for gigs ill be mic'ed. Im looking at spending $100.

On a side note, another question for you kind folks. Would it be in any way a bad idea to have 2 eq's in your chain?
 
#10
Every stage you put between the bass and the power amp section has the potential to add noise, distort, or sap away tone. The higher the quality the devices are, the less it's a problem. But even then some people would avoid using two EQ's in series, because they are working against each other, not for each other. There are only two exceptions I can think of:

--If your amp has only primitive high/med/low EQ knobs, and you want more control. In that case, it is best to leave that 3-band EQ flat, so it doesn't interfere much with the EQ pedal you add.
--If you intend to use them only one at a time, e.g. you have one EQ pedal for your slap tone setting and a second one for your reggae tone. Again though, the idea is that you would not be running both "on" at the same time.

In other words, those aren't really exceptions after all. :) You can have as many EQ's as you want in the chain, but don't turn more than one on at a time, and if you plan to use an EQ pedal much, set the EQ on your amp to the "flat" setting (RTM for that).

Going a step further, I'd say adding a Boss or MXR EQ to your Markbass head would be like putting ketchup on a $50 steak.
 
#11
bongomania said:
... Going a step further, I'd say adding a Boss or MXR EQ to your Markbass head would be like putting ketchup on a $50 steak.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies, very informative. As for the EQ, I may consider $150; im not sure if that extra $50 would be a waste if the difference wasnt substantial.

*EDIT*

I like the idea of using an EQ after my fuzz. Question: Would you set your amp to flat in that situation?
 
#12
Think of it this way: if you don't set the amp flat, then you are running the fuzz through the EQ pedal and through the EQ of the amp. Just switching on an EQ pedal doesn't make the one in the amp stop affecting your signal. On the other hand, if you like the resulting sound, then all's well. One option you could do in that case is get an external loop box and put both the fuzz and the EQ in the loop, so you can engage both in series with just one footswitch.

Another angle--by calling the Boss ketchup, I wasn't saying you needed to buy an expensive sauce. I was saying a $50 steak doesn't need any sauce. The EQ on the MB head is as good as, or better than, pretty much any EQ pedal.
 

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