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Recommendation for a graphic EQ pedal for bass

#22
Hypocrite said:
Interesting. Have you tried running dirt into it, and if so, does it sound completely terrible? I was planning on getting the GEB-7 (because of cost and bare-bones simplicity) for tone-shaping after my B3K.
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Man I couldn't tell you...that thing sounded so bad I didn't keep it very long :) That was a long time ago and it was one of my first pedals. Actually replaced it with an EHX KnockOut EQ which is even simpler and sounded way better. Never had any luck with a Boss pedal at all, actually.
 
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#24
MXR 10 band is more versatile, but I just picked up a 6-Band that I'm enjoying, and it has an 800hz slider. Will overdrive if you boost into the highest range, but I kind of like that ;)
 
#26
Hypocrite said:
Would that be the MXR M-109? If so, is the lack of an overall volume slider a significant setback, if at all?
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Ya, that's it. Hadn't really thought about a volume slider, to be honest. I guess it would be nice, but for what I need, I can do the minor volume adjustments with the sliders and don't particularly need a volume control. Trying it out to EQ my upright on doubling gigs. Haven't had a gig with it on upright yet, but used it to balance out my Precision and Dano Longhorn last night, and was fine without a volume.
 
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#27
I regret getting rid of my Boss EQ-20 pedal awhile back. If you can find one cheap, they are cool to have, since you can footswitch between bypass, a programmed EQ setting, and a manual setting. Plus, you can store quite a few programmed settings, for various basses/instruments.

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#29
I owned the MXR 10 band EQ and have since sold it for the Source Audio Programmable EQ, which offers AMAZING capability and versatility in half of the footprint. Four customizable presets plus your bypassed sound = five tones = win.

Lonnybass
 
#30
GMC said:
There's a few about, The Markbasss MB7 is very good, as is the old Trace Elliot 7 band SM unit which pops up second hand every now and then. Moer do a tiny 5 band if size is a concern. It's a pity no one's made a good 12 band Graphic for the bass yet (outside of a Trace Elliot head). MXR do a good 10 band and a useful 6 band. The biggest issue here is power requirements, most of these units need either 12v or 18v.
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Old thread and post I know.

Do you have the Markbass? Find it to be hissy?

I got one recently and find it to be a little noisy when placed in front of the input. In the FX loop of my MB combo its very quiet. That works fine unless I want to send the same signal to the house and I don't want to add noise to the DI input.
 
#31
Doner Designs said:
Old thread and post I know.

Do you have the Markbass? Find it to be hissy?

I got one recently and find it to be a little noisy when placed in front of the input. In the FX loop of my MB combo its very quiet. That works fine unless I want to send the same signal to the house and I don't want to add noise to the DI input.
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I have a MB MB7 Distore...which is a little different. I'm current using a Caline 10 band. It's good, I would have preferred the MXR, but there's a big difference in price and the 18v powering is a bit of a pain. Any Graphic can be noisy in the upper frequencies at higher gain. Lets face it...bass has hardly any output over 8khz. Anything above this is hiss. Set flat with unity gain, there's no detectable change in tone between the bypassed and engaged. If I turn up my amp a lot and compare, again I can't hear any difference. If I slide up the 16khz slider...to +12db, then yes there's a lot of hiss. But that's normal.
 
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#32
GMC said:
I have a MB MB7 Distore...which is a little different. I'm current using a Caline 10 band. It's good, I would have preferred the MXR, but there's a big difference in price and the 18v powering is a bit of a pain. Any Graphic can be noisy in the upper frequencies at higher gain. Lets face it...bass has hardly any output over 8khz. Anything above this is hiss. Set flat with unity gain, there's no detectable change in tone between the bypassed and engaged. If I turn up my amp a lot and compare, again I can't hear any difference. If I slide up the 16khz slider...to +12db, then yes there's a lot of hiss. But that's normal.
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I have that Caline pedal too. For what I bought it for (tailoring mids in a two channel set up to mimic Billy Sheehan's setup on a budget) it is no better or worse than the vastly more expensive MXR. Great, detailed control, no noise that I could hear, not too big and 9v.
 
#33
GMC said:
I have a MB MB7 Distore...which is a little different. I'm current using a Caline 10 band. It's good, I would have preferred the MXR, but there's a big difference in price and the 18v powering is a bit of a pain. Any Graphic can be noisy in the upper frequencies at higher gain. Lets face it...bass has hardly any output over 8khz. Anything above this is hiss. Set flat with unity gain, there's no detectable change in tone between the bypassed and engaged. If I turn up my amp a lot and compare, again I can't hear any difference. If I slide up the 16khz slider...to +12db, then yes there's a lot of hiss. But that's normal.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I haven't played with it too much yet, but mine adds a little hiss even with all the sliders flat.
 
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#34
Currently using a Zoom M1on as my EQ shaper pre-chained into my Zoom B3 and thats its only function. Programmable Graphic and Programmable Parametric and I have PreSets stored for individual basses that require different tweaks. Its the most flexible system Ive used so far and its very quiet

Before switching to Zooms, I used an MXR 10 band and an Artec Parametric EQ.....the cheap-ass Artec is actually a very very good single band Parametric EQ
 
#36
I quite enjoy using my old Boss GE-7b, the older brown model.
Mainly because it has more useable frequencies. I don't need anything above 4,5-5k, and the newer model has a huge gap between 800hz and 4,5k.
Which is probably usefull for more modern player's, but useless for me.
 
#37
Bass Growler said:
I quite enjoy using my old Boss GE-7b, the older brown model.
Mainly because it has more useable frequencies. I don't need anything above 4,5-5k, and the newer model has a huge gap between 800hz and 4,5k.
Which is probably usefull for more modern player's, but useless for me.
Click to expand...

Those boss EQ's have some really odd frequency centers. Most graphic EQ's increase mathematically to help keep a linear control. A good Guitar 7 band would be 100/200/400/800/1.6/3.2/6.4 for example. A Bass graphic tends to need a lower 1st freq like 60/120/240/480/1K/2K/4k. But the boss bass graphics has it's freqs all bunched up and over lapping: 50/120/400/500/800/4.5K/10K. There's a jump between 120 to 400...and then 500 is so close to 400 that it'll over lap, then 800 for some bizarre reason. Then this really high 4.5K with nothing between it and 800hz. Then this really bizarre 10K...which is really really high for bass and completely pointless. It's an odd pedal for sure.
 
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#38
Just happened to acquire a Boss GEB-7 EQ pedal yesterday.

It wasn't so much about improving tone as it was simply getting rid of/taming certain frequencies.

Not sure why they ever call EQ's "equalizers" because when I use them the frequencies are anything but equal. I never work with straight" flat settings.

Anyway......after experimenting for a few hours, jockeying between EQ on bass, EQ on amp and EQ from pedal or combining all three:>

Found I could get pretty well what I wanted to hear.

Within reason.

You can't make a Black Forest Cake out of a bowl of Tuna Noodle casserole.

It depended on what amp I was using and also what strings were on the bass to start with and also the general tone of the bass on a good day. Some sounded better than others.

Am I glad I bought it? Yes.

Is it a miracle worker? No.

My "druthers" would be an EQ with a lot more bands on it. Especially more mids and low end bands.
 
#40
I'd encourage you to consider a parametric EQ. You'd be able to fully control how wide/narrow that 800hz band cut/boost would be. Or maybe it's 900hz that you need and not 800hz ?
I don't understand graphic EQs. You never put those sliders in a funny manner anyways, but rather in a nice and regular shape with 2 or 3 inflection points at most ; a result you can most likely achieve with a 3 band parametric EQ, and a lot more
But it does take some getting used to, I'll agree with that !

If you want to have a look, Empress and WMD are generally recommended here.
 
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