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What is flat EQ?

#42
R Baer said:
A lot of it too is getting players ears used the sound of their instruments without all the hype. Our system has a very flat response compared to most amps and a lot of players that have tried out our prototype tend to automatically boost a little treble and bass and cut some mids as soon as they start playing, to get back to what their ears are used to hearing. I usually recommend that they try it with everything flat for at least 3 or 4 tunes before tweaking the EQ. In most cases their ears start to adjust to hearing more of their instrument and their technique and less of their amp pretty quickly.
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That's smart advice in any instance : } ...Acclimatizing and doffing the old habits is definitely the way to go if one wants to get the best out of new gear.
 
#45
mongo2 said:
IME it will always sound like an SVT no matter what you do.
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Thank God for that!

I can sort of approximate a flat sound by rolling off the bass knob to about 10 o'clock and boosting mids at 800 to about 2 or 3 o'clock. If that's a flat sound I have no idea but it sounds kind of flat to me. But the 2nd channel of the 2 channel SVT's is a lot closer to flat. It and the LMII (which IS near flat) sound very similar tonally. But things like that can be somewhat affected by the type of tubes you use, so YMMV.

BTW, Bass Gear Magazine's next issue is all about Ampeg, and they'll be running bench tests on SVT's so we'll all get to see a little better what's doing under the hood.
 
#46
My cursory look at the SVT schematic, without studying it too carefully, suggested to me that it's a flat amp when the tone knobs are centered. There. I'm placing my bet. Now it will be interesting to see what Bass Gear Magazine determines.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the SVT sound turns out to be the sound that everybody says can't sound good.
 
#52
fdeck said:
Another poll in the works? :D
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:D Nah, I think I'm done with that poll stuff. I've done informal ABing with it, but I haven't really sat down and tried to nail the freq response. But I've got the LMII which is near0flat and I know how to set the VT for near flat, so I should be able to get more of a lock on it by tomorrow evening.
 
#53
Are the sensitivity gains the same up and down the freq spectrum? I'm going to guess you'll say no, but thought I should ask. Would I be better off using a single driver cab instead for this little experiment?
 
#55
Ya Greenie, I realize the informality of it, but I seem to have pretty good ears for that kind of stuff as long as I have a reference to go back to, so I think I can do it. We'll see when Bass Gear #4 comes out ;)
 
#56
JimmyM said:
Not necessarily. A Fender tone stack is passive, yet the treble and bass are boost only and the mid is cut only. Someone once explained to me how that works, but I didn't retain any of it.
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Just saw this. You can't have boost in a passive tome stack. I don't know if it is a terminology problem or what, but that is that. Passive tone stacks are all cut. You can change the taper or the pot wiring so that different things happen in different directions, and to different degrees, but you can't boost in a passive tone stack. Not being a jerk, just alertng you to a potential problem.
 
#57
fretlessrock said:
Just saw this. You can't have boost in a passive tome stack. I don't know if it is a terminology problem or what, but that is that. Passive tone stacks are all cut. You can change the taper or the pot wiring so that different things happen in different directions, and to different degrees, but you can't boost in a passive tone stack. Not being a jerk, just alertng you to a potential problem.
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It's cool. The Fender stack, however, is passive even though it boosts treble and bass...I always thought it was active, but it isn't. Just found this article on it...can't understand it, but it does say it's passive:

http://www.pentodepress.com/tonestack.html
 
#58
A lot of it depends on the particular amp.

On my bass head, when the EQ knobs are set to the middle, that's considered "flat."

I have a 30-watt tube combo for guitar that has three EQ knobs (bass, mid, and treble) and a bright switch, and "flat" is when the knobs are turned up all the way and the bright switch is off. When the knobs are turned down all the way, the amp is silent. It's also virtually impossible to get an unusable sound from it via fiddling with the knobs, unlike my bass head.
 
#60
One effect with flat eq is the Equal-loudness contour/"Fletcher-Munson"' curves/"Robinson and Dadson" curves.
Our hearing is different at different volume levels. A setup that is truly flat may not sound good and flat until you crank it. A store volume good sounding amp is going to be a smiley face curve with the knobs set flat to fool the consumer.

Tube amps when cranked loose bandwidth and damping at high frequencies when cranked. They essentially turn down the bass and treble by themselves when cranked.
Mackie is doing the same in some of their PA speakers. I suspect GB is doing something similar. Maybe even more amps are doing this now? I just adjust it myself.

You need a flat reference point to start with to know which direction to go.
 

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