the markbass eq frequencies are 40 hz, 300, 2k and a 10k shelf
not the most usefull eq settings
the main thing is i cant turn the volume pots past 4oclock in my room
i have a lot of power already
i have a walter woods amp which i can set flat and get the low tones
or at least a flatter response that works very well but its only 100watts
i can certainly tune to A with the hartkey
i think the hartkey speakers are good and will be great with my warwick $$
the issue i guess is getting the right tone with the 5 string ibanez
ive just got this stuff so i have no idea how things will perform live
i would not expect to be playing stadiums anytime soon
the big ben is a good price and i cant help but wonder how good 18" are going to be
the price is certainly right
I beg to differ with your thinking that the MarkBass EQ's set at 40Hz (bass), 300Hz (low-mid), 2KHz (high-mid) and a 10KHz shelf are not helpful. Those are actually pretty musical EQ's though I would really want the treble shelf to start at just above the high-mids and control everything above that.
If you hook up a High Pass Filter and start fiddling with it to get a really clear and tight bass, odds are you will probably end up setting it somewhere between 40Hz to 60Hz where you get a nice tight and low bass sound. Again because of the way human ears hear, you don't have to actually reproduce the foundation note of a Low B (30.8Hz) to recognize that's the note you're playing. You will probably hear the 1st harmonic (61.6Hz) above that foundation note and still you'll recognize it as that Low B. When you start trying to boost bass response down into the 20Hz area (subwoofer range) you get a lot of rumble with little to no clarity. It's very difficult for the human ear to determine between pitches when you get down into that range. It's pretty much mostly rumble with little if any definition to the notes.
Trying to replicate those super low frequencies will also suck most of your power out of your amp because those notes are so hard for a speaker to replicate and they have to move so far to do it. I see the Big Ben 118 says it is -6db at 25Hz. Most cabs would be lucky to have -10db at that frequency. So you are going to get some really low stuff out of it, probably more than you want to. I guess what I'm saying is that you're liable to end up with an indistinct rumbling sound if you try to boost those frequencies. So avoid the temptation to really boost the bass EQ because it will tend to make things boomy and muddy.
Again because of the way our ears work, you really need low-mids to get definition and presence in your sound, especially when you're playing in a group. Each of the instruments in a group has their own niche of frequencies. The bass drum owns the low bass frequencies and you're not going to beat him down there. The bass has the Low-Mids all to themselves (unless you have some rude guitarist who thinks he wants to occupy that space), Guitars and keys generally focus on the high-mids and highs. So if you want to hear yourself with nice presence in the mix, you need to occupy those low-mid frequencies. Using your low-mid EQ, turn it up to about to about 1:30, put the bass and everything else flat, and see how you sound. If your sound honks at you, you've boosted it too much and you need to slowly keep turning it down until it stops honking. With my Eden and DNA amps, that magic spot resides at about 1:30. Might be more or less with your amp. A slight boost in the low-mids anywhere between 250Hz and 500Hz will give you that definition and presence in the mix, so your low-mids at 300Hz would be just fine.
When playing with that low-mid boost, your sound should sound cleaner and clearer to you as well as to your audience. The smiley face EQ (boosted bass and treble with scooped out mids) usually sounds good at bedroom practice levels where your ears hear the mids the best and the bass and treble are more difficult to pick out. So smiley face EQ works well for those low-level bedroom practices. But play at gig levels with a smiley face EQ and people will see your hands move but won't be able to pick out any notes that you are actually playing. It will all sound like an indistinct rumble to them and isn't that what you're trying to cure in the first place? So try it out. Run everything flat and then dial up a little boost in your low-mids. It may save you lugging around a 118 cab along with your 410 and if it doesn't, all it will cost you is time to try it.
is going to be my new motto
