Your EQ!

With my musicman sterling running through my ashdown/avatar setup, my EQ basically has bass slightly boosted, mids boosted considerably, and treble flat.

 

FLAT.

With a 1 hour boost on my guitar bass knob

 

I don't EQ much. I rarely run my Sadowsky past 30% if that.

What I do which is a little off the beaten path is use a lot of high pass filters either off the back of my PLX power amp or in an effects loop. I kill most everything below 50hz.

I find that if I'm using my Acmes, Epifani or a big PA that can actually reproduce that stuff...I don't want it and if I'm using a cabinet that doesn't go that low...it's a lot easier on the speakers to get rid of it.

 

I set everything flat and use my active crossover to set my tone.
With the crossover set at 100hz I can dial in the right amount of low end with the low pass section. I built the 4x8 cab I use for the high end so it is voiced the way I like it when my amp is set flat.

The low end requirements change from room to room so I can't give a specific low pass setting.

 

Lows - 2 o'clock
Mids - 1 o'clock
Highs - 11 o'clock

This works for me. Its simple and cuts through the mix even with 2 loud guitarists - one using a 4x12 cab w/peavey 100W head and the other using a 2x12 150W Line6 combo. Not to mention, our drummer goes through sticks like they are going to rot. Even though I am only putting about 475 watts into my Schroeder 1212 which can handle 1000, I can hear myself very clearly with this set up and my current EQ settings.

For some songs I boost the mids to 2 o'clock, set the lows at noon and turn the highs up to about 1 o'clock. This gives me a razor sharp tone that cuts through nicely. Makes for great slapping/plucking especially with the tweeter at about 2 o' clock.

 

Lows - 1 o clock
Low mids - 2 0 clock
mids - 9 0 clock
high mids - 11 o clock
treble - flat (12 0 clock)

 

Since every type of amp has a different tone section, with different center points and bandwidths for the eq's...

I'm not sure if saying "I set my bass knob to 2 o'clock" really means anything in the end to anyone else unless they have the same bass, amp, cab (and possibly hands!)

Keep in mind that 2 o'clock on my amp doesn't equal 2 o'clock on yours.

Now, if you use a graphic or parametric, or specify frequencies at least, then it is "translatable" to another person, e.g., +3 dB @ 400 Hz, etc.

 

+1

But even if you spec what the setting on your gear says, how sure are you that's accurate? Are you positive that "flat" is flat? Here's the measured response curve of my preamp with a Fender-style tone stack set on 2-10-2, which is often thought of as the "flat" setting on many amps and preamps that use this tone stack.



The closest setting to flat on this particular preamp is at ~3-4-2. I could easily build it to be flat at 5-5-5 if I wanted to. It still wouldn't behave the same way as a different tone stack that happens to be flat at 5-5-5 though.

I guess I ought to try to answer the original post though. How I EQ depends on the room, the band setting, which bass I'm playing, the humidity, the amount of people in the room, and a zillion other things. I'm not concerned at all with where the knobs are as long as it sounds good.

 

Full bass and mids, flat treble and full presence

 

Uuuhhhhh...I typically run my rig pretty flat and do my coarse "eq'ing" with either a Rane DC-24 or with the onboard knobs on my Roscoes. Preamps are either Kern/Pearce/Tech21.

Sonically, in most live settings, a little eq-ing seems to go a very l o n g way most of the time. If the room you're in is a bonafide sonic disaster for one reason or another, get a decent parametric, find the bad stuff, and lose the bad frequencies with it, with as narrow a bandwith as possible.

Need some spice for that sauce? I've found that the good stuff seems to be in the low-mid range if you're looking for more grunt...the corollary is that generally, boosting below 100 Hz. seems to add fluff, not power to what my ears hear.

When you do EQ, try to think in terms of a concept I've heard described as "negative equlaization", where you resist your first impulse to boost the good stuff, and find and cut the problem frequencies first.

Hope that helps. I can tell you that it sure took me a long time to learn...

RC

 

Finding problem frequencies in a room and cutting them is the way to go and it is also a skill that takes a long time to learn. I'm learning but I'm no expert. I do find that when I'm getting buried in the mix that turning down the low pass on my crossover (100hz) and turning up the amp brings up the mids and gets me there. It's what I call quick and dirty! (Or cheating)

 

It totally depends on the room and whether or not I'm carrying the room or just using an amp for stage-volume.

If I'm carrying the house from the stage, I EQ to something that sounds nice in the room. If I'm not carrying the house and I have PA support, I just worry about hearing myself (usually some bass cut and mids boost).

 

Passive basses into a flat Aguilar 359. The fun you can have with amazing pickups.

 

I typically boost highs and lows, and cut mids 'til it sounds good to me - then when playing in a band format, I usually end up slightly reducing the lows 'til my DDT(compressor/limiter) light just flickers a tiny bit(instead of lighting consistantly) - and boosting the highs a tiny bit more - and lastly, adding a bit of mids for "just the right sound" with the rest of the band.. I know it sounds like alot of hassle, but it works for me... I also move around a little, taking in the sound from different spots - and looking for what I want(soundwise) at the singer's and guitarist's spots, rather than just in front of my own amp... I also notice that because my bottom cab is kind of a "long throw" type, my rig sounds different at 25 feet away, than it does right in front of it...



- georgestrings

 

Eden CXC-110+CX-110: Usually flat(actually bass, mid & [email protected]:00, whatever that really means), a bump in the mids sometimes to slice the mud. [email protected], a smidgen of compression. On the bass: passive Fender 5, full volume front & rear, 3/4 full tone. Stambaugh 6(active mode)full rear pickup, 1/8 front, slightly cut treble, a hair of extra low mids, a bit of extra bass;(passive)same pickup volume, 3/4-full tone.

 

...as flat as possible. When I do EQ, it's always different depending on the situation. If I have to work a lot out of the EQ, there's something not right with my bass, head or cab.

 

I generally start flat and bump up some mid frequencies from there. Usually ends up looking like the proverbial "frowny face" graphic EQ setting. I love mids, that's where the meat of my tone is.

 

I think my EQ is around 120 or so. Not high enough for Mensa, definitely.... but not bad..

Randy