Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Simple eq examples


Little Dragon

Recommended Posts

Reading the topic about JJB's tone shows a pic of him in front of an amp showing his eq settings. A quick look on Google shows numerous examples of guitar starting points but almost no bass ones. Maybe bassists are a bit secretive about it? I would be interested to see peoples base settings with their genre to try and understand the differences in sound.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adding to Bills comments, I also find it can depend on the other instruments in the band too. My Precision is just “in the way” in my current band comprising humbucker guitar and keyboards, like they’re all competing for the same sonic space so the Jazz gets the job, sits beneath them nicely.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As already said every bass, strings, pickup(s), amp, speaker/cab and even EQ will sound vastly different with the exact same settings, so wouldn't make much sense to suggest general EQ settings that'll fit all, cause they by far most likely won't, then add to that personal preferences and it gets totally pointless. 

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 30/11/2020 at 22:55, Little Dragon said:

Reading the topic about JJB's tone shows a pic of him in front of an amp showing his eq settings. A quick look on Google shows numerous examples of guitar starting points but almost no bass ones. Maybe bassists are a bit secretive about it? I would be interested to see peoples base settings with their genre to try and understand the differences in sound.

Try looking at various bass head owner manuals, some will give you start points, for instance my Mesa Subway 800, linked below (think it's about page 14 on download).

https://mesa-boogie.imgix.net/media/User Manuals/070532_Subway_D800_171103-download.pdf

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 30/11/2020 at 22:55, Little Dragon said:

Reading the topic about JJB's tone shows a pic of him in front of an amp showing his eq settings. A quick look on Google shows numerous examples of guitar starting points but almost no bass ones. Maybe bassists are a bit secretive about it? I would be interested to see peoples base settings with their genre to try and understand the differences in sound.

Years and years of tinkering and I discovered one answer....

Run everything flat.

If not happy, then work out what each eq dial/slider does.

If running flat gives a desperate feeling something is missing, then dial in from there. Only if essential.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, la bam said:

Years and years of tinkering and I discovered one answer....Run everything flat.

The problem there is that pretty much nothing is flat. Just as with tone this applies to every link in the chain. If you did somehow manage to actually get flat response it would be as appealing as flat beer. Skunky flat beer at that.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

The problem there is that pretty much nothing is flat. Just as with tone this applies to every link in the chain. If you did somehow manage to actually get flat response it would be as appealing as flat beer. Skunky flat beer at that.

...... flat according to your amp then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The settings needed to get flat according to your amp is different with every amp, if it can be achieved at all. Even if the EQ controls are flat at 12:00 there's usually some voicing applied to the pre-amp that can't be removed or altered. I recall a big deal being made about flat response some years back. It pretty much went away when someone measured the response of a bunch of amps and found that flat response from bass amps was an elusive concept seldom realized. Having all the controls at 12:00 is as good a starting point as any, but there's nothing to be gained by leaving them at 12:00. If there were there would be no reason to have them at all.

Edited by Bill Fitzmaurice
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

The settings needed to get flat according to your amp is different with every amp, if it can be achieved at all. Even if the EQ controls are flat at 12:00 there's usually some voicing applied to the pre-amp that can't be removed or altered. I recall a big deal being made about flat response some years back. It pretty much went away when someone measured the response of a bunch of amps and found that flat response from bass amps was an elusive concept seldom realized. Having all the controls at !2:00 is as good a starting point as any, but there's nothing to be gained by leaving them at 12:00. If there were there would be no reason to have them at all.

Yes, my hartke flat is bass at 2, mids at 10 and treble 0.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although not easy to achieve, my experience is that a flat response is desirable because then you know what you''re working with. If you want to add harmonic distortion or colouration, or accentuate or cut specific frequencies to get your sound, that's fine. But if your amp/cab is coloured to start with, you're stuck with that sound and have nowhere to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 04/12/2020 at 16:41, la bam said:

...... flat according to your amp then.

I'm agreed on this being the best starting point.  Yes, of course it's not really flat.  If it helps satisfy pedentry, how about "default" or "zeroed"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 04/12/2020 at 23:42, la bam said:

Years and years of tinkering and I discovered one answer....

Run everything flat.

If not happy, then work out what each eq dial/slider does.

If running flat gives a desperate feeling something is missing, then dial in from there. Only if essential.

with my MarkBass Vintage 500 and Blackline 250 amps, I set all controls flat. I get that pure P or Jazz tone. Of course, live I usually have to adjust,in small rooms attenuate the bass a bit usually is all I have to do.

For a laugh,and ease of loading in and out by cab at an outdoor festival,I took my Elf and one 10" cab. The sound crew laughed at first,then at soundcheck were so blown away by it that they added a mic to the DI feed. Was thunderous , from such a tiny amp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could set every adjustment to zero, find the setting you like best for each adjuster singlely, make a note of that position, put it back to zero and move on to the next adjuster. Once youve done all, put each one back in the noted prefered position and see what the overall tone sounds like.

Edited by Paddy515
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 30/11/2020 at 22:55, Little Dragon said:

Reading the topic about JJB's tone shows a pic of him in front of an amp showing his eq settings. A quick look on Google shows numerous examples of guitar starting points but almost no bass ones. Maybe bassists are a bit secretive about it? I would be interested to see peoples base settings with their genre to try and understand the differences in sound.

In my former band - pub covers band - my TechAmp Puma 500 usually had the EQ centred, then I would just adjust the 'Taste' knob to suit. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...