EQ in the loop: usage tips (aka MDV in here!)

[Roobubba]

Hi guys,

I've had one practice so far with the MXR 10-band EQ in the loop of my amp, and given that band practice is off tonight because there's a power cut, I'll not have the opportunity to play around with it again for another week. Thought I might take the opportunity to find out how others are using theirs to help me dial in the tightest settings a bit quicker!

Mark, you've got one with your powerball, haven't you?

Roo

[MDV]

Yup. I also use a boss EQ20 for that, which does the lions share of the tone shaping when flat, because its as transparent as a brick wall, but I like its effect on the PBs sound.

I do EQ with the MXR though. What I do on the PB is take out some 500-ish wool, because that can obfuscate things and the PBs mids sound a bit weird anyway, cut ALL the lowest band, you dont need it, tune the 100-ish hz, which will be in the vicinity of the first overtone of your tuning, to the room and the location of the cab in the room and put in a bit of 2 through 4 k for pick attack.

Hope this helps!

Edit: sometimes I put a bit of 200-ish in for meat and guts to the sound. It lets pms hit a little harder in a mix.

[Roobubba]

Thanks MDV! Very helpful!

Roo

[MDV]

No bother

[Transcend]

I'll add my thanks in here too as i was also wondering this.

So thanks

[MDV]

An equal amount of by-proxy zero bother for you too then!

[ElectricTurkey4369]

I just bought an MXR 10-band and it's really awesome.
I usually cut down on the lower frequencies a bit to reduce some boominess.
I then cut the highs VERY slightly just to reduce the pickyness. I usually leave the mids where they are, sometimes i may move a slider down or up slightly depending on what im playing.

Overall its a really good pedal, but haven't been using it much lately since i bought a new amp and don't need the EQing as much as I did before.

[Roobubba]

I guess the other part of the question is how do you change your pre-amp's (rudimentary) EQ when using the EQ in the loop? Cut down the lows, presumably?

Roo

[MDV]

All things being equal, yes.

Its a rough callibration and then a fine calibration. You tune the amps EQ (and in the case of the PB, 5150 and similar, the depth and presence) to that youre quite close to where you want to be, tonally, but on the slightly light and slightly dull side of it.

This is because the EQ pedal, despite it having very wide gain ranges for each band, is not a massive adjustment tool. They sound shitety and weird if you try and send any one band to an extreme. Youre looking to make 2-3db changes, optimally, but not more than 6 unless you really have to.

Then you bring the EQ in for some intelligent focus and reduction of certain parts of a guitars sound, as pertains to metal. As I said, palm mute emphasis in certain important frequencies, pick attack emphasis, fizz control is also an option, wooly mids control, if you experience any, grind-increase in the mids can give the illusion of additional tightness in the low end if not.

This may be more usefull than be saying what I do, as it may be that with your amp in your room/s you end up cutting low end to get it to not bloom so much, which will also increase tightness (this is what I meant before about tuning the 100-ish hz to the room; that frequency range is a really big deal to the low end of a metal guitar; in tunings like we use we really arent dealing with the fundamental of the lowest tone, its the first overtone, and this is doubly true in a mix)

You've got to know where the various 'parts' (if there really is such a thing, but its helpfull to think of it that way) of a metal guitar sound sit in the spectrum, then you can use an EQ all $%&#ing day long, no problem at all.

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from http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

First: Lets look over some critical 'dirt guitar' EQ ranges and how they affect the myriad of choices/possibilities we might wish to examine in our undertaking. Bottom to top.

20-45Hz.    Never say never. Just say rarely.
50-90hz    Ahh the madness. Here's the 'swing' range in our 'chugging'.
100-150    Bottom of the meat.
180-240    Lo-Center of the meat.
250-320    Hi-Center of the meat.
340-650    Danger Will Robinson. Top of meat/Bottom of mids. CRITICAL.
700-900    More danger. Hard to hear. Kills 'newbies' on contact. Will explain.
950-1.2k    Pure Satan. Make or break ya. Easy to hear. Hard to control.
1.3k-1.6k    Ditto the above.
1.7k-2.2k    Top of the mids/Bottom of pick attack range. Oh, the fear.
2.3k-3.1k    Middle of pick range. Picky de poison. Mucho Satania.
3.2k-4.2k    Top of pick range. Pick out a nice coffin. Yer gonna need it.
4.3k-6.5k    Bottom of fizz. Add Beefeaters for gin fizz. Guzzle many glasses.
6.6k-8k.    Top of fizzy. Many will kill this range ruthlessly. Careful. Can O' wormies.
8k-10k    Road to hell. Paved with good intentions. Enjoy. Not.
10-15k    Less obvious road(s) to hell. Gravel. Lose a windshield up here.
15k-25k    Same disclaimer as 25-40Hz. Can you say 'sometimes bandwidth matters'?

WhaddaWeGot? 17 ways(freq. ranges) to kill yourself?

OK. DISCLAIMER TIME FOR "OLD GUYS". I'm describing the Grand Canyon. We both know it. Can't REALLY be done.

Gimmie some rope and I'll hang myself impressively. Stop laughing, you pricks.

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Bolded the bits that need to be really carefully ballanced for tight chugging, which are also the bits that are going to excite most room modes and make your chugging not tight.

[MDV]

Oh, and beware: move it to a stage and a bigger room and youre going to have to start again. But when you know what ranges do what and how it interacts with your amp then its going to be much easier.

And the main thing about being tight is preservation of transients, which you can only help along a little with EQ, but your guitar and amp should be taking care of that pretty effectively. Dont overcompress/overgain/both

This is less for you, roo, more for the thread spectators; I know your setup can handle that and that you arent a gain and compression whore.

[JDC]

cheers for that!