3-band active EQ help

[three_sic]

Master Volume - check
Balance - ?
Treble Boost/Cut - ?
Mid Boost/Cut - ?
Bass Boost/Cut - ?

I need vivid explanation on this.. your own opinions.. and explanation on the sound itself.. thanks.

[ebe9]

Balance: Adjusts the bias between the pickups on the bass, i.e. it allows which pickup is used more by the bass, the one at the neck or the one at the bridge.

Treble Boost/Cut: This does exactly what it says it does. It either boosts a particular freqeuncy in the treble range or cuts it. Best Example is to look at a hi-fi or car stereo and see what happens when you "add" (boost) more treble or "cut" (take away)

Mid Boost/Cut: Exactly the same as above, just with a specific frequency in the mid range.

Bass Boost/Cut: Exactly the same as above, just with a specific frequency in the bass range.



To give you a bit of background, the human ear is capable of hearing from
20Hz to 20 000Hz (20KHz). In most cases your average 4 string bass in standard tuning will not be going below about 100Hz, and not above 12KHz.
(Please not that the above figures are not exact and are a guestimate)


Thus to use the example of Bass, Mids and Treble boosting and cutting.

Say the Bass control knob is set to 100Hz, the Mid to 2KHz and the Treble to 10KHz. Then very simply Boosting (turning up the bass control knob) is going to make the 100Hz frequency more prominent i.e. "bassier" like when you turn up the bass on a hi-fi. If to Cut the bass frequncy then there wil be less bass.

The mids will act the exact same way as will the treble.

[Killer Fridge]

Isnt the low E tuned at approx 44hz? (just a thought, I know that you were just estimating)

[three_sic]

uh.. okay.. ill try experimenting.
but can you guys give any suggestions?
i use an esp ltd df-404..
tuned B-E-A-D
3-band active EQ

can anyone suggest some settings?..

i play thrash metal.

THANKS:thumb:

[ebe9]

uh.. okay.. ill try experimenting.
but can you guys give any suggestions?
i use an esp ltd df-404..
tuned B-E-A-D
3-band active EQ

can anyone suggest some settings?..

i play thrash metal.

THANKS:thumb:


A technique that I has found works the best is to keep the onboard setting on the bass set flat, and to EQ the amp rather.

This way your tone is set with the amp, but if you find mid song that you for instance need a bit more bass/mids/treble you can just dial it in on the bass without needing to go over and fiddle with the amp.

[ebe9]

Isnt the low E tuned at approx 44hz? (just a thought, I know that you were just estimating)

Yep, more than likely.

Again I was just throwing out more of an example usinf nice round numbers (100, 1000, 10 000.


I am pretty sure i saw a sheet with all the exact frequencies of each note on a 4 strings bass on TalkBass a little while back.

Should actually try find that, it could be very useful.

[three_sic]

playing thrash metal... what do i need? those treble? how much? those mid? how much? those bass? how much?

[ebe9]

playing thrash metal... what do i need? those treble? how much? those mid? how much? those bass? how much?

Okay, this is where the resource section of the forum comes into play.

There is a big EQ thread in there that offers a variety of different EQ setting for a variety of different styles.

Having never played "thrash metal" before I am not sure as to what EQ settings would work best.


Often you need to experiement with your amp and bass and find out for yourself what works and what does not.

Head on over to the resources section, it should help you out quite a bit. :thumb:

[three_sic]

thanks:chug:

[EADG]

I agree with ebe on keeping the pre flat and adjusting it per song. (this is what I do).

I'm not expert with metal but from what I've heard, they use a lot of mid, and a decent amount of bass (too much and you'll be lost in the mix though). The mids help cut through mutiple guitars and very busy drumming.

Some metal bands (Iron Maiden comes to mind) use a lot of treble.