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Author Topic:  10 band eq question
Scott McRee

 

From:
Georgia, USA
Post  Posted 27 Apr 2015 5:51 pm    
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What do you guys suggest me having me 10 band eq set at for pedal steel. I play a u12 so I'm guessing I should boost the low end frequencies a bit to get some clarity on the bottom strings?? Any help would be great thanks
Scott
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Stephen Cowell


From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
Post  Posted 27 Apr 2015 8:09 pm    
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I'm thinking the first question would be... what did you get the 10band eq for? What are the defects you were wanting to fix? Boosting the lows can be done with the bass control... a 10-band EQ is more about notching problem frequencies, or filling notches in your response.

Otherwise, without hearing your system, or being there to tweak it, I don't see how we can help. You can always just put a smiley-face on it, boost the lows and highs.
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Steve Collins

 

From:
Alaska, USA
Post  Posted 27 Apr 2015 8:40 pm    
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Ditto what is mentioned above, there are no recipes, EQ has to be done by ear to each situation. That said, there is a tip I would share because you used the words 'clarity' and 'boost' in the same query. In my experience, clarity is almost always achieved from cutting, not boosting. If you want certain frequencies to stand out, notch out the frequencies that are masking them, rather than pushing the ones you want.
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Mark Wayne


From:
Wisconsin, USA
Post  Posted 28 Apr 2015 8:03 pm    
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Ya, Steve is right. I live by this method as a producer, and also am a huge user of EQ....BUT...maybe what you want to accomplish may not be from an EQ, but perhaps from a good preamp with variable tone control. EQ'ing may boost your lows (or cut around your lows to make them stand out), but good preamps work within the harmonics of a tone that may color it in a different and warmer way that a standard EQ pedal can't do.

Google some preamps out there and even on the forum. Let us know what you come up with.
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Scott McRee

 

From:
Georgia, USA
Post  Posted 30 Apr 2015 7:00 pm    
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Thank al you guys for helping of and giving me your advice. All is greatly appreciated.
Scott
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Brad Sarno


From:
St. Louis, MO USA
Post  Posted 1 May 2015 5:03 am    
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Often times EQ, especially graphic EQ, adds more junk and phase shift (phase distortion) to the signal that outweigh the actual benefit of EQ'ing with it. There are lots of little cheap devices (capacitors, resistors, opamps, etc.) inside the path of a graphic EQ pedal that may not ultimately benefit the actual tone of the instrument. It's just piling more stuff into the signal path that would likely be a more pure and "open" and pleasing sound with a more minimal signal path. Sure, you may be able to move certain frequencies up and down, but at what cost?

I can't recall the last time I heard an amazing guitar or steel tone that also had a graphic EQ in the mix. I bet the legendary tones we love sure didn't use them. I think people gravitate toward them mostly as a band-aid, a fix for a problematic rig that's not sounding right for some reason. If your guitar, pickup, preamp, amp, and speaker/cabinet are all well chosen, I can't imagine why one would need a graphic EQ in there.

Although, the trick where people take a graphic EQ pedal and zig-zag the slider settings up and down to get a dobro simulation, now that's a reasonable use it seems.

My $.02

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Brad Sarno


From:
St. Louis, MO USA
Post  Posted 1 May 2015 5:45 am     Re: 10 band eq question
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Scott McRee wrote:
What do you guys suggest me having me 10 band eq set at for pedal steel. I play a u12 so I'm guessing I should boost the low end frequencies a bit to get some clarity on the bottom strings?? Any help would be great thanks
Scott



Also, boosting low end frequencies often has the opposite result of clarifying bottom strings. Generally, we get more low string clarity by removing the boomy or muddy frequencies so that the overtones in the strings become more clear and present. Boosting that stuff often only makes things worse.

Fresh strings or good buffering are great approaches to gaining more low string clarity.

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