THE EQUALIZER ...the ultimate tone control
WHAT'S an EQ?
Let's start with an average amp with a bass knob and a treble knob. Turn up the treble and you get more highs...turn up the bass and you get more lows.
If the amp had a mid range knob...there would be 3 such curves overlapping.
With 3 curves...you take the hundreds of frequency's that your guitar can make....and move a third of them at once. The group of frequency's is called a band...and with only 3 they each would have a wide 'band width'
A graphic EQ simply divides the frequency's into more sections. If you divided it by 5 you might have lows...low mids....high mids...and highs. So we now have 5....so each one would have a narrower 'band width'.
One could go to infinity...but for practical purposes...a Graphic EQ is likely 5 or 6....10 even 31 bands.
They all crisscross with the band adjacent to each side of them.
For practical purposes each band is on a slider instead of a knob.You can get a graphic shape of your entire boosts just by looking at the curve you make by changing them.
On the graph...you will notice that the second slider is on the middle line. Put all the sliders on that line. Turn off the EQ and you will note that it is the same. So you can see if you move a slider up it causes a boost...move it below the line and you can cut.
That's it! Not so hard is it
.
Graphically they would look like a pair of brackets ( (
pushed over to make 2 little hill shape curves. The two brackets would touch each other...in fact they would overlap...if they did not there would be no sound in the middle.If the amp had a mid range knob...there would be 3 such curves overlapping.
With 3 curves...you take the hundreds of frequency's that your guitar can make....and move a third of them at once. The group of frequency's is called a band...and with only 3 they each would have a wide 'band width'
A graphic EQ simply divides the frequency's into more sections. If you divided it by 5 you might have lows...low mids....high mids...and highs. So we now have 5....so each one would have a narrower 'band width'.
One could go to infinity...but for practical purposes...a Graphic EQ is likely 5 or 6....10 even 31 bands.
They all crisscross with the band adjacent to each side of them.
For practical purposes each band is on a slider instead of a knob.You can get a graphic shape of your entire boosts just by looking at the curve you make by changing them.
On the graph...you will notice that the second slider is on the middle line. Put all the sliders on that line. Turn off the EQ and you will note that it is the same. So you can see if you move a slider up it causes a boost...move it below the line and you can cut.
That's it! Not so hard is it
.
.All guitars are naturally mostly a 500Kh instrument with bit of lows and a few highs.
A Metal player would love this setting...all the mids are "SCOOPED"
THE DREADED PARAMETRIC EQ
Yes!!! The dreaded Para....I think it stands for Piranha! Yes folks guitarist hate them.
Too bad because they can perform miracles. I set one up for a bass player. One click turned a Fender Jazz into a Fender Precision bass.
So in my EQ for dummies way. (the only kind I like) I will knock the mystery out of them.
OK....looking at the five band again and note.
.
You have ...5 sliders with 5 separate ...BUT FIXED FREQUENCIES....which means those frequencies boost and cut...at a certain point and overlap a bit on the adjacent sides.
.
You can see that 500 Kh is cut...it is below the center point. graphically it is a U shape. You cannot widen the curve of this U into the shape of a bracket sitting on it's hump (
..nor can you slide to the right or to the left. You would need more sliders if you wanted for example boost not 500Kh but 525Kh. AT some point after reaching 31 sliders you might get close to hitting the perfect frequency you wanted to boost...but soon it gets stupid...and with a pedal...it gets impractical.
So that's all a parametric does different...it has knobs. You can pick the exact frequency you want...then widen to fatten up perhaps a weak area...or make it as narrow as a pin to cut some horrible noise right out of the sound.
You take the Jazz bass...you find what frequency...in this case the lower mids and some lows that the P bass has that it does not..boost them ...get the curve wide but not too wide...jiggle the knob a little like tuning in a radio...and soon...presto...you have the exact frequency for a reasonable copy of the Precision bass.
You do not get the simplicity and the nice looking graph made by the sliders...but hey...it is magic.
A really nice toy is made by some pedal makers. A single band of parametric EQ. You can sweep across the guitars range and find the area that needs a boost..widen or narrow the band...catch the size of the area that you want ...then boost it. Boost the lower mids and fatten up the sound or maybe some upper mids with a few lower highs with it for a bit of honk.
A great compromise is this Quasi Parametric with a Graphic too. Get your overall sound with the graphic and use the Para...for boost..or cut in just the right place.
A great way to fatten a Strat into a Les Paul!.
Too bad because they can perform miracles. I set one up for a bass player. One click turned a Fender Jazz into a Fender Precision bass.
So in my EQ for dummies way. (the only kind I like) I will knock the mystery out of them.
OK....looking at the five band again and note.
.
You have ...5 sliders with 5 separate ...BUT FIXED FREQUENCIES....which means those frequencies boost and cut...at a certain point and overlap a bit on the adjacent sides.
.
You can see that 500 Kh is cut...it is below the center point. graphically it is a U shape. You cannot widen the curve of this U into the shape of a bracket sitting on it's hump (
..nor can you slide to the right or to the left. You would need more sliders if you wanted for example boost not 500Kh but 525Kh. AT some point after reaching 31 sliders you might get close to hitting the perfect frequency you wanted to boost...but soon it gets stupid...and with a pedal...it gets impractical.
So that's all a parametric does different...it has knobs. You can pick the exact frequency you want...then widen to fatten up perhaps a weak area...or make it as narrow as a pin to cut some horrible noise right out of the sound.
You take the Jazz bass...you find what frequency...in this case the lower mids and some lows that the P bass has that it does not..boost them ...get the curve wide but not too wide...jiggle the knob a little like tuning in a radio...and soon...presto...you have the exact frequency for a reasonable copy of the Precision bass.
You do not get the simplicity and the nice looking graph made by the sliders...but hey...it is magic.
A really nice toy is made by some pedal makers. A single band of parametric EQ. You can sweep across the guitars range and find the area that needs a boost..widen or narrow the band...catch the size of the area that you want ...then boost it. Boost the lower mids and fatten up the sound or maybe some upper mids with a few lower highs with it for a bit of honk.
A great compromise is this Quasi Parametric with a Graphic too. Get your overall sound with the graphic and use the Para...for boost..or cut in just the right place.
A great way to fatten a Strat into a Les Paul!.
MAGIC EQ TIPS
FAT
Boost around 150 Kh...to the 200kh area
TOO MUCH HONK
Drop some at the 1Kh to 2 Kh
MUDDY LOWS
Cut everything below 100Kh....great for the muting while strumming rapidly in a Metal tune.
MUDDY LOWS
Cut everything below 100Kh....great for the muting while strumming rapidly in a Metal tune.
PRESENCE
Boost 3Kh
SPARKLE
Boost 8Kh
TURN A HUMBUCKER INTO A SINGLE COIL
Cut 200Kh,400Kh and 800Kh
Boost 100Kh and 1.6Kh
HALF COCKED WAH
Boost 800Kh...then curve each side down to zero to make a big hill shape with the sliders.
BOOST
Move all the sliders up to the top
THE WOMAN ALTO SINGING AN AHHHH BEHIND EACH NOTE IN YOUR SOLO
I love this one. Put on your distortion and boost IKh on its own right up. Works best on a Humbucker. Get it right and you will blow some one's mind. A ghost in the air!!!
OK...one last thing...very early pedals and still now some pedals like the Pro Co RAT use a filter for a tone control...it is similar to a 'Para' using a band pass filter or a cocked wah..as you turn the knob the freqency booster moves with you. Very effected to boosting the mids....it gives you a nice fat sound.
Cut 200Kh,400Kh and 800Kh
Boost 100Kh and 1.6Kh
HALF COCKED WAH
Boost 800Kh...then curve each side down to zero to make a big hill shape with the sliders.
BOOST
Move all the sliders up to the top
THE WOMAN ALTO SINGING AN AHHHH BEHIND EACH NOTE IN YOUR SOLO
I love this one. Put on your distortion and boost IKh on its own right up. Works best on a Humbucker. Get it right and you will blow some one's mind. A ghost in the air!!!
OK...one last thing...very early pedals and still now some pedals like the Pro Co RAT use a filter for a tone control...it is similar to a 'Para' using a band pass filter or a cocked wah..as you turn the knob the freqency booster moves with you. Very effected to boosting the mids....it gives you a nice fat sound.
PICK ONE
TOM'SLINE AEG-3
Graphic EQ
As usual the price of a Mooer with the rebranded Tom'sline name is less ten half. This is really a sweet little EQ...crisp and clean and can fit anywhere on your board.
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| Current Price $24.00 USD |
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| Current Price $53.00 |
JOYO JF-11 Graphic EQ
Joyo quality is always reliable...so this will certainly do the job. They usually clone...so there is likely an MXR or a Boss under the hood. At $29.00 USD...definitely worth a thought.
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CURRENT PRICE $29.00 USD |
MAXON GE601
Grahic EQ
Another clone/counterfeit Mogoo pedal...usually a part for part clone at that. The real Maxon only has 2 rivets holding the sliders in place and the colour is a pastel blue instead of a pastel green. One nice thing is they built it into a heavy steal box. I have one. I put it at the end of my pedals before an amplifier. This way when I use a variety of amplifiers instead of changing the EQ on a dozen or more pedals...I can just tweak the Maxon...and in seconds I am ready to play. The store I bought it from did not sell it as a fake.
. 
Current Price of the real one $ 159.00 USD.....The clone is $37.00 USD
CALINE CP-24
Graphic EQ
Caline always makes quality stuff.
A 10 band will give you as much EQ as you will ever need.
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Current Price $36.00 USD |
XIN SOUND EQ 99
Graphic EQ
The new kid on the block...hard to find any video on any of their pedals. The cases are tops. The blah
blah from the company constantly boasts about the quality build and the use of Japanese and German parts.I bought one of there compressors...no top end...worse than average...but the low end was better then most gourmet pedals.
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Current Price $40.00 USD |
ARTEC SE-PEQ Parametric EQ
This can be the perfect partner to a graphic EQ. You rough out a great sound with a graphic and fine tune it to perfection with single band para.Artec are a Korean brand. They are a very big company that make some serious guitar amps...and several different lines of pedals.They have been around for years but have never pushed much further then the domestic market. The pedals are easily the build and quality of an MXR or a Boss pedal.
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Current Price $48.00 USDONE LAST THING
THE GUITAR IS A MID RANGE INSTRUMENT...IF YOU SCOOP THE MIDS OR PUSH THE HIGHS AND LOWS TOO MUCH IT MAY SOUND GREAT AT HOME...OR NOT EVEN TOO BAD WHEN YOU STAND IN FRONT OF YOUR AMP....BUT OUT FRONT THE BASS GUITAR AND THE DRUMMERS CYMBALS WILL OBLITERATE YOUR SOUND!
IF YOU COULD STAND OUT FRONT AND HEAR IT IT WOULD SOUND WEAK AND TINNY
YOU WOULD NOT ONLY HATE IT!
YOU WOULD BE PROFOUNDLY EMBARRASSED !!!
SO WORK ON THOSE MIDS...AND GET THEM SCREAMING!!!
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