Pinball Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) I have a couple of Ibanez guitars, a SR3005E and an SR1300 with a John East preamp [url="http://www.east-uk.com/index.php/bass/u-retro/u-retro-5-knob-deluxe-32.html"]http://www.east-uk.c...-deluxe-32.html[/url] I don't usually like "complicated" systems and the JE is one that I would certainly have put in that category. I'm enjoying these though, probably because it rarely requires more than minor adjustment. Both guitars have mids and a mids frequency adjustment. I usually leave the "sweepable" element roughly in the middle, because it sounds nice and to be honest it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I'm curious about mids so my questions are 1. Why have the sweepable feature in addition to the usual mids? 2. How do others use it and why? Edited February 14, 2014 by Pinball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamfist Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I like sweepable mids, and particularly the John East version, which I think is very musical in it's implementation. I find that for neck pickup and using a pick I tend to want to boost at rather higher mid frequencies than when using more bridge pickup oriented sounds, fingerstyle, which I boost more lower mids. So useful for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreeneKing Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) Mids have a wide range and within that range they can sound very different. The sweep allows you to select exactly where you add or take away. Having fixed mids in the 'wrong' position is a little pointless imo and I'd always opt for sweepable. Edited February 14, 2014 by GreeneKing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 [quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1392374708' post='2367858'] I usually leave the "sweepable" element roughly in the middle, because it sounds nice and to be honest it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. [/quote] Very surprised that sweeping the mid freq doesn't seem to make much difference - is it working properly?! I use the sweepable mid on my East SPM-02 for tuning into the sweetspot for boosting mids on my fretless. Very useful and effective feature in that respect. The SPM also has internal sweepable frequency adjustment for bass and treble. Also very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 [quote name='ikay' timestamp='1392382907' post='2367976'] Very surprised that sweeping the mid freq doesn't seem to make much difference - is it working properly?![/quote] I thought that too! Might the battery need changing? I find the amount of cut and boost available on the East circuit to be incredibly large! The sweepable option allows you to compensate for room acoustics too. Especially if (like me) you have an amp with very basic tone-shaping abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) [quote name='Conan' timestamp='1392383646' post='2367982'] I thought that too! Might the battery need changing? I find the amount of cut and boost available on the East circuit to be incredibly large! The sweepable option allows you to compensate for room acoustics too. Especially if (like me) you have an amp with very basic tone-shaping abilities. [/quote] The battery is fine. I can hear a difference but not that large on either guitar. It's probably because my settings my GB anp has some mids control combined with the fact that I tend to favor bass and treble and reduced mids. I'll mess around as I may change my ideas. I love experimenting! At the moment I'm favoring a deep bass sound, the more air it moves the better. Edited February 14, 2014 by Pinball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 [quote name='GreeneKing' timestamp='1392379400' post='2367905'] Having fixed mids in the 'wrong' position is a little pointless imo and I'd always opt for sweepable. [/quote] Absolutely. I'm not talking about active preamps here but with my markbass F1 head, the low mid frequency is too low so I always leave it flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 [quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1392374708' post='2367858'] I have a couple of Ibanez guitars, a SR3005E and an SR1300 with a John East preamp [url="http://www.east-uk.com/index.php/bass/u-retro/u-retro-5-knob-deluxe-32.html"]http://www.east-uk.c...-deluxe-32.html[/url] I don't usually like "complicated" systems and the JE is one that I would certainly have put in that category. I'm enjoying these though, probably because it rarely requires more than minor adjustment. Both guitars have mids and a mids frequency adjustment. I usually leave the "sweepable" element roughly in the middle, because it sounds nice and to be honest it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I'm curious about mids so my questions are 1. Why have the sweepable feature in addition to the usual mids? 2. How do others use it and why? [/quote] The sweep element not making a difference??? Try turning the top bit all the way up (max boost). Then move the bottom bit (frequency sweep) from one end to teh other end of its travel. If you don't hear a difference it must be broken, because it can sweep from 100 to 1000Hz, or 200 - 2000Hz, depending on how you set the internal switches... and that's a very wide range! I normally set it according to the noise from the rest of the band, so that I get enough mids in the particular area where it allows me to cut through nicely. I don't normally boost a lot, just a bit in the right place. I find the "right place" doing what I described above, while the others are playing. But after a while, playing with the same people etc, I tend to find the frequency sweep stays roughly at around the same spot (probably about the bottom third, in my case). A bit of boost, normally... which I remove for slap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Thanks for the replies, I'm going to try some experimentig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Well I tried a bit of mids tweaking at the weekend. I set up as usual with a bit of extra bass, a touch of treble and a touch less mids. I then tweaked the sweep-able until it cut though and wow this bass cuts though everything. I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing but It's sounding great. No further thought required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 [quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1392636620' post='2370824'] I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing but It's sounding great. No further thought required. [/quote] Most of the population go through life that way... you'll be alright enjoy your bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Pinball, how have you got the EQ controls on your amp set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1392653044' post='2371089'] Pinball, how have you got the EQ controls on your amp set? [/quote] Yep, set pretty much flat. It also has a mids frequency setting which is set at 800 (others settings are 220 or 2.5K) and my MXR blowtorch also has a mids setting which is set in the middle. Like i said its sounding great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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