Interesting frequency bands for bass parametric EQ

[Annoying Twit]

Hi. Does anyone have any recommendations for interesting frequencies to boost/cut on bass when using parametric EQ? Particularly if it's possible to give an English language description of what I should hear if I boost/cut at these frequencies? Or, if anyone has a particularly frequency cut/boost as part of their sound, I'd like to hear that too.

Otherwise I'll be going through the whole frequency band. I've been experimenting with a graphic EQ that has about six bands, but I suspect that there's more to come in the low frequency area. There is a single band for the real low 'bass' and I suspect that there is value in being a bit more choosy of frequency band down there.

My real aim would be to produce a tight bassy sound with good note definition. Recommendation of other processing to achieve that would also be welcome.

[PaulWarning]

I always think a boost of around 400hz give a well defined bass sound without getting boomy,

[Rumple]

I'm less then an expert at these things but I believe devices like the SFX Thumpinator cut all the inaudible low frequencies that often move the speaker but don't add to the sound, by removing them it's meant to tighten up your low end sound.

[cheddatom]

Going through the whole frequency range would not be a bad idea! you never know how the EQ is going to interact with your bass, amp, cab, and any other pedals you might have. Having said that...

lows are 50-150Hz, low mids are after that up to 400Hzish, high mids are up to 2.5Khz then after that it's highs

Lows are what you can feel vibrating you (or not)
low mids can be muddy or boomy or tight
high mids can be honky or cutting or growly or smooth
Highs are "sizzle" etc

For a "tight" sound, you probably want less lows and controlled low mids, so a bit of compression and a subtle high pass filter.

It's very difficult to figure out what you mean though. Anyway, on my parametric EQ I have it set to boost 800Hz to give me a nasty gnarly sound for certain sections of songs

[xgsjx]

It depends on many things. What amp, what cab, what bass & what venue are starters. Then there's the band to take into account.
Play about with your eq until you get the sounds that you like & sit with the rest of the band.

[Annoying Twit]

Thanks for the answers.

There is a bit of chicken and egg in asking this question, as it's hard to ask the question unless I know what I can control on the sound. But I don't know what to control. This isn't through am amp/cab, this is using my Zoom B1XON. At the moment.

"less lows, controlled low mids" and simulating the thumpinator with a high pass filter. 400Hz boost without boosting the lows. Cheddatom's description of different bands is definitely something for me to try and critically listen to.

I only posted here an hour or so ago, during working hours, and there are already loads of interesting and useful replies. Thanks!

[hamfist]

CHeddatom's description fits in with what I would say too, although it does depend a lot on what bass you are playing. For a J or P bass, most amps could do with a little boost at 300-400Hz, to add punch and definition to fingerstyle playing, but with no added clank or grit at all.
Often the 150-250Hz area is where boom and wooliness can sometimes be a problem, which is why I would advise to generally not boost in that region that much, if at all. Much above 450-500Hz you start to get a harsher type of mid boost for a more aggressive sound. I like that, but that doesn't sound like what you are looking for.

Also be aware that a lot of this is affected by specific cab/stage/cab position and room.

Edited October 24, 2014 by hamfist

[Lozz196]

Depending on sound required of course, I`ve generally found cutting a bit at 40, boosting a tad around 120 works on the lows. Then mids, just cutting a bit around 380/400, and I`d add at around 1000/1200.Then re highs, add at about 2.5. I find that gives a nice tight sound that`s in the mix rather than jumping out screaming look at me, I`m here as well - if you see what I mean by that.

[Wonky2]

Interested..... I recently bought a mesa walkabout which has the parametric eq....... I've been mucking about no end with my sound at rehersals.... at one point the frequencies must have been sooooo mixed up it began to sound like a Lesley cabinet with the bass almost "wallowing" like it was underwater ????

Cutting the lows out resolved it but I really needs to get a better understanding....

[Annoying Twit]

I'm quite used to applying EQ in non-musical contexts, but bass is being quite tricky. I spent most of my time up until recently practicing fairly unaccompanied, mostly just a drum-beat. When I used my own looper I panned sounds quite crudely, which meant that even when they were all played on bass, they didn't merge into one. As it takes fewer cables, for practice recently (and I sometimes make recordings of loops plus solos for when I can play them better), I've been using my b1xon looper a bit. But, the loops are basically mono. To get the 'bassy' sound I like for bass played alone (think of the bass break in 'Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey') requires boosts at quite low frequencies, e.g. 50Hz. But if I do that, the bass sound is too bassy, and disappears into a mono mix such that I can hear there's bass there, but if I hadn't just played it myself I wouldn't be able to pick out the notes that were actually played. Mush. Some of this may be due to me being lazy and putting other parts (played on all-fourths guitar or seven string bass) through the b1xon as well, which may be boosting the low frequencies there too much. I'm too used to being able to use ProTools in production, and being able to lowpass filter the bass, and highpass filter other instruments, which seems to usually easily provide both sufficient bassy bass, retaining note definition, and separation by frequency range. But when I do that, I'm typically using my work Ibanez, which has a very nice native tone that doesn't seem to need much work, even DI'd. And I couldn't even say where I'm setting the lowpass and highpass filters, as I've done it by ear. At home I've been challenging myself by EQ'ing my Rockbass Streamer, where the pickups produce a native sound that I don't find so attractive. EQ (as well as compression, a bit of drive, and fundamentally more volume) can help fix that, but with the recording being mono, I need to work harder than I am used to in order to get it to work.

Thanks to everyone for the frequency band recommendations. I'm going to give it another go now, and hopefully over time I'll get a more precise understanding of what frequencies I need to fiddle with in order to get a sound that I picture in my head. I think what I'm going to try tonight is to EQ both the bass and guitar-ish bits in order that they don't compete so much.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Annoying Twit

[Wonky2]

One thing I have noticed which has an impact far bigger than I would have considered is the amount of gain dialed in.
Low gain and a higher out put was a totally different sound to higher gain and a lower output....
Obvious really I know , but as I say it didn't have quite the effect I had assumed. Gain isn't just about growl.