maxing out active eq

[Tjhooker]

I've noticed on a couple of basses I've had that pushing the active eq (bass, mid, and maybe a bit less treble) to near max and then adjusting the input gain down on the amp can result in a nice fat tone.

I watched a video of rich brown on YouTube and he said that he does this on his active basses with bass and mids and then knocks out all the treble.

 

Anyone else doing this to achieve their tone?

[Reggaebass]

This is similar to how I use my jazz elite in active, treble off and mid at half, but I have to back off the bass a bit or it’s too much, even for reggae, very clear sounding though, even with no treble 

[Lozz196]

If I recall correctly Cliff Williams of AC/DC does this, then backs off of the treble a tiny bit.

[mep]

On my Stingray 2 band eq I max the bass and have about 80% treble. Then adjust input and amp eq to suit. Seems to work for me.

[gjones]

I suppose it's different strokes for different folks. On my John East J retro, I max the low mid on the sweepable mid control and at most gigs I  don't touch the hi or bass controls. This gives me the best sound live, with a deep but defined tone. 

[Owen]

I used to feel gulity about putting too much EQ onboard. Like it was cheating. Which is nuts. That is what it is there for. I have just bought a Smith floor preamp and whacked the bass up on it. I am very happy. 

[warwickhunt]

Vintage (80's) 2 band active Warwick Streamers... I've always played with the B & T fully whacked up and the amp EQ almost always flat.  Essentially I'd have been putting in a smiley face EQ into the front end of the amp.  

[Tjhooker]

I had a 90s Warwick thumb 2 band I used to do this with and just run the front pickup

[Hellzero]

Andrew Gouché puts his 3 bands EQ all the way up to the max and his tone is just excellent.

[BigRedX]

IME if you need to max out any EQ band (let alone all of them) then your equipment probably isn't right for the sound that you want.

 

Good studio engineers will normally try and achieve the sound they want by cutting the unwanted frequencies rather than boosting the wanted ones. This is what I always do with my signal chain.

 

Ultimately if you are getting EXACTLY the sound that you want then it's probably OK, but if this was me I'd be wondering what was wrong with the rest of my gear, because I would want to apply subtle EQ once in the signal chain and leave it at that, and if I couldn't do that, I'd be looking for what was getting in the way of achieving the sound that I want and replacing that.

 

If you are boosting all the frequencies to max or close to max you are probably overloading an input somewhere in your signal chain and what you probably want to do is add an overdrive/gain pedal instead.

[warwickhunt]

14 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

IME if you need to max out any EQ band (let alone all of them) then your equipment probably isn't right for the sound that you want.

 

Good studio engineers will normally try and achieve the sound they want by cutting the unwanted frequencies rather than boosting the wanted ones. This is what I always do with my signal chain.

 

Ultimately if you are getting EXACTLY the sound that you want then it's probably OK, but if this was me I'd be wondering what was wrong with the rest of my gear, because I would want to apply subtle EQ once in the signal chain and leave it at that, and if I couldn't do that, I'd be looking for what was getting in the way of achieving the sound that I want and replacing that.

 

If you are boosting all the frequencies to max or close to max you are probably overloading an input somewhere in your signal chain and what you probably want to do is add an overdrive/gain pedal instead.

 

Interestingly as I view it, you are simply trying to achieve a sound that you desire by the simplest means possible.  I found that an active Streamer at max bass + treble (no mid control) gave me a core sound I liked and it never saturated the front end of my amp to the point of distortion.  I concede that I could likely get the same result if I left bass EQ flat, turned up the input gain and boosted the same B + T frequencies that the onboard preamp was set at BUT... there's no guarantee that an amp I was plugging into had the ability to boost those same frequencies.  Does that make sense?  

 

[Hellzero]

6 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

Does that make sense?

Totally!

[grenadillabama]

If the bass drum is bassey enough I don't try for more bottom. The same amount for the bass gtr. Hit right with the bass drum is an impact you only get this way . BUT I've known plenty of gtr players who want a bass player to stay out of their 'zone'. Then I saw The Who 6 times.

[dmccombe7]

Historically i always kept the EQ on my active basses flat and adjusted the amp to get tone i want. That was fine in originals bands but now i'm doing covers i need more flexibility and now i have my amp bass knob at 1-2 o'clock with M & T flat and tweak the EQ on my bass to suit the songs i'm doing.

Mostly i tweak the B knob a bit to suit room and use the treble to get a more subtle smooth tone or a clicky edgy tone. A bit of a balancing act but i don't generally max any of the active EQ controls. I've had the T up or down a fair old whack possibly all way off in some songs but depends on room and string age.

Interesting topic as i've always wondered about this and what others tended to go for.

Dave

[cantkeepjohnnydown]

On 10/07/2023 at 11:19, BigRedX said:

IME if you need to max out any EQ band (let alone all of them) then your equipment probably isn't right for the sound that you want.

 

Good studio engineers will normally try and achieve the sound they want by cutting the unwanted frequencies rather than boosting the wanted ones. This is what I always do with my signal chain.

 

Ultimately if you are getting EXACTLY the sound that you want then it's probably OK, but if this was me I'd be wondering what was wrong with the rest of my gear, because I would want to apply subtle EQ once in the signal chain and leave it at that, and if I couldn't do that, I'd be looking for what was getting in the way of achieving the sound that I want and replacing that.

 

If you are boosting all the frequencies to max or close to max you are probably overloading an input somewhere in your signal chain and what you probably want to do is add an overdrive/gain pedal instead.

In the realm of recording and mixing with either in-the-box or outboard effects and all the gain staging that comes with it I would tend to agree with you. When we're just dealing with the core bass sound going into the amp I don't think it's bad practice, although I haven't seriously tried it myself with any active basses I've had as the sound would get so monstrously huge as to be impractical. It does also somewhat defeat the point of having the EQ control at your fingertips, but ultimately whether you fine tune your tone there or on the amp shouldn't matter much. Of course, if you have an older amp it absolutely will overdrive because of the much, much hotter signal (whether you want it or not) so I basically agree with your last point. 

[Boodang]

I have to say it seems almost a random way to achieve your sound! After all, every active eq will have different Qs, peak frequencies etc. Having said that, if the ears say yes then who cares! 

[dclaassen]

On the NE2, I start flat, then adjust as needed. This is assuming no FOH sound engineer.

[warwickhunt]

2 hours ago, Boodang said:

I have to say it seems almost a random way to achieve your sound! After all, every active eq will have different Qs, peak frequencies etc. Having said that, if the ears say yes then who cares! 

 

Not if you use and are referring to one type of bass that has the same fixed EQ.  

[cetera]

Depends on the bass. On my Spectors I pretty much max out the onboard EQ.... gives me the bite, growl and punch I love.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 hours ago, cetera said:

Depends on the bass. On my Spectors I pretty much max out the onboard EQ.... gives me the bite, growl and punch I love.

I think if I maxed out the EQ on my Euro X my speakers wouldn't last too long. Did you turn your trim pot down?

[cetera]

2 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I think if I maxed out the EQ on my Euro X my speakers wouldn't last too long. Did you turn your trim pot down?

Of course. The Trimpot on the Tonepump should always be down around 40-50%