Would this be a good unit to use for EQ for my rig?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
no.

i despise analog EQ in a guitar rig, digital does not do to much to benefit either. PA needs are not the same as guitar needs - PA is about attacking feedback and getting the best headroom possible, but in doing so you introduce many phase changes with the original signal and although this may not seem important, in a guitar rig where distortion is concerned - it can and WILL hurt your tone more than help it.

with EQ - less is more. meaning, the less bands of phase change you introduce the better off your tone will be. this is especially true for post-preamp EQ's where speaker phase becomes important.

get an MXr 6 band or MXR 10 band - find one of the old blue ones if you have to have EQ. but honestly i recommend no EQ at all in a guitar rig. do all of the EQ after the speaker's recording/post recording.
 
thanks... nearly avoided a $200 mistake from happening! Thanks.
 
I believe eq is the single most important effect a guitarist can have.

Aside from being able to tailor your rig for different axes, you can dial out offending frequencies or dial in missing frequencies. No amplifiers tone stack can suit everyones tastes.

The main benefit is being able to use the eq pre distortion and have complete control over the frequencies that are distorting.
 
moltenmetalburn":mgzlg0i7 said:
I believe eq is the single most important effect a guitarist can have.
Click to expand...

i disagree - EQ is a just another tool. just like overdrives and clean boosts. you want to try and get away with as little EQ'ing as possible to get the desired effect. hence why i said 6-band/10 band which targets the musical frequencies that are involved with distortion and cleans. or go all out and get a parametric EQ - but not a dual channel 32 band analog EQ designed for PA use like the OP posted.

moltenmetalburn":mgzlg0i7 said:
you can dial out offending frequencies or dial in missing frequencies. No amplifiers tone stack can suit everyones tastes.
Click to expand...

a tonestack is complicated, as are EQ's - the tone of the EQ depends on how well it was designed from the start. you alter the reactance of a capacitor - what frequency you change depends on the value of that capacitor and the resistance of the circuit. this reactance change also changes the phase of your original signal. dialing in missing freqencies means you're phase changing everything below or above that point. getting more highs only means taking away emphasis to the lows, getting more lows means your taking away emphasis on the highs - thats how a passive EQ works with capacitors and RL circuits. an active circuit only uses its own power to further this affect and increase the dB level as well. you are still altering the source signal.

capacitors have a phase change as do inductors. Mesa's mark series EQ's use inductors and capacitors in each individual EQ band to help the user target the desired frequencies. because each inductor and capacitor of each band is in series - you can slide the sliders and get inductance and capacitor reactance canceling, leaving only the resistive aspect in the circuit due to what is called circuit resonance. this is important because when the reactances are canceled out, the voltage and current are in phase with one another and only see the series resistance. this is why you can get away with the V shape in a mesa and it not sound like complete ass.

most EQ's do not take this much consideration into effect. the only other companies i know that take this into consideration are diezel's.

most massive EQ systems are in PA and studio-recording for the polishing ability. in guitar rigs, its best not to use them or use them sparingly.
 
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