way Of the dodo

What are some common themes for EQing bass? IE a standard for blues/metal/rock

Thanks in advance.

Dunno if it's important, but I'm working with a crappy Ibby Gio and a crappy Ibby practice amp both seem fairly high output.

Ziphoblat

There is no standard. It depends upon the particular tones you wish to achieve.

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MaggaraMarine

Just tweak the knobs. Start with everything at 12 o'clock and listen. Bass knob of course boosts/cuts low frequencies, mid does the same to mid frequencies and treble to high frequencies. There are no right or wrong settings, it's about what you prefer.

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Digitech RP355
MXR Micro Chorus
Laney VC30
Tokai TB48

Sudaka

Ckeck the FAQ, ther'e a nice article abour EQing there!

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way Of the dodo

Checked the FAQ already, looking for more user preferences than an explanation.

MaggaraMarine

Come on. Just try it by yourself. It really depends on your amp how you should EQ it. Some amps have lots of bass, some don't (so it depends if you need to boost them or cut them). We don't know how your amp sounds like so start with every knob at noon. You know what bass, mid and treble knobs do, right? So just tweak them. When every knob is at noon, listen if it needs/lacks something (for example if it's too boomy or bright or muddy or boxy or however you want to describe the sound). If it doesn't need anything and you are happy with your tone when everything's at noon - good. Leave it like that.

It really depends on you also. Is there some bassist whose tone you like? Some bassists like boosting their mids and cutting everything else, some do the opposite. I don't like the sound of anything cranked or at 0. I hate that boomy sound that you get when you crank the bass knob (I actually hate the sound of anything cranked or completely cut - that's just too extreme). Some people like it so their settings are bass: full, mids: min, treble: full. But as I said, I don't like that kind of extreme settings. I listen to the sound and try to make it as clear as possible so that it doesn't sound boomy at all.

__________________
My motto: Play what the song needs you to play!

Gear:

Charvel So Cal (MIJ)
Digitech RP355
MXR Micro Chorus
Laney VC30
Tokai TB48

Spaz91

Keep everything flat, use the EQ to account for the room you're playing in and the instruments you compete against.

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Sudaka

Everything summed up here is very good info. And I would like to agree with MaggaraMarine: It's good not to be extreme with the EQing. I always tweak the knobs between 9 and 3 o'clock. Less or more than that would give you an exxagerated cut/boost... You'd be better off tweaking little by little. Remember that tweaking one knob will shape the sound in a way that may need the other knobs to be tweaked also...

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Sterling SUB 5
Hartke Ha3500 head - Gallien Krueger 212MBE cab
Tech 21 VT Bass
Zoom b2

King Of Suede

Lows and Highs dropped to 0 and Mids up to 11 sounds like Jeff Berlin.

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way Of the dodo

Not to be a **** to anyone else, your advice is understood and appreciated, but thank you suede for voicing a preference.

way Of the dodo

Also the don't go extreme advice has helped me develop my guitar tone which is my real instrument.

MaggaraMarine

To me it sounds like Billy Sheehan. And didn't Lemmy also use this kind of EQ, not sure though?

And many guys use just the opposite EQ which to me sounds terrible (and many guys use it with guitar too and that also sounds terrible). Bass boost with 12 or 15 dB is just huge. I don't even know if it's good to the speakers.

For example at our practice place there's a Peavey TNT 130 watt amp and it's pretty muddy and boomy sounding (I think it's because of the speaker). I need to cut the mids and bass (both are at -6 dB) not to sound too boomy. Even with flat EQ it sounds too boomy. And I really hate boomy sounds. But on some other amp those settings would sound really dull.

__________________
My motto: Play what the song needs you to play!

Gear:

Charvel So Cal (MIJ)
Digitech RP355
MXR Micro Chorus
Laney VC30
Tokai TB48

King Of Suede

My post was sarcastic.

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sam_ofzo

This is probably the best advice you can get regarding EQ.

Unless you're looking for a specific sound, start out flat and make some minor adjustments if necessary.

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Sudaka

Unintentional troll there! Well, I think that's what you get when you can't understand simple advice.

I tend to boost bass a bit, low mids flat, hi mids cut a bit and a very little high boost. Nice sound overall. Good for backbone bass playing, and also for more funkadelic sounds. It's the sound I tend to like, but everyday on rehearsal it still takes a little tweaking.

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Not mine, his!

Sterling SUB 5
Hartke Ha3500 head - Gallien Krueger 212MBE cab
Tech 21 VT Bass
Zoom b2

Ziphoblat

In which dimension does your bass reside, then?

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