General EQ question

    I'm dialing in a new medium gained plexi profile that I'm really liking except for one small thing. When I'm playing open chords (mainly G and D) with the distortion on, the highest couple notes of the chords (2nd fret of high E string and 3rd fret on the B string when playing a D chord) seem to sound really thin and get washed out by the rest of the strings and the overall distortion/overdrive. I don't have a TON of gain or overdrive on (gain is only at a 4.1 on the Kemper). One of the overdrives I'm using is a treble boost with a tone of 2.8 and the volume only at 0.6.


    I like the tone of everything, but those notes just get washed out whenever I'm playing big open chords. I'm using .10 gauge strings and tuned to 430. I'm just wondering, is there a certain range of EQ band that I should be looking to boost in order to make that area of the tonal spectrum pop out more? If I play those same notes in other areas of the fretboard with chords, they sound fine. I've tested this with other guitars and it's the same issue with all.


    I've even added a TINY bit (0.5) of direct mix into the profile to help make some of the notes not sound so thin with the overdrive on.


    Any tips?

    Some suggestions that may help (or not all all...)


    Simple approach:

    1. Make a recoding of the chord(s) heavily affected of what you dislike.
    2. Loop that recording.
    3. Put a parametric EQ after the recoding.
    4. Start with an inverse notch filter: high gain (~12dB), high Q (~12)
    5. Sweep that thing through all the frequency range and see if you can identify the missing sound.
    6. Decrease gain and Q to your liking.


    Advanced approach:

    1. Make a recoding of one chord heavily affected of what you dislike.
    2. Make a recoding of said chord but in a fretboard area where it sounds good.
    3. Compare those two recordings with a Match EQ.
    4. Try to recreate the resulting curve with your favourite Profiler EQ type.
    Quote from Monkey_Man

    What about the "Clarity" parameter, brother?


    IMHO it's tailor-made for your situation; it brings out the individual notes in chords.

    Yeah man. I did try that too. I messed around with that, the power sagging and tube settings and that helped a bit. I think I've got it working the way I need it to now.

    Quote from nejo_hh

    Some suggestions that may help (or not all all...)


    Simple approach:

    1. Make a recoding of the chord(s) heavily affected of what you dislike.
    2. Loop that recording.
    3. Put a parametric EQ after the recoding.
    4. Start with an inverse notch filter: high gain (~12dB), high Q (~12)
    5. Sweep that thing through all the frequency range and see if you can identify the missing sound.
    6. Decrease gain and Q to your liking.


    Advanced approach:

    1. Make a recoding of one chord heavily affected of what you dislike.
    2. Make a recoding of said chord but in a fretboard area where it sounds good.
    3. Compare those two recordings with a Match EQ.
    4. Try to recreate the resulting curve with your favourite Profiler EQ type.

    This is gold for digging in and finding offending frequencies.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

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