EQ Yes or NO

  • Generally speaking, most of us create our rigs/performances in a specific setting with a specific set of speakers.

    When you move to a different setting or different set of speakers (PA) in order to have the same sound as when you setup your rigs/performances, you generally need the output EQ to adjust for the differences or things won't sound the way you set them up to sound.


    Since I play in 3 different configurations, I have 3 eq's:


    1) My headphones AT 50M's

    2) My FOH (DSR112's over PRX618XLF)

    3) Guest playing with my Kemper and a single DSR112 monitor


    It isn't an exact science, but it gets me pretty close. Note, that my headphones are never going to give the chest thump on palm mutes like my full FOH system will, so you have to have reasonable expectations with how much can be adjusted for with eq :)

  • I like to find a Profile that requires little in the way of EQ for the sound I’m after. I’ll twiddle with the Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence. But not much.


    I spend more time with Definition, Clarity (for dirty sounds) and Direct Mix.


    I almost never use an EQ stomp. For guitar, I look at them as problem solvers. Or a way to make an amp sound like something it isn’t.

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

  • Seem to be having luck not using the EQ Do you all use yours? KJ

    I use the Studio EQ in the "X" slot on almost all of my moderate to high gain tones. Mainly to put a high cut on there and get rid of the nasty high frequencies (generally around 7k and up) and then to take a small amount out around 3.5k. I've got a low cut set in the universal settings for all of my tones around 90hz. These all change slightly depending on the profile. But to me, it makes the most sense to use the EQ rather than having to do it at the board/house system each time. No matter where you play, if you're playing through a profile that has nasty frequencies in it, those frequencies are still going to be there regardless of what you're playing through for a house system - it's just a matter of to what extent. So my thought process is to eliminate the problem or nasty frequencies from the start of the signal chain and then it's more consistent and less tweaking to have to deal with at the time of the show.

  • No matter where you play, if you're playing through a profile that has nasty frequencies in it, those frequencies are still going to be there regardless of what you're playing through for a house system - it's just a matter of to what extent. So my thought process is to eliminate the problem or nasty frequencies from the start of the signal chain and then it's more consistent and less tweaking to have to deal with at the time of the show.

    I agree with what you are saying. However, if you follow the logic to its ultimate conclusion you should get the profile right at source without the nasty frequencies in the first place. If there are nasty frequencies maybe a different profile would be appropriate.

  • If you play on other peoples PA, even if your don't have any nastiness in your profile, the PA may be putting the nasty in anyway ;).


    I would argue in these situations, you need to "De-Nasty" the PA with your Kemper's output EQ (or get the FOH engineer to do it from the board). I just prefer to set my own eq while standing out front using a tablet. This isn't always possible and in those cases, you just have to rely on the FOH engineer to get things right for you.

  • - I find a profile with a tone/feel a like


    - first thing I do is going to the amp block and put all eq at 0 to have the sound of the profile as it was profiled.
    - then I always set the amp eq to pre and remove some bass as I always found nearly 100% profiles have way too much muddy/unwanted bass.

    - I put an eq on X generally just to find the « cocked wav » frequencies that is always too much for my taste.


    - if I want to adjust the tone I prefer to use boost and drives in front of the amp, you can really tweak the tone with them.


    And I have my output cuts at about 90 and 6.5/7k

  • Only needs a little help:

    1) Graphic EQ as first stomp. Use GEQ to cut bass and boost mids. Hi cut to reduce noise between 2-5k.

    2) Treble Booster after amp set to 10% mix. Brightens up and livens the mix.


    If it needs more EQ:

    3) Set AMP EQ to Pre and turn off 1). You can reduce bass and boost mids in the Amp EQ now. If you leave the EQ to POST it colors the sound too much.

    4) Studio EQ right after the amp. This gives you a ton of control to really dial it in where you want.


    All of the EQ methods will usually kill some of the picking attack. It is best to get as close as you can without EQ. So I usually start by changing the IR/CAB. I have converted many CABs back to IR WAVE files so I can EQ them to my needs. I also make IRs by hand with filtering in Goldwave for fun.


    So my typical approach:

    6) Set AMP EQ to Pre.

    7) Cycle thru 100's of IRs. After about 15 they all start to sound the same. Find one close then EQ the Wave File to get it closer to what I want.

    8) Come back next day and say "That sounds terrible" and return to step 7.

  • I like to find a Profile that requires little in the way of EQ for the sound I’m after. I’ll twiddle with the Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence. But not much.


    I spend more time with Definition, Clarity (for dirty sounds) and Direct Mix.


    I almost never use an EQ stomp. For guitar, I look at them as problem solvers. Or a way to make an amp sound like something it isn’t.

    This is close to my approach.


    Although I find most profiles need the presence reduced no matter the cab and I don't get along with the clarity knob. It sounds artificial to my ear.


    I also use global hi and lo cut for all live performances.