EQ

    Hi,


    Our second guitarist can make the most average amp sound amazing by tweaking a standard 7 band EQ in front of the amp. He sets the gain quite low and does the rest with his playing and the EQ pedal. He's a guitar whisperer really....plays amazingly, amazing guitar tech....and a great ear for dialling things in.


    Anyhow, I'm about to go back to Kemper (I had a Powerhead). I'd returned to using an Engl Ironball as it just sounded warmer and fuller to my ear however much I tweaked my rigs, whatever profiles I invested in.....and regardless of using my DXR10 or a 2 x 12 guitar cab. But that was with one guitarist and now I need more flexibility to carve out different frequencies to get my guitar heard.


    Can the EQ (from memory there was more than one type....) be used in a simple way.....like a 7-band EQ? And can it act as though it is in front of the amp? And has anyone tried therefore pushing the front of the amp to get a bit more gain, but more importantly the kind of full and percussive sound that you can achieve with an EQ in front of the amp?


    Essentially he has this way of tweaking each band in turn and you can see/hear where he finds the sweet spot - and just gets this fat tone that destroys what I thought had been a good sound on my amp!


    Interestingly, I read an article where somebody described the same process for tone controls on amps. Tweaking it with your ears not your eyes......turning each control to the point where it just seems to swell and make that significant difference to your ears.....but I digress :)


    Ultimately, even if the Kemper will respond in the same way as a "real" amp, and I appreciate that a snap shot of one particular setup may not.....I guess it'll be a harder job as I'll need to run through different menu options to get to each frequency band.


    Hope that makes some sense to someone and you have some lovely information / ideas for me :) I'm just back from a 3-day tour and hearing the same result every night of my guitar sounding thin and weak in the mix isn't a nice feeling :(


    Cheers,
    Andy

    Of course you can set an EQ pre stack to your taste.
    It sounds to me you have the same problems I had over one year with my KPA to find the right settings in live situation.
    I tweaked the sounds at home. My band mate who plays lead guitar over an marshall amp and with all other instruments I got lost in the mix or the sound was to boomy and/ or to bright. Another problem was we have very dynamically songs. From low to very high volume. And on most gigs we have no exclusiv FOH mix engineer. Our keyboard player is sound engineer, he does the sound check but plays during the show.


    So I found my freedom with the following rules:

    • choose the profile and settings in band context.
    • I use a pedal and control with it the volume in an post EQ fx slot.
    • In addition if volume goes up in several situations I reduce bass and often highs but raise the mids. For this I use the morph feature and only the normal controls. For me these controls have a more amp behaviour and I dont need an EQ for this.
    • Monitor out EQ: I set this only depending on the location. Last gig I have my monitor box near a corner and have to reduce the bass about 2.3. DB

    After a long time I feel now absolutly comfortable with my sound and think I have a much better sound than my band mate with his miked marshall amp. Okay he is a much better guitar player but thats another story :D


    Okay hope you find some useful information.

    Hi,


    This is really useful thank you :).


    My band is prog rock / metal so we have a wide range of sounds too.


    It can be difficult getting the band to let you play with profiles in a band context but agree it's necessary. What ones do you use?


    I use a pedal and control with it the volume in an post EQ fx slot.


    I didn't completely understand what you are doing there. Could you please explain?


    For this I use the morph feature and only the normal controls. For me these controls have a more amp behaviour and I dont need an EQ for this.


    Do you mean your heel down is your "normal" setting and you toe down is the same rig but with bass and treble reduced and mids increased?


    Are you using you Kemper via a guitar cab...direct to FoH or something else? I found that with my DXR10 the sound was often brittle particularly with crunch / high gain sounds....even using pure cab.......but the cab would sometimes be a bit muffled....but still better.


    Because of that I was never confident to go to a gig and offer the output straight to FoH.


    Thanks,
    Andy

    The EQ in the post stack is used only for volume control. Pedal in heel position at 0DB and in toe position about + 4.5 DB
    And yes I want often more mids and reduced bass and treble. Not to much and depends on is it a clean, crunch or solo sound.


    The first year I played over a mesa guitar cab. But the sound over FOH and guitar cab was to different. So I bought a DXR10 and have a fight with it till I found for me the right profiles and settings.
    For sure there are better guitar sounding monitoring solutions but in case of mid pronounced hearing, wight and size the little box is a very good compromise.


    If you want I can list my profiles I am using. there are only based on six profile for electric and one for accoustic guitar. They work very well with my guitars. But its more important you find the profiles you like for your sound. :)

    Without a doubt, eq is the most important part of the signal chain IMO.


    Less gain nearly always allows the guitar to cut into the mix better. Without the entire band playing, our ears tend to "like" more bass in the guitar tone. Unless you play metal (where the guitar is really a 2nd bass anyway IMO), the guitar needs mids and highs to cut into the mix. You do have to be careful with the highs though, they can cause the sound to be "brittle"


    Frequently, I have seen people add "more gain" because doing so also adds "more highs" which cuts the mix better and gives more clarity .... but more gain also makes notes less distinct.


    Try backing off the gain, then using the eq to bring back the clarity of the guitar. Use of the "Clarity" and "definition" parameters within the amp portion of the stack also can add quite a bit of cut for the guitar sound.


    I tend to use the "pure cab" parameter to give me more smoothness, and more complex more coherent distortion"


    For songs with very strong attack on the guitar, the "pick" parameter in the amp section is also very useful.

    Quote from andyg_prs

    Our second guitarist can make the most average amp sound amazing by tweaking a standard 7 band EQ in front of the amp.


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    Maybe this helps you to overtake your colleague. ;)

    Quote from PETERFR

    The EQ in the post stack is used only for volume control. Pedal in heel position at 0DB and in toe position about + 4.5 DB
    And yes I want often more mids and reduced bass and treble. Not to much and depends on is it a clean, crunch or solo sound.


    The first year I played over a mesa guitar cab. But the sound over FOH and guitar cab was to different. So I bought a DXR10 and have a fight with it till I found for me the right profiles and settings.
    For sure there are better guitar sounding monitoring solutions but in case of mid pronounced hearing, wight and size the little box is a very good compromise.


    If you want I can list my profiles I am using. there are only based on six profile for electric and one for accoustic guitar. They work very well with my guitars. But its more important you find the profiles you like for your sound. :)

    Hi PETERFR.


    Do you mind listing those profiles? I'm currently sifting through profiles for live use. I wouldn't mind having a few extra options to try out at our next rehearsal.


    Kind regards