The EQ.. friend or foe

Hi

I have been playing guitar for around 16 years now and have had all sorts of effects, in single pedals and multi-effects stations, but one thing I have never really been able to "consistently" adjust on the effects and my amps is the EQ settings.

I realise that each individual playing style would dictate a different EQ setting but I just seem to randomly twist and fiddle around until it's almost how I want and then give up. What I usually end up with is a sound that when played softly sounds like it has the entire spectrum of sound but when played with a little more vigour, becomes very bass-ey. If I reduce the bass on the amp, then I am stuffed if I need to play a little softer.. if I reduce the bass on the pedal, the same thing applies.. I want a nice clear tone, whether playing distorted or clean, without any part of the sound (low, mid or high) getting out of control.

Is there some magical formula? Putting the amp settings at halfway for all the EQ and then adjusting the effects pedal settings makes sense.. but where do I go from there?

Thanks,
Luke

PS. My main inspiration for playing comes from David Gilmour (Pink Floyd).

I recently had a discussion with a sound engineer about this because I have the same problem. Basically, you need to get your sound as best you possibly can with the basics. EQ should then provide the punch required to boost the character. What kind of signal chain are you using? Also, you should put the EQ before any pedals and the preamp itself. Post EQ is what you get in a studio, that is done when you are happy with the tone but just want to get iot to sit with the rest of the mix.

I have a standard strat with active pickups running through a zoom G1X to a fender princeton stereo chorus amp. something like that anyway.. :) the amp is 120w through 2 10" speakers... is that what you mean?

I always set the eq on my amp first....then just tweak my eq pedal. I've found that to my ears, an eq pedal sounds a whole lot better when in the effects loop instead of between the guitar and amp...

I've only got a tone knob on my overdrive, which I usually set all the way to the bassy side due to insane midrange. I have had the same amp eq problem too though. Although... I have come to enjoy a recent setting. I love a huge fat tone and that usually results in the thought of above avergage bass levels, 50% midrange and a reduced treble level. This results in a screamin lead tone that distorts with big honkin chords. So I have come to enjoy the treble in the past week or so. A setting that has earned its keep (knobs go to 12 :D from 1-lowest to you get the idea) treble 5-6 bass 5-6 and mid about 7. This way everything balances out and no one tone bites through on lead or rhythm tones. Also, I should brig into the picture that I mic (the amp being a fender deville 2 by 12) it to another marshall 50dfx. Not the greatest amp, and its my old one, but this way I can get some chorus out of it which I dont have in a stomp box, and I can also further adjust the EQ. I tend to jack up the treble a bit more on this cuz It's not as harsh as from the direct source of the signal, and this helps greatly with cleaning up rhythm tones. Alright, I know I didn't really help your situation much, but maybe you got something out of that. :rolleyes:

I've never had much luck with EQ. I tend to get all my different lead sounds with a wah, pickup changing, or things like a phaser.