Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility Jump to content

Who uses their global EQ to compensate for different guitar pickups?


Rocco_Crocco
 Share

Recommended Posts

I would kind of think that the Global EQ is in the wrong spot in the signal to really compensate for pickups. I guess, though, I'm wondering what exactly are trying to compensate for? It seems to me that whole point of using guitars with different pickups is letting the character of the different pickups come through.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can see Rocco's point because I have a similar situation. If you have two guitars that you want to give play time to, but they sound so different that you can't use the same song preset without compromising the feel of the song, then you need an easy way to compensate without having to have a  completely different preset.

My two Variax's are giving me this problem. I want to play both. One has a 25.5" mahogany neck, the other a 24.75" maple neck. The maple neck is so much brighter that I can't play it without making some adjustment and I don't want to have a bunch of extra presets to sort through. 

I'm kind of thinking having two EQ's in a preset that I can just switch between for the two guitars. I'm not sure I want to be making global eq changes on stage at a gig. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can see Rocco's point because I have a similar situation. If you have two guitars that you want to give play time to, but they sound so different that you can't use the same song preset without compromising the feel of the song, then you need an easy way to compensate without having to have a  completely different preset.

My two Variax's are giving me this problem. I want to play both. One has a 25.5" mahogany neck, the other a 24.75" maple neck. The maple neck is so much brighter that I can't play it without making some adjustment and I don't want to have a bunch of extra presets to sort through. 

I'm kind of thinking having two EQ's in a preset that I can just switch between for the two guitars. I'm not sure I want to be making global eq changes on stage at a gig. 

This is exactly right. My presets are made for my Les paul with a JB bridge pickup. I have other guitars with EMG's, Super distortions, PAFs, etc, and want to figure out how to make all these guitars work with the same presets but adjusting the GEQ. This is for live band situations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this comes down to a person's perspective of what you want to accomplish with different guitars.  If it's a set of comparable guitars and you want to give them playing time I suppose it might be worth it.  It's hard for me to imagine that since the importance of different guitars is what they bring to a song.  The LAST thing in the world I would want would be to try and make my Telecaster sound like my Gretsch Silver Falcon.  That would defeat the purpose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is exactly right. My presets are made for my Les paul with a JB bridge pickup. I have other guitars with EMG's, Super distortions, PAFs, etc, and want to figure out how to make all these guitars work with the same presets but adjusting the GEQ. This is for live band situations.

Do whatever works for ya...but you couldn't pay me to start fiddling with EQ every time I pick up a different guitar. Especially live...there's no time for that. We have a unit with cavernous storage capacity. Enough, even for those who insist on having a different patch for every tune in their set list. Separate banks of patches for different guitars is a much simpler solution (and in the long run, a time saver), because you only have to set them up once, as opposed to constantly tweaking the global EQ every time you grab another instrument. Plus, most of your work is already done...take the patches you have and add an EQ block tweaked for a given guitar. Save, done.

 

And I don't even want to contemplate the mental gymnastics of trying to remember, on the fly, what EQ settings suit which guitar. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

 

Pick up guitar, click footswitch, play...that's as simple as it'll ever get.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing I tried at one point was having a different snapshot, changing mostly amp EQ, for each guitar. But I found that I really wanted to use totally different amp models with different guitars anyway, so that didn't work long-term.

 

But I'm a bad guy to ask now... 'cause I now only have one electric guitar and one hybrid.

 

I think having multiple EQ blocks at the start of the chain is a GREAT solution. have a foot switch that switches between them, one for Start and one for LP or something like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...