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I Just Discovered The Value Of Eq..


smrybacki
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Had a patch that was boomy as hell with my JTV59 Variax into my POD HD500, regardless of the guitar model it seemed.  The patch itself was a dual tone, comprised of a Bright Channel Plexi and Normal Channel Deluxe.  A 63 Spring Reverb and Bias tremolo were pushed into both amps and a volume pedal at the beginning of the chain.  I screwed with amp parameters til I was nearly frustrated, and then thought "EQ the signal in".  So I put a studio EQ right after the volume pedal and adjusted down the low signal going in and Viola!

Makes me wonder what else EQ can do for things elsewhere now...

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It's nice when it works for you isn't it? Keep trying things out even it doesn't work, then you'll get to know how things work together. I'm to the point that I don't need to save patches anymore 'cause I know what works and what doesn't, which is what my goal was. I don't like to rely on saved patches 'cause then I have to worry about losing them somehow. So now I just make fresh patches depending on how I hook the HD500 up.

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While EQ can definitely help when needed, I have found the Cab DEP settings really helpful to eliminate boominess without haveing to take up an FX block or worry about gain staging. 

 

Try setting the Low Cut to 120-140 and see how that works.  Res Level and Thump are helpful too but try not to stray too far from 50 in either direction.

 

I know some people use EQ all over the place in their patches but I find it unnecessary if you tweak your gear like it was the real thing, not just software.  I have never seen a pedal board with 4 or 5 EQ's in it...

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EQ is one of the most powerful, and underappreciated, tools in the musical toolbox. 

 

This page at Presonus is very simplified, but provides a good starting point in making your sound really shine well.

 

https://www.presonus.com/community/Learn/Equalizer-Terms-and-Tips

 

That's a nice little guide on EQ from Presonus. Thanks for the link! B) I'll have to admit that I don't know the finer points of proper EQ, and it's one of those things that I think can make or break a good sound. I do see a lot of DH500 patches with numerous EQ block's in them. Sometimes it's apparent why they are there but sometimes I'm not sure. Some of the HD500 EQ blocks don't seem real intuitive to me, but it's probably my lack of experience with them.

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That's a nice little guide on EQ from Presonus. Thanks for the link! B) I'll have to admit that I don't know the finer points of proper EQ, and it's one of those things that I think can make or break a good sound. I do see a lot of DH500 patches with numerous EQ block's in them. Sometimes it's apparent why they are there but sometimes I'm not sure. Some of the HD500 EQ blocks don't seem real intuitive to me, but it's probably my lack of experience with them.

 

See, that's what I thought too -- not very intuitive I mean.  The studio EQ made sense -- low/mid/treb kind of thing.  My experience is mostly with graphic equalizers, dating back to my hi-fi days (dating myself there lol) and I have a grasp of how parametric EQ works too - pick a center frequency and adjust to taste.  But that wasn't how the EQ seemed to be laid out in the POD HD Edit program.  Is there like a parameter guide anywhere about the EQs, and all the models for that matter anywhere out there?

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That is an interesting read, thanks ext1jdh. I really haven't needed to use EQ's much for shaping tone. I seem to get pretty good tones without them. I usually try to keep my tones fairly simple so I can recreate them on a moments notice. So I generally use the tone stack in the model and on the amp to shape. I always use Pre's with No Cab when running Stack Front and Full models when running Studio Direct into PA, and I don't use the latter that often.

 

Radatats, has good info there as the Cabs have an EQ type of effect on things.

 

The way I look at this device is that all the controls are engineered to be like you would be building an actual pedal board except it's in the virtual sense, so when I make changes I look at it as it's a real pedal board (like back in the day, lol) but it's just condensed.

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While EQ can definitely help when needed, I have found the Cab DEP settings really helpful to eliminate boominess without haveing to take up an FX block or worry about gain staging. 

 

Try setting the Low Cut to 120-140 and see how that works.  Res Level and Thump are helpful too but try not to stray too far from 50 in either direction.

 

I know some people use EQ all over the place in their patches but I find it unnecessary if you tweak your gear like it was the real thing, not just software.  I have never seen a pedal board with 4 or 5 EQ's in it...

 

Remember the purpose of an EQ - to equalize the volume of reproduced frequencies across the spectrum. 

 

If you want a signal chain that's the most like the real thing, then you'll be just fine not using an EQ. Also, if you're running into a PA you'll have a sound engineer that's also running an EQ on you. What Radatats says is entirely correct - the amp, cab, and mic settings will work for the vast majority of shaping your sound.

 

That said, your guitar has a level of EQ control - the Tone knob.

The amp has a level of EQ control - the high, mid, low, presence/tone knobs

If you're running effects, many of those also have tone knobs. Many distortion effects have high/low/tone knobs. Same with delays and modulation effects. 

 

There's a lot of minor EQing going on when shaping your tone, whether you're using a dedicated EQ module or not. Using an EQ module may seem unnecessary, but it can make the difference between hiding in the mix or being properly slotted into the mix.

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See, that's what I thought too -- not very intuitive I mean.  The studio EQ made sense -- low/mid/treb kind of thing.  My experience is mostly with graphic equalizers, dating back to my hi-fi days (dating myself there lol) and I have a grasp of how parametric EQ works too - pick a center frequency and adjust to taste.  But that wasn't how the EQ seemed to be laid out in the POD HD Edit program.  Is there like a parameter guide anywhere about the EQs, and all the models for that matter anywhere out there?

 

The only info I have seen from Line6 is in the HD500 ADVANCED GUIDE v2.10 but it is not very detailed.  The best user generated doc I have seen is from MEAMBOBBO and he goes through the EQ's in some detail - here is the link: http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/eq#effects-param

Hope that helps.

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The only info I have seen from Line6 is in the HD500 ADVANCED GUIDE v2.10 but it is not very detailed.  The best user generated doc I have seen is from MEAMBOBBO and he goes through the EQ's in some detail - here is the link: http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/eq#effects-param

Hope that helps.

 

Yeah, I had just gotten to that spot before this reply, and yes it is excellent.  Helps quite a bit actually...

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