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Location: GA USA | I have been working my way through the CDs and DVDs that came with the Wooden Roundback, and I was watching the Unique Voices DVD. Melissa Etheridge said that every time she played her Ovation, people commented on how good it sounded.
I played the WRB Wednesday night with the youth band, and they were playing the same set last night for the church at large, so I sat in again. Actually, this time I played the Balladeer, so I stood in. As before, after the service, someone came up to me to tell me how good the guitar sounded.
But tell me this... Steve Lukather said on the DVD that he has always just set the EQ flat. So I flattened out the EQ, but still took the mid ranges way down on the sound board (and the high and low up), as I have been doing. Do you all have a standard for EQ? It just seems to me that too much midrange is what gives an AE guitar that artificial sound. |
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Posts: 1138
Location: CT | I don't think anyone can have a 'one size fits all' eq setting. Everywhere you play is different, even the same venue with a different amount of people. Someone commented in another thread they didn't want an older 'Mint' Legend, because it only had the two knob FET Pre-amp. I love this pre-amp. It's simple and sounds great. The guys at the board have a lot more knobs than any on board pre amp is ever going to have, and are more than happy to use them. If you have the same sound guy all the time, and your guitar is set flat every time, he's going to have less guesswork. |
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October 2005
Posts: 5330
Location: Cicero, NY | I noted that as well, Captn, and when I did it reminded me of something Matt Smith said at the last Tour when he was demoing the VIP preamp for the crowd. He said something to the effect of (and if anyone remembers and can quote this better than I, feel free to correct me) "I really don't want them to put eq's slides in because I find that people have a tendency to use them." That was said with tongue firmly in cheek but I took that to mean that he generally preferred the eq's flat as well.
That said, there's no question that one size simply cannot fit all which is why you get 'em. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I never hear any difference. Do I need to plug it into an amplifier? |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | NO. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by Captain_Lovehandles:
It just seems to me that too much midrange is what gives an AE guitar that artificial sound. This can get way complicated, so if I end up going nowhere I apolgise.
Firstly midrange frequencies have a much bigger impact on overall tone than anything else. This is partly due to something known as the Fletcher-Munsen equal loudness contour. Basically the human ear is non-linear and is less sensitive to high and low frequencies, plus overall sensitivity to the frequency spectrum varies according to amplitude.
Secondly, piezo pickups tend to have a very flat response and are picking up mostly string sound, while most flat-top acoustic guitars bodies tend to have a dip in the response at around 500Hz to 1.5KHz. Which means that an amplified guitar with the EQ set flat will appear to have more midrange compared to the acoustic sound.
So, generally a midrange cut will produce a sweeter more natural plugged-in tone, but because of the Fletcher-Munsen shenanigans I mentioned earlier as the volume goes up so does the ear's sensitivity to high and low frequency. The result is you need less mid-cut at higher volume or your tone can go thin and weedy. As an example try using the pre-shape you find on certain Ovation preamps at fairly low volume, then crank the amp volume and see how completely different it sounds.
The "Smiley face" EQ you describe (mid cut, high and low boosted) generally sounds OK at low to moderate volume but can sound gutless and un-natural as the overall level is turned up.
Playing style is also a factor. Strummed open-position chords generally sound better with a mid-range cut, but fingerstyle and single-note stuff need a little more guts in the mids.
As a rule, extreme cutting or boosting of EQ, unless it's parametric EQ with variable bandwidth, is asking for trouble, either by propagating feedback or producing a crap tone. A cut or boost of just 3dB is the equivalent of halving or doubling the perceived volume at that frequency, so take it easy with the EQ sliders on the preamps, and the knobs on the boards. |
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November 2002
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Assuming all people's hearing being equal, also. Too many rock concerts as a youth, ah'm a-feared.... |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Uh-huh. Does this explain why I can only hear the bass and treble on the car stereo when I go faster, even though it has speed dependent volume? |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Seesquare, It's the high-end rather than the mid that suffers from excessive volume, plus as we age we lose roughly 1kHz off the top-end for every ten years of life.
When I was teaching full-time we had an audiologist come into the University as part of the acoustics degree program. He tested some of the kids who were DJ's and/or went to dance clubs regularly. There were 19 year-olds whose hearing was cutting off at 14kHz!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pete Townshend has better hearing than that now! |
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February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | This kind of talk really impresses me. Keep this thread going.
John <>{ |
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October 2005
Posts: 5330
Location: Cicero, NY | Originally posted by bauerhillboy:
This kind of talk really impresses me. Keep this thread going.
John <>{ ...which is adult for "I love it when you talk like that"... |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by Paul Templeman:
This can get way complicated, so if I end up going nowhere I apolgise. Apology accepted. Dave |
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The Same Is True