III. Studio eq
The other EQ effect I like to use is the Studio EQ. It gives you two peak/valley controls, each with configurable center frequency and gain, both with a fairly wide Q (~4-6 octaves). I used to like to use it to adjust the very high and low end, but I have discovered the mid-focus actually does this better once you learn how to use it. The main advantage of this EQ is that it has two bands, so for general boost/cuts you can use it and take up less DSP than two Parametric EQs.
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IV. 4 Band Shift eq
Honestly, I never use this EQ. It's not that it's unusable; it's just that you never really know what you're going to get. Read the description below and see if you could say, "Oh that's exactly what my patch needs!"
It provides 4 peak/dip band EQ's with gain denoted in db's already.
Lo freq - centered around 90 HZ with shift at 50%, about 2 octaves wide. Use to boost/cut thump.
Low mid - centered around 180 HZ with shift at 50%, about 2 octaves wide. Use to boost/cut punch.
Hi mid - centered around 1 kHZ with shift at 50%, about 6 octaves wide. Use make the tone more or less midsy across the whole tone.
High - centered around 4 kHZ with shift at 50%, about 5 octaves wide. Use like a treble control.
Shift - causes the low and low mids bands to shift from higher to lower center frequencies, while causing the high and high mids bands to shift from lower to higher center frequencies, as shift moves from 0 to 100%. Shift move the center frequency of each band about 1 octave from its min to max setting.
This could potentially be used in conjunction with or to replace the amp EQ controls. Or maybe if you're not using an amp, it would make a good replacement for those. For messing with shift, set it towards 0% if you want the bands to affect the frequencies closer to the mids, 100% if you want them further away. I wouldn't really touch Shift until you've set the other bands, then see if it makes a bit of an improvement. Good Luck!
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v. Mid-Focus EQ
As the name implies, this EQ boosts the mid frequencies by means of a high pass and a low pass filter. Its default settings are for a heavy mid boost, which can immediately turn people off. To make the EQ neutral, set hp freq 0%, lp freq 100%, both Q's at around 55% and turn gain down to almost 0%. I like to start here and gradually improve the tone.
This EQ has the only high-pass and low-pass filters, other than the Vintage Mic Pre effect. Also, the low pass frequency goes almost all the way to 20 kHZ, so it provides an excellent way to trim the high end. The cab DEP's include a high-pass filter now, which reduces the need for this EQ, but you get more control over it here because of the variable Q.
The Q settings affect the slope the rolloff, and when higher than around 60%, they actually form a resonance peak that slightly boosts the signal before rolling off above or below that point. At 100%, the boost is quite strong - around 10 db. Below are the frequencies of these resonant peaks with 100% Q.
HP % |
HP Freq (HZ) |
LP % |
LP Freq (HZ) |
|
0% |
0 |
0% |
500 |
|
10% |
65 |
10% |
600 |
|
20% |
110 |
20% |
800 |
|
30% |
160 |
30% |
1,200 |
|
40% |
205 |
40% |
1,500 |
|
50% |
250 |
50% |
2,000 |
|
60% |
325 |
60% |
3,500 |
|
70% |
400 |
70% |
6,000 |
|
80% |
450 |
80% |
8,500 |
|
90% |
500 |
90% |
12,000 |
|
100% |
525 |
100% |
18,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
I recommend starting with Q around 55% and changing frequency to find the spot where you want to trim the high or low end. Then adjust Q and fine-tune frequency. 0% is a very wide, gradual roll-off, whereas 55% is relatively abrupt.
With Q higher than that and you're actually getting a resonant peak, boosting at that spot before dropping off. This can possibly create the opposite effect that you want, but for extreme highs and lows it's not as noticeable. It's also quite useful to fine tune the signal before the amp. You can filter the lows and highs as well as give a mild to extreme boost where you want to focus the amp's distortion on.
Also, notice how quickly the frequency moves from ~4 kHZ to ~18 kHZ for the low-pass. It's very sensitive, so be wary of that when you're trying to trim the high end - IE don't just adjust 5% at a time, move 1% at a time.
I typically use the SM 57 mic, which is very bright. To compensate, I need to use the low-pass on this EQ to roll-off those highs to get a more natural-sounding amp tone. I find the frequency around 60-75% works, and I use very low Q values (0-20%).
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