How do you EQ your amps in relation to speaker placement.

Ché

How do you validate the settings on your amp? On-axis to the speaker, off axis or to sound good where you're standing?

My Mesa MK I is hyper directional and beams like no other amp I've played. It's either too muddy if I stand to the side or too bright nearer the cone. I often wonder how we even decide if an amp/speaker sounds great as it's so dependent on where our ears are in relation to it.

Ideal scenario is a mic to in-ear monitors or stage wedges but I'm lucky to get mic'd at some gigs.

Would be cool to hear your thoughts.

english_bob

I start with the knobs somewhere in the middle and start playing. I generally EQ to where I'm standing, but I don't generally get to play on big stages.

Not necessarily helpful as that approach seems to be generally agreed to be a bad way to approach a Boogie.

Have you looked in to any of the various anti-beaming gizmos on the market? I'm not sure how effective they are...

TTBZ

I normally sit in front of it so I'm getting the full sound right in my face. I've ended up with treble off, presence mid and bass on 6-6-6 (not on purpose, it just sounds best that way)!

ICBM

Bass full, mid zero, treble full, presence full.





















Actually on many amps I do have the bass up full and the mid low, but it's really dialled in more carefully than that.

I do it from relatively in front of the speaker, but not right in line with the centre, if that makes sense - I wouldn't mic the speaker there, and that extreme focused bright/harsh sound doesn't carry out into the room anyway (or not if you've positioned your amp properly).

english_bob said:

Have you looked in to any of the various anti-beaming gizmos on the market? I'm not sure how effective they are…

The one you want is the Mitchell Donut - it's the only one that works correctly and isn't a gimmick based on a misunderstanding of what causes the 'beam'… it's isn't the centre cap of the speaker.

I don't think it's available commercially but it's fairly easy to make yourself.

http://www.stratopastor.org.uk/strato/amps/prii/speaker/foamdonut/foamdonut.html

Dopesick

Two EQ settings - one for home practice, and then band practice/gigs.

Home practice is mids around 2:00, treble 3:00 and bass 2:00. Voice setting is somewhere around the middle.
For band practice/gigs, nearly everything is turned up max.

Then I adjust EQ settings for fuzz/distortion on top of that. Thinking about getting an EQ pedal as well for more control.

english_bob

ICBM said:

english_bob said:

Have you looked in to any of the various anti-beaming gizmos on the market? I'm not sure how effective they are…

The one you want is the Mitchell Donut - it's the only one that works correctly and isn't a gimmick based on a misunderstanding of what causes the 'beam'… it's isn't the centre cap of the speaker.

I don't think it's available commercially but it's fairly easy to make yourself.

http://www.stratopastor.org.uk/strato/amps/prii/speaker/foamdonut/foamdonut.html

I remember reading that some of the things being sold as "beam blockers" and the like weren't actually effective, hence the caveat. Good to know that there is at least one thing out there that does the job.

Even more so that it's a DIY solution that'll cost less than a tenner and an hour or two of your time!

sgosden

Bass full, mids full, treble full, volume full. that's how to get the best sound right?

Oh and gain upto full! 

stickyfiddle

Start with everything on 12 and usually up the mids to 2ish. 
 
Though I have an amp on order which doesn't have a mids knob, so that'll be a challenge!

John_A

If I'm gigging using mostly my amp to provide the out front sound I'll wander out the front during soundcheck and tweak so it sounds good out front and not worry about what it sounds like to me on stage (pub floor) 

If I'm going through the PA I'll tweak so it sounds good to me and leave the rest to our sound engineer (me)

Bidley

I usually always settle with everything at noon. Sometimes the bass is a little lower.

Ché

Yeah, I've tried Weber Beam Blockers but they rattle with low frequencies and are therefore useless. Siliconing them onto the baffle would no doubt cure this but it then becomes permanent.

EQ settings themselves are amp dependent and therefore completely ambiguous, I was more concerned with the physical point at which you measure your adjustments from. Makes sense to judge off axis given that's the de facto placement for microphones, I just worry for whoever ends up in the beam of the speaker  

Is this mainly a combo thing (or a Boogie thing), walk up to the amp, EQ to taste, walk away from the amp by even an inch and hello muffled tone?

Interesting enough I don't get this affect with my old Vibro Champ, could it be the MC90 speaker? I know most if not all frequencies above 500Hz are directional but do speakers have their own dispersion characteristics irrespective of cabinet design? (which is after all only an open back box)

RocknRollDave

It's a very good question to ask where you are standing when you EQ the amp - I am definitely guilty at times of being in the "sounds good where I am standing, sounds baaaaad out front...." camp because I don't always check out front.

Cirrus

I pretty much arrive at my settings through recording sessions, then slightly tweak them for a general purpose average "Cirrus tone" for all the songs in my live shows. That way I know it sounds good to the mic that'll invariably be right in front of the speaker. So if it sounds a little middy where my ears are off axis and without the low end proximity effect of a close mic, I live with that.

p90fool

I just put a big, double layered cross of gaffa tape across the speaker hole on the baffle of both of my combos, under the grill cloth, obviously. 

They no longer beam, the sound is now very similar both on and off access, whereas the transition before was woolly blanket/laser cutter. 

professorben

Bass, Mid, Treble @ 666.

RocknRollDave

professorben said:

Bass, Mid, Treble @ 666.

Oooh, you devil....!

ESBlonde

It depends, the tone stack on certain amps can be quite different in the way they react to one another. I tend to stand on stage and play with my favourite settings and see how the room responds, typically there is no need to adjust anything. Bass is the last thing I have up high though because we have another (5 string) bloke and a keys player to take care of that stuff. A nice smooth mid hump that cleans up well is the order of the day, building lots of tones on that is easy then.

On a common or garden HRD it might be Bass 3+, Mid 8, Treble 7, Presence 8, (alll out of 12) clean chan vol 4. Combo raised on hard case lid about 20" All pedals before the low gain input. I get plenty of compliments on my tone from other guitarists at Jams and the like.

citizen68

+1 here for the Mitchell donut thing - really seems to even out the off-axis sound of the cab making the amp sound the same regardless of where you stand - easy to do too - make sure you use proper acoustic foam!

timmysoft

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e120/timmysoft/Mobile Uploads/image_zpsyb8aueog.jpeg

Its pretty easy to set up your eq when you only have one knob for it. It's surprising how much the gain interacts with the eq on this amp though, lower gain is brighter and the eq seems to get darker as you ramp the gain up.

jaysmith

It depends on the amp, as mentioned earlier.  My EVH 5150 sound good with everything at noon regarding EQ.... However, my Mesa single rectifier head is best with bass backed off to quarter to, mid at quarter past, highs at noon, presence at quarter to

Flanging_Fred

My basic Marshall JCM800 gig setup

low input

gain full
volume 12oclock
treble 9 oclock
mid  12 oclock
bass full
presence 12 oclock

works well enough, just tweak a little here and there when doing the sound check.