EQing your amp to accomodate Strats, Pauls and P-90s

[ninja of love]

What changes do you make?

[fishfartz]

if its for live playing and you have to switch guitars during the set while using the same amp, its easier to pre-set an EQ pedal to match the bright guitar and just kick it on when you change -

of course you can walk over to the amp and start twisting knobs, too

[ninja of love]

Originally posted by fishfartz if its for live playing and you have to switch guitars during the set while using the same amp, its easier to pre-set an EQ pedal to match the bright guitar and just kick it on when you change - of course you can walk over to the amp and start twisting knobs, too

OK. Twist knobs to what settings?

[ZachOmega]

My favorite amp has 2 controls...Volume and Tone.

I set the volume where I want it. Roll the tone control around until it sounds right. Play. Too many options confound things.

-Zach Omega

[one4rich]

I set my amp for a good tone, and the let guitars sound how they sound. If I want the brighter tone, I'll use the Strat or Tele...for darker I'll either use the Explorer or the Peavey. I also have the variety of pickups on each guitar to choose from.

Changing the amp's EQ is like saying you like only one tone, no matter which guitar you're playing. What's the point of changing guitars if you're going to EQ all the identity out of it? I'm usually changing guitars because I'm after a different tone.

Having said that, I do have the issue of different guitars with different outputs. Obviously hot humbuckers are louder than single coils, etc. The way I solve this to keep my levels consistent is to program my rack in banks. My midi-pedal is set up for banks of 10 patches each, so I set up 4 banks, with each bank a bit louder than the next. I soundcheck with my loudest guitar on the quietest bank, and then during the gig I step up a bank or two for consistent levels depending on which guitar I'm using.

The hard part is remembering to switch back down when I pick up the louder guitars...it's easy to blow the mix If I don't watch my own levels. I try really hard to keep it in check, that way FOH isn't tempted to turn me down out front. If he knows I'm attentive to it, and not just playing "volume wars" he'll allow me to police my own area, so to speak.

[fishfartz]

Originally posted by ninja of love OK. Twist knobs to what settings?

 

 

 

 

 

it depends on what tone you are trying to eliminate

 

 

its perfectly normal to mess with the EQ (amp or pedal) when switching guitars, and i dont see why anyone with different guitars would want to EQ them all to sound the same - but sometimes having the amp/pedal set one way to bring out the best of an axe, it may rob frequencies out of the next guitar that you'll have to EQ to bring back

 

 

as far as what settings, if the guitar is too bright tame it with either the volume knob (rolling back a hair works on bright strat bridge pickups), selecting a different pickup, guitars tone - or the amps tonal controls. sometimes taming the highs does it, some amps need the mids dropped a bit to kill the high treble as well.

 

if you have seperate guitars, you can leave the amp set for your main one, and set an EQ pedal to match the others best, and kick it on when switching

[FWAxeIbanez]

are you in a cover band that switches tunings or something? I agree, why would you want to make all your guitars sound the same? in that case I'd just use one guitar... but assuming you are in a cover band or a band that needs to switch tunings around, I'd go with the e.q. pedal ideas

[TomcatMF]

I don't change tone setting to adjust for a guitar, I just let the guitars natural tone come through and I choose my guitar for particular tone I want for a song.