themanthatwalks
Was wondering about how much an EQ pedal can change a pickup nature...
Say I have a humbucker that gets a little messy with highgain, and is not that inclined to shredding on its own, can I make it more shred positive by sending it through say a EQ pedal??
My head says that it sould definitly make a diffrence, but can you get something that is a little loose, alot tighter?
AlanRatcliffe
EQ can help a lot , but tends to create as many problems as it solves if you need to do radical tone shaping. Most of the pedal EQs I've tried have been lacking in the sound quality stakes and introduce all kinds of phasing problems, hiss and allsorts. I ran a two channel 32 band rack unit for a year or so once (one channel pre distortion, one channel post), but actually found I could get better tone by making it sound good at the source and use as little as possible in the way of corrective tools like EQ and compression.
Matt-White
By coincidence I just started using an EQ pedal (boss) for the first time. When playing with other people, which includes another guitarist, I found that my sound doesnt cut through the mix - most probably compounded because the two of us are using almost the same equipment.
I like my solo sound (valvish warm and bluesy, sometimes slightly classic rockish), but suddenly I had to "clean up" the tone. Im only using overdrive pedals at this stage and am looking at a proper distortion ped for the first time - maybe a DS-1?
In any case, I turned up the gain level on my SD-1 overdrive and put the EQ ped just after it in the chain. It worked. (With a "scooped'' setting - bottom and highs increased and mids lowered). Suddenly my power chords and single notes sparkled through.
However, A is absolutely right - the more you boost those freq, the more the pedal hisses. I had to include a noise reducer at the end of the chain, also for the first time. Be prepared to budget for that as well...
Ill get along like this, until I have money for (and made up my mind about) a distortion ped to use alongside the SD-1.
david1976
I would use an overdrive pedal like an Ibanez TS or Boss SD-1 or OD-3 to tighten up the sound. A lot of metal guys run an overdrive pedal before the amp to get a tighter bass and you can also dial in some more gain if your pickup is not up to it.
themanthatwalks
Not looking for a permanent solution. Just for playing around at house and sometimes practicing/playing metal when I am in the mood. not a metal player and thus would not get pickups that would fit that, but just wanted to know, for funzies
