How do you utilize tunable Low & Hi Mid Functions

[Mking]

This may be a basic question regarding how to dial in the mids on a mixer or preamp (such as the Venue D.I.) that are tunable. But I'm not clear on it and need help.
First of all what is the correct way to tune/sweep across the frequencies to hear all the different sounds? For example, on my Venue DI, do you turn down all the EQ knobs except for the one you want to adjust and turn that one all the way up?
Now that you can hear the tunable frequencies, are you looking for the one you don't want in your mix and cut that one, or are you looking for a frequency in the midrange you do want to keep to take up or down to improve that mid range tone in your sound?

I have the low and high mids tunable on my Venue D.I and a tunable mid on my Allen & Heath mixer. Thanks

Michael

[MaurysMusic]

Usually, I'll set the bass & treble where I want them first. Next I'll crank the gain on the sweepable midrange and sweep to find the most nasty, offensive frequency. Once I find it, I'll try and reduce it a little at a time and take as little out as I need.

On some guitars & situations, I'll set the frequency to a pleasing low-midrange location and increase it a touch, but I never add much. Subtractive EQ always sounds better to me than adding some. YMMV.

Its also important to note that sometimes there is no need for surgical midrange EQ. I don't employ that control if its not improving the tone.

[Mking]

I cannot get rid of the metallic sounding mid tone when amplifying the guitar. Taking the gain of the low and high mid out helps but the guitar still has that sound. The bass sounds good and the high strings sound okay and they too would probably sound better if I could get this quacky metallic mid sound to go away.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Mking

I cannot get rid of the metallic sounding mid tone when amplifying the guitar. Taking the gain of the low and high mid out helps but the guitar still has that sound. The bass sounds good and the high strings sound okay and they too would probably sound better if I could get this quacky metallic mid sound to go away.

Hi Michael…

A few questions to help zero in:

• What guitar is the pickup in?
• What pickup is in it?
• What are you amplifying it through?

[Mking]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Michael…

A few questions to help zero in:

• What guitar is the pickup in?
• What pickup is in it?
• What are you amplifying it through?

A Gibson J-45TV with the K&K pickups into a Venue DI then into an Allen & Heath mixer into a Bose tower system. Sometimes I go straight in into the mixer.

[pops]

Try removing mids instead of bass and treble.

[pieterh]

There is a reason that sweep ("tunable") eq is usually reserved for the mids if there isn't space or budget for all eq bands. Most of what we hear and a guitar delivers is in the low- to hi-mid band though what exactly constitutes the mid band can be open to discussion!

So, to follow on from the above, leave your lo and hi controls at zero (ie no cut, no boost) and concentrate on the middle section of the sound. You may want to eq for more than one reason, the most common are to compensate for a room or space (the venue's acoustics will probably amplify certain frequencies more than other, by taming back these frequencies from your guitar or PA you bring the overall sound back to being fairly even and balanced), or to smoothen out something inherent in the guitar.

Either way, the trick is to leave the eq flat, as I said, and start by boosting the gain on the mid only while using the mid's other control (the frequency) to sweep up and down the spectrum until the frequency you don't want jumps out at you! Then it is just a matter of turning down the gain under zero so that you are cutting the offending frequency area. A fully parametric eq adds a third control, Q (the bandwidth either side of the centre frequency) allowing you to decide how narrow the frequency band is that is to be boosted or cut. This is essentially what the notch filter on eg the Tonebone Pz-pre does and is often used to filter out the risk frequencies that may cause feedback in monitors. I generally use the notch filter on mine to fine trim the sound out front.

[Mking]

Pieterh,
What do you use as a preamp with the Guild you have with the K&K mini pickups?

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Mking

Pieterh,
What do you use as a preamp with the Guild you have with the K&K mini pickups?

My Tonebone Pz-pre, with piezo boost enabled on channel 2 so it gets the optimal impedance etc. Depending on the gig of course - sometimes I'll go through a Radial JDI direct to mixing desk and do the eq there but then I can't mute the guitar between songs.

[Mking]

Thank you.