‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.
Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.
Regular readers may recall that I’ve mentioned “EQ toys” many times throughout the year. It’s finally time to talk about them, and explain what these EQ toys are, how they came about, and how I use them.
Series Tracker
This is the 17th blog post in this series. I promise, we’re almost at the end. Just a few more to go!
You can see the full list of these blog posts over on the dedicated FW 25 Pedal Platform Preset page.
Table of Contents
- Series Tracker
- What Are The Problems That I’m Trying To Solve?
- Why Do I Need EQ Toys To Solve These Problems?
- My Choice Of EQ Toys
- Final Thoughts
What Are The Problems That I’m Trying To Solve?
My Most-Used Guitar … Is A Little Unbalanced, EQ-Wise
Although I don’t consider it my #1 guitar, I do play my PRS Paul’s Guitar (aka The Earl) more than any other guitar. I mostly use it with both pickups on – the neck pickup in full humbucker mode, and the bridge pickup in split mode. That’s where the magic is for me.
That neck pickup outputs a lot of low-end in the signal [that’s a major understatement – Ed]. It’s almost always too much for the rest of my signal chain.
To be fair, it’s not the only guitar that does this (although it is the worst culprit), and I bought this particular Paul’s Guitar because it seems to have an unusual voicing. My Fender Telecaster (aka Mirage) has a neck humbucker, and that brings a lot of low-end to the party too.
Sometimes, it’s not a problem. It all depends on the rest of the signal chain, and what it does / does not do when it sees a lot of low-end in the input signal.
Some Pedals Do Not Shelve Low-End Input At All
… and the ones that do, shelve the low-end differently.
(At the risk of massively over-generalising here …) in my experience, the more low-end that reaches an overdrive or distortion circuit, the more I end up with a fuzzy dirt tone. Too much low-end seems to overwhelm a lot of gain circuits, causing them to fart out completely or turn into an indistinct mush.
Most drive pedals seem to deal with this by cutting some of the input low-end before it reaches the gain circuit. Every pedal seems to be a little different in how much they cut. Sometimes, the pedal gets it spot-on for the guitar. Sometimes, it needs a little extra help. And, sometimes, it cuts too much for my taste and my guitars.
Some Pedals Do Not Output Enough Low-End
… or they do the opposite, and output a little bit too much.
As a home hobbyist, I prefer my guitar tones to sound full (for lack of a better description). I’m not trying to fit them into any sort of mix. I just want a tone that has both top-end clarity and low-end warmth.
Sometimes, I find that I can’t get that just from a drive pedal alone.
That’s not the fault of the drive pedal. Many of them are voiced to go in front of a real amp to play as part of a live band. I’m the one who is trying to use them in a different context.
It’s Not Just Low-End (But’s It’s Mostly Low-End!)
Very occasionally, I want to get a little bit more top-end out of a guitar.
Granted, that’s normally because I’m too lazy to change the strings, but still … it’s nice to have the option available.
Why Do I Need EQ Toys To Solve These Problems?
What’s Wrong With Just Changing The EQ On The Amp?
This is a good question to ask, especially as I’m very guilty of being a set-and-forget guy when it comes to my amp’s EQ settings.
The simple answer is: I get most of my dirt from my pedals, not the amp. The EQ controls on the amp only affect what the amp does with low-end input, not what the pedal does with low-end input.
Or, to put it another way, turning down the bass control on my amp cannot stop a dirt pedal from farting out. By the time the signal reaches the amp, the problem has already occurred.
Rightly or wrongly, my approach to tone is to try and “fix” problems as close to the source as possible. The amp sits about half way through my signal chain (guitar and pedals in front, cabs and time-based effects afterwards).
Why Not Fix It With More Pedals?
Why is the Tubescreamer a popular pedal? Because folks use it to tighten up the low-end of a signal. Although it’s a drive pedal, it’s being used as an EQ toy.
So I guess you could say that I am fixing it with more pedals. They’re just virtual pedals in my Axe-FX 3 patches, and they’re actually FX blocks rather than models of physical pedals.
My Choice Of EQ Toys
Overview
Most of my EQ toys live between the guitar and my pedalboard:
- multi-band compressor block (to tame excessive low-end from the guitar)
- filter block (for adding a bit of top-end)
- parametric EQ block (acting as a mud-cutting EQ)
So far, I’ve only found a need to add one EQ toy between the pedalboard and my virtual amp:
- parametric EQ block (acting as a tilt EQ of sorts)
Regular readers may recall that, from time to time, I’ve also used a Drive block as an EQ toy. That’s not baked into any of my presets, so I’m not covering it here.
Using A Multi-band Compressor Block To Tame The Low-End
The first EQ toy in my signal chain is a multi-band compressor block. It’s my #1 tool for taming excessive low-end from my guitar.
These are the settings that I’m using in the multi band compressor block:
Why am I using a multi-band compressor here, instead of (say) a parametric EQ block?
A parametric EQ block applies a fixed amount of EQ cut. It doesn’t matter how much (or how little!) low-end there is in the input signal; the PEQ block will always apply the same amount of cut. That’s not what I want at this point in my signal chain.
A multi-band compressor, in contrast, only applies volume cuts when the input signal reaches a certain level. If there isn’t enough level to trigger the compressor, the input signal is left untouched.
My settings are (mostly) dialled in by ear to suit my guitars. I’m aggressive with anything below 120 Hz, and a little more forgiving at anything between 120 Hz and 500 Hz. To my ears, these settings produce a signal that keeps the character of my guitars without sounding too processed or plastic.
A Filter Block For More Aggressive Tone-Shaping
The next EQ toy in my signal chain is a Filter block. By default, I’ve got it set to add a modest bump at around 1.6 kHz:
I mostly use this setting when I’m too lazy to change the strings on my guitar.
It can also be handy if I’m working with a pedal that sounds a little too dark to my ears. In those cases, I tend to use it more as a diagnostic tool than an actual solution. (My normal “fix” for those pedals is to boost the signal with my Klon KTR.)
A Parametric EQ As A Mud-Cutting EQ
The last EQ toy that sits between my guitar and the pedalboard is a parametric EQ block, set to cut out muddy frequencies:
Sometimes, the multi-band compressor is overkill, and I prefer a simple EQ cut around 220 Hz. It all depends on the guitar and the drive pedal I’m using. I’ve found it really handy to have both options to choose from.
This could have been a second Filter block. (A Filter block is basically a single-band PEQ block.) So why have I put a PEQ block here instead?
In my block library, I’ve built up a small collection of other settings for specific guitars and tones – especially for Strat neck and bridge pickups. Some (most?) of these other settings use more than one band of EQ. They simply wouldn’t be possible if this was another Filter block.
A Second Parametric EQ As A Tilt EQ
I’m running a second PEQ block between my pedalboard and amp. By default, this is setup as a tilt EQ:
The reason that this PEQ block isn’t a Filter block is because I’m using it as two tilt EQs in one.
I’ve added this PEQ’s Gain 1 and Gain 5 controls to the Perform page:
- Gain 1 is labelled the “Tilt EQ Low End”, and can be used to boost or cut frequencies below around 160 Hz.
- Gain 5 is labelled the “Tilt EQ High End”, and can be used to boost or cut frequencies above 3.2 kHz.
Here’s how that looks in Axe-Edit:
Unlike the other EQ toys, this one is on by default.
Final Thoughts
I originally bought my Axe-FX 3 to act as one big EQ toy with my real Tweed Deluxe amp. I’m kinda tickled that I’ve ended up using it as a flexible set of EQ toys with my pedals too.
They’re not just tools to “fix” perceived problems with my tone. They’re also creative tools (especially when combined with a pedal like the Ritual Devices Grey Overdrive), to give me options that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
And I do love having options.