snave said:
I prefer to use an EQ in the loop of my Rectifier whenever I get a chance, either from a Rocktron Xpression or TC 1128. I feel external EQ between the preamp and power amp can make a world of a difference when it comes to tightening up the low end and adding a little bit of high-mid cut. It certainly accomplishes things that a boost, tube or speaker change alone can't touch.
An EQ before the input, however, is far less versatile in my experience.
I understand what you mean and it 'seems' that it's not as versatile but I'll explain something as best as I can so you can try and 'visualise' it.
Let's say on a graph the values are zero to 1 vertically. Horizontally is frequency (no real consequence in this example).
Now, 0.5 is a threshold and distortion starts from 0.5 upwards to 1 max. Below 0.5 is a clean signal (think of it like a compressor> above threshold compress, below threshold no compress)
Now, set an EQ with bass boosted and the rest (mid/high) are cut, let's assume now that the bass freq are pushed above 0.5 and the mid/high end is below 0.5. What happens? Bass freq will distort and mid/high will be clean. You can apply this to the mids (and highs), of course. Push the mids above 0.5 to distort, keep the bass down and the highs down to be clean.
Another thing you can do is this: push the mids extremely, say to value threshold value 1, keep the bass and highs at say 0.6. The whole signal will distort but the mids a lot more so. I hope you understand what I mean by this example.
Now, to balance the tone out, have an EQ in the loop and boost or cut in the opposite direction of the input EQ.
Hope I made my explanation clear and it gives something for people to think about.
