equalizer...difference between graphic and parametric

[panzerfaust]

Can someone describe the difference.
have a boss ge7..suppose that it means" Graphic Eq"

it absolutly works to change the sound ,but ..no matter how it is set
i feel that is smoothing out the sound...in a bad way that means.

like if it takes out that raw organic crunch of the mark III??

anyone feel the same or is it some settings that i dont get right.

 

[domct203]

Both the Graphic EQ and Parametric EQ allow you to boost or cut specific audio frequencies across multiple bands.

The big difference is that with a Graphic EQ, those frequency bands are fixed. With a Semi-Parametric EQ, you can choose the frequency range for each band as well as the cut or boost. With a Full-Parametric EQ, you can also control the width (or 'Q') of the frequency band.

Dom

 

[Chris McKinley]

panzerfaust,

domct203 gave a very good description of the differences between the two types of EQ.

RE: "but ..no matter how it is set i feel that is smoothing out the sound...in a bad way that means.". It is not. How you set it will produce radically different effects on the tone. By "smoothing out the sound", I assume you are referrring either to a) adding compression to the sound (which does not happen), or b) scooping out the mids in the range anywhere from about 650 Hz to 3.2kHz.

The former does not happen because the GE-7 does not contain a compression circuit. The latter can certainly happen, but only if you set the EQ's sliders to do exactly that. If you leave the sliders at the '0' setting in the middle of their range of motion, they will have no effect on your signal's mids.

How exactly are you setting the EQ so that it results in what you are calling "smoothing"? Perhaps if we knew what you were doing, we could help you more specifically.

 

[panzerfaust]

Ok.
This is how i use to have it set:
100:10db+
200:7.5-
400:0
800:5+
1.6:0
3.2:5+
6.4:0

Firstly it was from a post from you i think that i learned to raise the 100hz
and lower the 200hz to get rid of the muddiness from rectifiers..dont know if that is neccesary now with the mark III..but anyhow i really like to play very loud with a lot of floorshaking bass!
i also like mids cause they bring a clear punchy attack to the sound.

i does some midscope "V" on the mark eq but not very radical.same as the ge7...more like a W.

Am i completly out in the drift???...let s say like this, which middle frequencys are the best to boost if you like mids?? i just choose the 800 cause it is like in the center.




That assumtion that it sounds like it is compressing the sound is actually the closest you can describe what i think it does in a bad way.

think i can trace that to the boosted bass frequency.
but what is to do then if you want real bass thump.

 

[Chris McKinley]

panzerfaust,

That's probably way too high a boost at 100Hz. If you play loud at all, you may run the risk of damaging your speakers with it set that high. That may also be a bit too much reduction of 200Hz, maybe not. You don't want to take all of it out or your sound will lack warmth.

Scooping the mids on the Mark III then boosting them on the EQ is somewhat self-defeating. First get rid of the mid scoop on the amp, then adjust the GE-7 accordingly. As to which mids, experiment and see what you like.

RE: "think i can trace that to the boosted bass frequency.
but what is to do then if you want real bass thump.". Play bass guitar or kick drum. The guitar is not supposed to be a bass instrument. Some amount of thump is fun, but not so much that you're competing with your bass guitarist and drummer for frequency space. It sounds to me like you play alone almost exclusively...is that true? If so, you may understandably be tempted to crank the hell out of the bass frequencies. But when you play with a real bassist and drummer, you'll find that you're stepping all over each other to be heard.

 

[panzerfaust]

almost right...i do miss a bassplayer..but have a drummer .
how do you mean by damaging the speakers ?? they are not supposed to take that load, or by unnormal fast wearing, dont know if it makes some difference but i have now two rectocabs running from the marks 4ohm output jacks.
got the exrta cab to be able play more loud and clean cause the vintage 30 seem to break up very early. but that extra cab maybe not be good to metal sound then .

btw is it in the loop you think te eq should be?

 

[Chris McKinley]

panzerfaust,

RE: "how do you mean by damaging the speakers ??". Low bass frequencies like 100Hz have lots of energy in the signal, and hit your speakers a lot harder than higher frequencies. That's almost always how car speakers get blown...too much bass. And with a 10dB boost, that can be a lot, given that the Mark III can already put out significant amounts of bass. You've got two cabs, that might be enough, just be careful.

RE: "btw is it in the loop you think te eq should be?". If you've only got one EQ, definitely put it in the effects loop. It will have a much more dramatic influence over your sound than if you put it before the preamp, since it will be altering the sound of both your guitar and your preamp when placed in the loop. Also, if you add any other effects to your loop, the EQ should be first in the chain, with modulation effects next (chorus, phaser, flanger), then delay effects (delay, echo), then finally reverb is last.

 

[panzerfaust]

Chris.
thanks for the lesson.

In meanwhile i have been reading some threads authored by you.
one about the frequensis different effects on the tone.very helpful.

It would be fun to hear what you knowledge says about some of my favourite guitarsounds "except mesas so to say :wink:"

NO:1killing joke's pandemonium..the whole record,especially the intro of the song millenium.

I know geordie use some amp called burman pro 502.
never heard one barely heard of it at all

what is that tone?..sounds pretty organic distorted(pretty high gain) at the same time it is very punchy(string sound)
And on top it sounds like some wonderfull natural reverb...not at all what you get when use a buildt in reverb on any amp.
can that be cause of his semi hollow guitar???

another killer guitarsound i found when i dusted of som old vinyl..was napalm death's 12" suffer the children especially the song "siege of power"
Think that was called a typical "morrisound"sound in the late 80's.
what is that sound based on??

hope to hear what you think about that..specially that geordies incredible sound.

 

[Chris McKinley]

Sorry, man, I'm not familiar with either of those two songs. Perhaps someone else might be though. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help...best of luck.

 

[panzerfaust]

chris,

found this on youtube.
listen careful at the beginning an at 1:27
ain't lp quality but sounds pretty good if you have descent speakers to your computer.
let me know how you would try to achieve this sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1jvrvdQMt8

 

[Chris McKinley]

That didn't strike me as a particularly difficult sound to achieve, tone-wise. It's just a typical down-tuned Recto type of sound. It may or may not even have any additional overdrive added to it. And though fairly high gain, it certainly wasn't a harmonically rich sound, so that leads me to believe that any additional overdrive, if there was any, was probably minimal.

The most striking thing about it was the doubling effect and the use of plate reverb. My guess is that these were probably two separate effects added in. You might be able to get some of the doubling effect from recording your cab with lots of room ambience, such as by mixing in lots of room mic in a fairly reflective room.