Tell me about your EQ experience

[ctoddrun]

Hey all.


I bought a Mark IV about six months ago and jumped right in with the tweaking.

I found a few settings I liked (with the help of the sample settings in the manual) and tweaked a bit from there.

Initially, I found that the EQ, when activated, gave me a much more desireable tone, overall. I'm sort of of the old school, 80's rock guitar sound. You know, HOT solo's and a rhythm tone that is pretty heavy as well.

Well, since my initial tweaking I've always left the EQ active. Always.


I'm wondering how you guys go about using the EQ.

Have you shaped your tone WITHOUT using the EQ, then use the EQ for (essentially) three more channels?

Are you using it all the time like I am?

What are your experiences?


I plan on tweaking around a bit before practice starts tomorrow and I want to see if anyone can open my eyes to something I havent thought about trying yet.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Silverwulf]

When I had my Mark IV, I would always have the EQ on for my my lead channel. It was off during the cleans, though if I recall right.

 

[AMG1]

When I first got my MkIV it drove me crazy. I wanted to throw it out the window.

The main thing I noticed was I could get good sounds by leaning on the EQ.

Then it occured to me that if I learned to tweak the amp to get good to great sounds without the EQ when I did turn the EQ on I got stellar sounds.

Sort of like that old saying you cant polish a turd. You can buff a turd up with the EQ but if you spend time working without it the sounds you get in the end are worth it.

Very often I leave the EQ off. Also sometimes the EQ can produce a to much in your face sound.

 

[ctoddrun]

Thats the sort of talk I was hoping for AMG.


What tones are you going for?

80's rock? Blues?


Tweaking has never been my strong point. I have such little patience. I'd rather just plug and play.


Which is exactly the reason I dumped all the rack gear and went back to stomp boxes.

 

[AMG1]

The tones I mostly like are blues based. Blues, Blues Rock, Classic Rock. Dont get me wrong I'll get raunchy as well. The vicious gain a MkIV is capable of is a lot of fun. There's early breakup sounds in the first channel that really float my boat. Channel two can complement channel one or be made to sound like a junior version of channel three.

Tweaking is everything with this amp. You must develope patience to be successful with a MKIV. I'm sure there's a mountain somewhere with a pile of MkIV's that were thrown to the bottom of it by frustrated owners.

The thing is when you hit the good sounds with this amp its like heaven.

You have to learn to think differently about the tweaks you make compared to other amps. You want more highs? Cut back the bass a hair. You want more gain. Bring up the treble a bit. If you crank the output this brings more highs and you have to compensate.

Success with a MKIV is about learning to finesse the pre amp.

It took me about two months to get to the point where I did'nt think I wasted my money on this amp.

If I can help you let me know. This could be fun. Let me know what kind of guitar your using and the sounds your after. I may not be the expert of all times but I love the sound of my MKIV.

 

[ctoddrun]

Nice.



I took some time last night working on my tones before practice and, while I didnt change them radically, I did come into some new sounds that made me happy.

And I hooked up my buddy's Hot Plate last night for the first time.

I'm gonna keep that in the mix, I think.


I never realized, until last night, how the master volume REALLY works on a Mark IV.

After about 2.5-3 on the knob, there is no more (audible) volume difference.

And taming that volume knob under that range is challenging.

That Hot Plate made a LOT of difference in my use of the amp. I'm going to keep experiementing with it.




OH.

As far as gear.

Its Tom Anderson (humbuckers) into Wah, Volume pedal, Amp, Delay, Chorus, Hot Plate, Speaker.

We play harder rock and Classic rock. Rush, Candlebox, Tonic, Mighty Joe Plumb, Bad Co, Eddie Money, Pink Floyd, Staind, A Perfect Circle, Tool, Hendrix, etc... you get the idea.


Still left the EQ active all night though...