ognoy wrote:The Empress ParaEQ is the best EQ I've used. For serious tone shaping that would be ideal.
this. haven't been using mine for ages though. it's big, but if you need to eq, it's hard to go wrong with the empress.
on a sort of related note: i've been trying to figure out a nice preamp solution for my home headphone amp, and it's hard as balls. i play bass into a hefty tube amp, and it kinda looks like tubes might have something to do with my sound. who knew?
i've failed with eq approximation and all my "preamp" pedals might just be different shades of dirt instead of something to slam megalith into. compressor helps a bit, but nothing sounds the same as with the amp and it's kind of annoying and impractical. if anyone has any good leads on faking tube amps at home, i'd be super grateful. googling this stuff just gets me talkbass duders who play with vastly different sounds and goals.
Dowi wrote:Or you can always start now to save money for the CBA/Benson Preamp MKII.
Haha yes. Really appreciate all the suggestions! I ended up kept it simple - Old Town Music had a used Tone Job for $75, couldn't resist. Turned up treble and mids, already much clearer.
qersty wrote:Parametrics are the best, sweeping the frequency is key to good toneshaping. cant go wrong with the ol boss/mxr if you want a cheap eq option though
This.
I'm a bread and butter kinda guy when it comes to boosting/eq'ing, these days I just have a '70s Microamp first in the chain. Always on, always cranked, to make my otherwhise civilised sounding Traynor sound like a cranked JTM or something.
Never really got the "tone shaping" thing. If you need a pricey eq or preamp or whatever to sound good...Doesn't than mean you should be shopping for a new amp that doesn't need any pedlols to fix this or that frequency?
frigid midget wrote:
Never really got the "tone shaping" thing. If you need a pricey eq or preamp or whatever to sound good...Doesn't than mean you should be shopping for a new amp that doesn't need any pedlols to fix this or that frequency?
The slightly older, black MXR M-108 was awesome and super straightforward, plus you can find them used under $85 all day. I haven't tried the new silver ones, though.
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. - Jacques Cousteau
Good dealings with: Vrom, Conky Yamaha / Gallien-Krueger / Pedals
ognoy wrote:The Empress ParaEQ is the best EQ I've used. For serious tone shaping that would be ideal.
this. haven't been using mine for ages though. it's big, but if you need to eq, it's hard to go wrong with the empress.
on a sort of related note: i've been trying to figure out a nice preamp solution for my home headphone amp, and it's hard as balls. i play bass into a hefty tube amp, and it kinda looks like tubes might have something to do with my sound. who knew?
i've failed with eq approximation and all my "preamp" pedals might just be different shades of dirt instead of something to slam megalith into. compressor helps a bit, but nothing sounds the same as with the amp and it's kind of annoying and impractical. if anyone has any good leads on faking tube amps at home, i'd be super grateful. googling this stuff just gets me talkbass duders who play with vastly different sounds and goals.
Laney IRT. Sounds great as a headphone amp and also awesome with the USB out
frigid midget wrote:
Never really got the "tone shaping" thing. If you need a pricey eq or preamp or whatever to sound good...Doesn't than mean you should be shopping for a new amp that doesn't need any pedlols to fix this or that frequency?
I dunno, a cheap EQ in the loop can make a single channel amp more like a 2 channel amp, or to correct the weird issues that the other pedals might have caused.