Boss GE-7B vs MXR 10 band EQ (Is it worth the upgrade?)

[dubkitty]

you can have a good sound in a bad mix, or a bad sound that's well mixed. a great example of the latter is Lennon's Bass VI playing on the Beatles' "Helter Skelter," which has been circulating as an isolated track recently...his playing is AWFUL, but the mix makes it SOUND good.

[goroth]

BOSS GEB-7 = 50hz, 120hz, 400hz, 500hz, 800hz, 4.5Khz, and 10Khz with +/- 15dB...

MXR 10 Band = 31.25hz, 62.5hz, 125hz, 250hz, 500hz, 1Khz, 2Khz, 4Khz, 8Khz, 16Khz with +/- 12dB...

Different ranges... The MXR gets lower but is focused more around the Mids where a Guitar sits... The GEB is centered on more Low-Mids and has more boost...

Figure out if those extra bands are worth it for you... I think the GEB it's TITZZZ on Bass and wouldn't bother but I don't Slap or get to Clean Mellow Soft...

To me the boss has all of the classic frequencies you'd want to work with. The mxr seems to add a couple of extra frequencies to deal with problem areas - I often use a high pass filter around 30 hz when mixing to tighten up the bass, and I'll pull down somewhere around 200-280 - often find some ugly resonances there.

If you're happy with your sound go Boss. If you're mushing out or your mixes sound crap despite your sound individually being good maybe pick up the 10 band.

All hypothetical but yeah.

If your sound isn't good, doesn't that make your mix bad? Maybe I don't understand

Well, a good example is anything sub 30hz. Playing on your own, this is rad - it is that big thumpy subby whoomp that you feel more than hear. But depending on what the guitars and kicks are doing it can make either the rest of the band sound loose (as there is a woofy thump in everything), or that the bass disappears a bit in the kicks and palm-muted guitars. Around 200-280 hz is another frequency that sometimes just sounds goofy in a mix and by getting rid of it you get a bit more clarity and the good sort of "clonk". But again, you don't notice this until you play in a band situation.

A typical muff sound is a classic example on guitar of something sounding rad on its own but disappearing in the mix. The other way round is I perhaps a typical tube screamer sound. But cutting the bass a bit and honking up the mids a guitar can often sit better in the mix, but on its own it sounds ass, unless you are a blues lawyer.

I should add that I know very little about mixing - spent copious hours creating mixes for our demo before handing it off to a pro who made everything approximately a million times better. Live is even trickier, factoring in dodgy rooms, the effect of the crowd on the room dynamics, and crap sound guys...