Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.


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kjrocks

New member
I've always blindly set up my amps fairly quicky and always to the bridge pickup because thats what I tend to use most. Then I always complain about how muddy or thick my neck pickups sounds. Recently I've been setting it up to get a great sound out my neck pickup and use the tone control on my bridge and its like a whole new world.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I've always blindly set up my amps fairly quicky and always to the bridge pickup because thats what I tend to use most. Then I always complain about how muddy or thick my neck pickups sounds. Recently I've been setting it up to get a great sound out my neck pickup and use the tone control on my bridge and its like a whole new world.


It sounds like you are getting that balance problem figured out Garrett...I couldn't be happier for you.

It is much easier to get your neck and middle happening and then season the bridge pup to taste. :)
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

My amp has one tone knob. I just put it on 7 and use the guitars tone from there.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I use no neck pickups :D One humbucker in the bridge for me. If I want a softer tone I modulate my attack or for the one guitar that has it, use the tone control a little.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I tweak my guitars so that the amp doesn't have to worry about it. I use all positions, low output in the neck is a big one for me.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

Neither...I adapt the playing to it...plus I have no trouble using the same sound for any of my pickups, I eq it for the sound I like overall...+1^ with Kev here
Adjusts my guitars for an overall sound.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I typically have mine set to sound good with the neck pup- I use it a lot more.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I EQ for the bridge pickup, but spent some time and effort on selecting neck pickups that complement them. My Nashville has an SM-1 at the neck, which complements the Vintage 54 bridge quite nicely. My PT has a 59N - I like that fat woofy sound. The PT's bridge, I'm still sorting out.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I use my bridge pickup the most and fix it so that it sounds good with my Sparkle Drive's tone on somewhere between 3 and 5 o'clock, then if I use my neck pickup, I just roll down the town on the Sparkle Drive and boost the clean and it sounds good.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

Somehow the guitar>bridge pickup>amp is easier to dial in. You can cop a great tone from all eras/ages and find the inspiration as it flows. It may not be exactly as you want, but a bad neck pickup selection is deal breaker.

I spend more time getting the best neck pickup match for the actual guitar. If you get that sorted out, the amp portion seems to fall in line.
 
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Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I set it up for the overall sound.
Very fat and clear. Thats it...
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

Depends...

Most of the time I'll set up dirt for the bridge pickup and cleans for the neck/middles of a Lester... I've also spent a good deal of time picking a neck pickup that sounds 'good' with the bridge pup.

But generally, if it's not a specific 'part' or track... I'll have the amp setup so that both pickups sound good and generally just leave it alone, even for guitar swaps. Really going for the 'overall' thing unless it's recording 'parts', then I'll really take the time to get dialed in.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I eq my amp for the amp. Meaning, I use the amp's manual to dial in the tones I want so that it sounds excellent for both - like my amp has settings for lead, rhythm, blues, and clean. I just dial-in the one most appropriate for my application - which is mainly lead (which I also use as rhythm ;)).

I know it sounds amatuerish of me to use a manual but after thirteen years of experimenting with the knobs and mostly falling short (this is especially apparent when recording), I decided to use the amp as it was designed for which to me sounds infinitely better. Refering to the manual also let's you know instantly if the amp's supplied tones are for you or not.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I use a 10-band to get the exact distortion sound I want. I spent a while boosting/cutting each band at jam level until I found my sound.

Now I can turn it up as loud as I want and it doesn't muddy up. Stays crystal clear.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

Bridge for all distorted tones.

If it sounds great on the bridge pickup but not on the neck pickup... time for a new neck pickup.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I'll set my neck pickup (ie height,polepieces etc) so that i can just dial in the optimum sound with my bridge pickup and amp set up.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

Bridge for all distorted tones.

If it sounds great on the bridge pickup but not on the neck pickup... time for a new neck pickup.
Once again Virtual nails it. I use my Invader in the bridge 70% of my playing time, my I rarely split it, not really into middle pick up, However for cleans and some lead parts, I use my neck TexSpecial and the middle and neck TexSpecials(position 4) both of my tone knobs set to 7 and the volume is 8/7 for invader and 10 for the postitions 4/5, thats why on my clone strat I will have one tone knob and two volume knobs. I EQ my amp to invader with volume on 7 and tone on 7, and when switch to position 4 or 5 I just turn the volume up to 10.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

I was worried about it a lot once... finding he right EQ... now I just leave everything on 10-12 o'clock and add a little more treble.
 
Re: Are you EQ'ing your amp to your bridge or neck pickup.

if it doesnt sound great for both, get a new pickup. it should sound balanced across all frequencies- if not, there probably is a better pickup combination available.
 
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