Anyone with an acoustic electric needs to get an eq pedal! Scoop out all those honky mids and bring in some air on the top end. The GEB-7 (bass version of the GE-7) has a great range for acoustics.
Great video! I think I will try one and see if it fits with my other pedals. I think it should help a lot with the lows that sometimes reverb pedals cause.
A decent overdrive paired with a GE7, you're gonna be able to sound like most other overdrive pedals. Got a transparent OD like the Lightspeed but wanna sound like a Tubescreamer? Bump 800Hz and drop some low end.
i thought that some overdrives have a secret "mix" function, like with parallel compressor, where you're hearing the original dry signal to a certain extent along with the distorted signal. that's what makes them transparent? i dunno.
@@HmmInteresting478 For typical soft-clipping overdrives, if you are hearing a clean signal along with the distorted one it is usually a byproduct of the way soft clipping works. This is especially apparent with overdrives that are more compressed such as the tubescreamer. If you push this type of overdrive harder with hotter pickups or a boost, for example, the clean signal becomes more apparent. A dry mix feature can, of course, be a dedicated function built into the pedal, but is implemented with additional circuitry. This might be annoying to some people depending on how they are using their overdrive pedals, but can be a useful byproduct to have when pushing an amp or another overdrive pedal as it helps to retain note clarity. If you are using an eq to match an overdrive frequency profile to that of a tubescreamer, it will be similar but won't replicate some of the other aspects of the 'copied' one such as clipping and compression characteristics. A tube screamer has filtering component in the clipping section that reduce the clipping of frequencies as they get lower. An EQ cannot modify this in your pedal of course. But it can get you ballpark.
@@HmmInteresting478no it's about how they colour (eq/saturation) the sound. Tube screamer for example applies a distinct EQ to the input signal, regardless of settings, hence it's not "transparent".
I'm planning on making a custom 3 band EQ a permanent fixture underneath my board. They are a very powerful 3 bands, so they'll basically help to profile my board to different amps. Sometimes things are a little thin and need fattening up end and other times too spikey and need smoothing out.
I bought the Joyo EQ a few months back. It's really great. I use it because my band hooks everything into a PA, so I'm using the DI Out in my Orange Super Crush 100 Combo, which sounds so shrill. I use the EQ to cut the highs, boost the mids, and slightly boost the lows. I'm able to closely match the sound of the speaker. It's my first EQ, and next I want to get the Boss EQ 200 since it has presets. That way I can use it for solo boosting and brightening my cleans.
My Boss GE7 I put in front of a Vox AC 15 at the guitar center while test driving it and turned the amp into a creamy Dumble ODS which got everyone’s attention. This pedal can make any amp sound great. Mine was $74 used.
I have an Empress parabolic EQ that is on my pedal board and I also have a nine band MXR EQR use when I want to record. The Empress has a boost built-in. It truly is one of my favorite pedals
Not an EQ exactly, but I had a similar experience with a basic Laney solid state amp - overdrive channel was meh to fine depending on how you tweaked the amp EQ, but I borrowed a decent wah pedal and just leaving it cocked as a fixed EQ filter made it sound real good! Genuinely surprising how much better the amp could sound
The following is truer for high gain tones than others, but it applies to all guitar tone: (JHS should make a proper EQ pedal. They'd be the first to pull it off correctly.) Although EQ pedals like the Boss and MXR are very good for tone shaping, their graphic EQs are not as effective as a true parametric EQ especially when it comes to removing and shaping unwanted low frequencies. The High Pass Filter in a parametric sounds cleaner, tighter and better than a simple cut at fixed bandwidth on a graphic. There are a few parametric EQ pedals, but none of them implement the High Pass Filter in the most effective way. They need to have selective dB per octave choices of at least -6dB, -12, -18 and preferably even -24. Many guitar players are unaware of the tone shaping power that comes from well-controlled low frequencies, and how much it opens up the headroom and gain in their tone. Often a guitar amp is flooded with so much low frequency content from gain pedals, gain and bass EQ on the amp that the tone turns to mush. When the amp sounds thin, the first thing many guitarists do is turn up the bass EQ and gain, but properly EQing the lows avoids mush, and doing it well means a HPF is needed.
I had a GE7 back in the day and like you I didn’t really explore it and traded it away. Decades later I just redid my board and got a used Source Audio SA170 digital EQ and love it. It holds 4 presets and has a scroll function that scrolls through all 4 presets while you play and you can control the speed of the scrolling which creates some crazy stuff! I’m even thinking of getting the newer Source Audio version.
You convinced me! I'm going to go buy one right now at the local music shop. It will work well with my Orange Pedal Baby amp because that has no EQ knobs.
It’s the exact same circuit, on most of those Behringer Boss rip offs. It’s just the enclosures, and likely some circuits, that aren’t built to the same quality. A loop pedal will solve that problem. I’ve had Behringer pedals that lasted 20 years of stomps, while other not a year. The once sacred Boss VIbrato, is exactly the same as the Behringer. One can get all the same sounds. The Boss pedals were starting to sell for dumb high prices, and Josh’s video on Behringer, a/B’ing with Boss pedals, actually changed that. They’re still overpriced, for how many far better Vibrsto, or Choruses, and Phasers, that have better Vibrato settings, with as many or more options.
@@coljimusic It’s true. Nice video. I recently started playing with a band that hadn’t gigged for many years now, and I’ve been having to remind everyone, especially my friend, who fronts the band, about why nust turning up their instruments won’t work, snd is why we were getting so loud it was bad, and he kept turning up to hear himself, after my guitar hadn’t been there for the few months they’d been playing again. I am the lead player, so my guitar will sound loud, but it’s because I know what frequencies to use, with the tone I like, to cut through the mix. I keep my rhythm playing at lower volume, and a more flat eq, which no one else was doing. So, I was losing my signal, or having an amp that’s way too loud blasting right at me. We adjusted the setup of practice space, and I tried to go over why, and how to fix, some of the sound issues we all were having. We sounded great, right from the warmup jam, and most of the issues were solved. He plays guitar, and uses some pedals I gave him, so he could cover some of the ground I did, before leaving. I have to tell him to listen for when I’m using a phaser, because his phaser has no depth control, and it has a natural mid boost too, that just devours the subtle phaser tone, I use for certain songs. It doesn’t sound good either, snd it’s usually just him messing around. 😂 We’ll be able to gig again soon, and that stuff is easy to resolve, once we have the songs we’re going to play, and who does what on them.
EQ pedals are pretty simple circuits. It’s basically a transistor to boost the signal, and a bunch of sliders in parallel to shape the frequencies. I’ve built several 5 band EQ pedals for my home studio and to use as a frequency boost for solos in live situations.
Hands down the best pedal...Period. Gotta' give it a chance. I've been down the pedal rabbit hole. I love them all but, if I could only have one, it would be the GE-7...Killer boost pedal and so much more.
EQ and compressors (got a DBX comp,,limiter,gate) are to tried or at least be explained by an experienced user. Took me while to figure the DBX but now I don't want to part with it. Maybe the most usefull "fx" I got.
Great video. Lots of info, concise and to the point and nicely produced. 👍 My only critique would be that you're speaking too fast at times. Your annunciation gets a little unclear. That's an easy fix, though. Subscribed.
They seem to be hit or miss. I recall in Tom Bukovac's Rig Rundown John Bohlinger saying he found them noisy too. For me it is only noisy with the higher frequencies boosted.
Try to cut more than you boost! The GE7 is ±15db, which is quite a lot, and when you boost your signal you're boosting EVERYTHING - including background hum! "Science of Loud" (used to be CSGuitars) has a really good video about how to get the best juice for the squeeze for EQ pedals if you need more help or info :)
The fundamental notes on a bass are lower but the harmonics are still there! It depends on your tone and what you're doing - if you want a very dark sound then sure you don't want those upper frequencies, but having them on the pedal allows you to cut them (which will help your overall mix with the other instruments too). If you want any kind of brightness, those airy frequencies can help add a bit of sizzle and edge and presence - and again, by boosting certain frequencies and cutting others (and doing the same on other instruments so you're not stepping over each other) you can make the bass come through more cleanly, with more definition But it's not just pure output - if you're driving effects, being able to EQ the input (boosting or cutting) can make a lot of difference too. Those higher frequencies are present (so are even higher ones) to a certain degree, and you might want to push or remove them depending on your situation. You also might want to put the EQ after those effects and use it to clean things up (which also might mean removing some high frequency noise) It just makes sense to keep the pedal versatile, y'know? There isn't really a need for special EQ pedals just for bass, it's a general tool - there are some if you really want though, like Darkglass make them. Otherwise any generic EQ works fine - get one with more bands or a parametric one if you want more control in the bass area
@@cactustactics Harmonics are a factor of the fundamental. And harmonics get less and less powerful as they get further from the fundamental. A bass does not produce any useful information at 10kHz. Even a tenth order harmonic for the highest note on a standard-tuned 24-fret 4-string is only around 4kHz. Saying there's no need for a special EQ for bass displays a ridiculous degree of ignorance as to how sound works. Bass and guitar operate an octave apart. Bass frequencies are literally half what guitar frequencies are. You can't use the same tool to control both bands accurately. And I've looked at Darkglass and other "bass" EQ pedals. Almost all of them are identical to their guitar pedals. All of them have frequencies that are useless for bass, while leaving holes in the bottom end that could be helpful for tweaking the problem frequencies sound guys have to deal with. A pedal that stops at 100Hz is not going to help a 5-string that goes down to 30Hz.
@@johnterpack3940 the harmonics are still there though - that's the point. Especially if you're running through gear that boosts and adds harmonics, like distortion. An EQ pedal gives you the ~option~ to tame or boost those harmonics by a significant amount Whether it actually matters is totally up to you and what you're doing. I'm just saying it's not a bad thing to have, especially as a general tool. If you really need more focus in the low end, check out a 10 band EQ or a parametric one like I mentioned - the MXR's lowest band is like 38Hz or something. Plus it goes high enough for a 6-string bass too ;)
Weak on content. I was surprised that you did not show that 0dB is with no EQ. Everyone - please remember that a dB or two makes a drastic effect upon the tone. Dude - next time, talk about that decibels are
I finally got one and was blown away by the improvement, now it feels like my guitar sounds dead without it
Regarding noise floor, it is better to cut what you don't want, than to boost what you do want. Boost adds noise quickly.
Anyone with an acoustic electric needs to get an eq pedal! Scoop out all those honky mids and bring in some air on the top end. The GEB-7 (bass version of the GE-7) has a great range for acoustics.
Great video! I think I will try one and see if it fits with my other pedals. I think it should help a lot with the lows that sometimes reverb pedals cause.
Definitely try one! It totally can help with that low end build up from reverbs.
My favourite solo boost. Stick it in the effects loop, take out some highs and lows and push the mids. Always cuts through a mix
A decent overdrive paired with a GE7, you're gonna be able to sound like most other overdrive pedals.
Got a transparent OD like the Lightspeed but wanna sound like a Tubescreamer? Bump 800Hz and drop some low end.
i thought that some overdrives have a secret "mix" function, like with parallel compressor, where you're hearing the original dry signal to a certain extent along with the distorted signal. that's what makes them transparent? i dunno.
@@HmmInteresting478 For typical soft-clipping overdrives, if you are hearing a clean signal along with the distorted one it is usually a byproduct of the way soft clipping works. This is especially apparent with overdrives that are more compressed such as the tubescreamer. If you push this type of overdrive harder with hotter pickups or a boost, for example, the clean signal becomes more apparent. A dry mix feature can, of course, be a dedicated function built into the pedal, but is implemented with additional circuitry.
This might be annoying to some people depending on how they are using their overdrive pedals, but can be a useful byproduct to have when pushing an amp or another overdrive pedal as it helps to retain note clarity.
If you are using an eq to match an overdrive frequency profile to that of a tubescreamer, it will be similar but won't replicate some of the other aspects of the 'copied' one such as clipping and compression characteristics.
A tube screamer has filtering component in the clipping section that reduce the clipping of frequencies as they get lower. An EQ cannot modify this in your pedal of course. But it can get you ballpark.
@@HmmInteresting478no it's about how they colour (eq/saturation) the sound. Tube screamer for example applies a distinct EQ to the input signal, regardless of settings, hence it's not "transparent".
@@ole.alfheim so a transparent drive basically doesn't EQ input?
@@HmmInteresting478 It drives the whole spectrum equally, making whatever eq-shape that comes into it the same that comes out of the pedal.
I'm planning on making a custom 3 band EQ a permanent fixture underneath my board. They are a very powerful 3 bands, so they'll basically help to profile my board to different amps. Sometimes things are a little thin and need fattening up end and other times too spikey and need smoothing out.
I bought the Joyo EQ a few months back. It's really great. I use it because my band hooks everything into a PA, so I'm using the DI Out in my Orange Super Crush 100 Combo, which sounds so shrill. I use the EQ to cut the highs, boost the mids, and slightly boost the lows. I'm able to closely match the sound of the speaker. It's my first EQ, and next I want to get the Boss EQ 200 since it has presets. That way I can use it for solo boosting and brightening my cleans.
I keep one in my fx loop to overall change things if needed. Taped Denzel Washingtons Equalizer face on to it :D
That’s awesome dude. Lmao that’s so sick!
great video supper useful
My Boss GE7 I put in front of a Vox AC 15 at the guitar center while test driving it and turned the amp into a creamy Dumble ODS which got everyone’s attention. This pedal can make any amp sound great. Mine was $74 used.
That's sweet dude! You got it for a really good price!
I have an Empress parabolic EQ that is on my pedal board and I also have a nine band MXR EQR use when I want to record. The Empress has a boost built-in. It truly is one of my favorite pedals
parabolic -> parametric
Not an EQ exactly, but I had a similar experience with a basic Laney solid state amp - overdrive channel was meh to fine depending on how you tweaked the amp EQ, but I borrowed a decent wah pedal and just leaving it cocked as a fixed EQ filter made it sound real good! Genuinely surprising how much better the amp could sound
The following is truer for high gain tones than others, but it applies to all guitar tone: (JHS should make a proper EQ pedal. They'd be the first to pull it off correctly.)
Although EQ pedals like the Boss and MXR are very good for tone shaping, their graphic EQs are not as effective as a true parametric EQ especially when it comes to removing and shaping unwanted low frequencies. The High Pass Filter in a parametric sounds cleaner, tighter and better than a simple cut at fixed bandwidth on a graphic.
There are a few parametric EQ pedals, but none of them implement the High Pass Filter in the most effective way. They need to have selective dB per octave choices of at least -6dB, -12, -18 and preferably even -24.
Many guitar players are unaware of the tone shaping power that comes from well-controlled low frequencies, and how much it opens up the headroom and gain in their tone. Often a guitar amp is flooded with so much low frequency content from gain pedals, gain and bass EQ on the amp that the tone turns to mush. When the amp sounds thin, the first thing many guitarists do is turn up the bass EQ and gain, but properly EQing the lows avoids mush, and doing it well means a HPF is needed.
I had a GE7 back in the day and like you I didn’t really explore it and traded it away. Decades later I just redid my board and got a used Source Audio SA170 digital EQ and love it. It holds 4 presets and has a scroll function that scrolls through all 4 presets while you play and you can control the speed of the scrolling which creates some crazy stuff! I’m even thinking of getting the newer Source Audio version.
That’s awesome! The source audio eq looks super sick! Having presets would be really nice for an EQ. Glad it has been working for you!
You convinced me! I'm going to go buy one right now at the local music shop. It will work well with my Orange Pedal Baby amp because that has no EQ knobs.
I was just watching an old video from the jhs guys reccomending the beringer copy. He claims is as good as the boss one.
I believe it!
It’s the exact same circuit, on most of those Behringer Boss rip offs.
It’s just the enclosures, and likely some circuits, that aren’t built to the same quality. A loop pedal will solve that problem.
I’ve had Behringer pedals that lasted 20 years of stomps, while other not a year.
The once sacred Boss VIbrato, is exactly the same as the Behringer.
One can get all the same sounds. The Boss pedals were starting to sell for dumb high prices, and Josh’s video on Behringer, a/B’ing with Boss pedals, actually changed that. They’re still overpriced, for how many far better Vibrsto, or Choruses, and Phasers, that have better Vibrato settings, with as many or more options.
@@coljimusic
It’s true.
Nice video.
I recently started playing with a band that hadn’t gigged for many years now, and I’ve been having to remind everyone, especially my friend, who fronts the band, about why nust turning up their instruments won’t work, snd is why we were getting so loud it was bad, and he kept turning up to hear himself, after my guitar hadn’t been there for the few months they’d been playing again.
I am the lead player, so my guitar will sound loud, but it’s because I know what frequencies to use, with the tone I like, to cut through the mix.
I keep my rhythm playing at lower volume, and a more flat eq, which no one else was doing.
So, I was losing my signal, or having an amp that’s way too loud blasting right at me.
We adjusted the setup of practice space, and I tried to go over why, and how to fix, some of the sound issues we all were having.
We sounded great, right from the warmup jam, and most of the issues were solved.
He plays guitar, and uses some pedals I gave him, so he could cover some of the ground I did, before leaving.
I have to tell him to listen for when I’m using a phaser, because his phaser has no depth control, and it has a natural mid boost too, that just devours the subtle phaser tone, I use for certain songs.
It doesn’t sound good either, snd it’s usually just him messing around. 😂 We’ll be able to gig again soon, and that stuff is easy to resolve, once we have the songs we’re going to play, and who does what on them.
Yeah, but the GE7 is one of the cheapest boss pedals around. For that price, I'm okay paying 20-30 more for the metal enclosure
EQ pedals are pretty simple circuits. It’s basically a transistor to boost the signal, and a bunch of sliders in parallel to shape the frequencies. I’ve built several 5 band EQ pedals for my home studio and to use as a frequency boost for solos in live situations.
Check out the J. Rockett Steve Stevens Rockaway pedal. Its like a Klon with an EQ built in.
Hands down the best pedal...Period. Gotta' give it a chance. I've been down the pedal rabbit hole. I love them all but, if I could only have one, it would be the GE-7...Killer boost pedal and so much more.
is it noisy??
@@parmeshgurung Not enough to NOT buy. I guess it's in how you use it. There are "multiple" ways to use it.
You can emulate a dobro with one by turning every other slidee all the way up and the other sliders all the way down.
Yo congrats on 1k!!! Been here since smashing pumpkins audition
Thank you!!! Dang you've been here since the beginning!
@@coljimusic literally 🤓
EQ and compressors (got a DBX comp,,limiter,gate) are to tried or at least be explained by an experienced user. Took me while to figure the DBX but now I don't want to part with it. Maybe the most usefull "fx" I got.
Crazy, I didnt know this guy was billy corgans son.
Great video. Lots of info, concise and to the point and nicely produced. 👍
My only critique would be that you're speaking too fast at times. Your annunciation gets a little unclear.
That's an easy fix, though. Subscribed.
Thank you I’m glad you enjoyed the video! Fair I definitely do at times. I will keep that in mind for future videos!
I had one of these growing up but I dropped my cab on it I think, and so the 100hz control was bent as hell
Oh damn that’s wild. Did it still work?
@@coljimusic Yeah but it was stuck at -2db lol
Noisy pedal. It can be mod but it’s trouble. The Ibanez is the one you wan to get
The last time I used the boss eq, I found it noisy.
They seem to be hit or miss. I recall in Tom Bukovac's Rig Rundown John Bohlinger saying he found them noisy too. For me it is only noisy with the higher frequencies boosted.
The new ones are much quieter
I love mine but it’s so noisy. What to do??
Try to cut more than you boost! The GE7 is ±15db, which is quite a lot, and when you boost your signal you're boosting EVERYTHING - including background hum! "Science of Loud" (used to be CSGuitars) has a really good video about how to get the best juice for the squeeze for EQ pedals if you need more help or info :)
I wish somebody made a legit bass EQ. All the ones I see go all the way up to 8-10kHz... which is beyond stupid for a bass pedal.
The fundamental notes on a bass are lower but the harmonics are still there! It depends on your tone and what you're doing - if you want a very dark sound then sure you don't want those upper frequencies, but having them on the pedal allows you to cut them (which will help your overall mix with the other instruments too). If you want any kind of brightness, those airy frequencies can help add a bit of sizzle and edge and presence - and again, by boosting certain frequencies and cutting others (and doing the same on other instruments so you're not stepping over each other) you can make the bass come through more cleanly, with more definition
But it's not just pure output - if you're driving effects, being able to EQ the input (boosting or cutting) can make a lot of difference too. Those higher frequencies are present (so are even higher ones) to a certain degree, and you might want to push or remove them depending on your situation. You also might want to put the EQ after those effects and use it to clean things up (which also might mean removing some high frequency noise)
It just makes sense to keep the pedal versatile, y'know? There isn't really a need for special EQ pedals just for bass, it's a general tool - there are some if you really want though, like Darkglass make them. Otherwise any generic EQ works fine - get one with more bands or a parametric one if you want more control in the bass area
@@cactustactics Harmonics are a factor of the fundamental. And harmonics get less and less powerful as they get further from the fundamental. A bass does not produce any useful information at 10kHz. Even a tenth order harmonic for the highest note on a standard-tuned 24-fret 4-string is only around 4kHz.
Saying there's no need for a special EQ for bass displays a ridiculous degree of ignorance as to how sound works. Bass and guitar operate an octave apart. Bass frequencies are literally half what guitar frequencies are. You can't use the same tool to control both bands accurately. And I've looked at Darkglass and other "bass" EQ pedals. Almost all of them are identical to their guitar pedals. All of them have frequencies that are useless for bass, while leaving holes in the bottom end that could be helpful for tweaking the problem frequencies sound guys have to deal with. A pedal that stops at 100Hz is not going to help a 5-string that goes down to 30Hz.
@@johnterpack3940 the harmonics are still there though - that's the point. Especially if you're running through gear that boosts and adds harmonics, like distortion. An EQ pedal gives you the ~option~ to tame or boost those harmonics by a significant amount
Whether it actually matters is totally up to you and what you're doing. I'm just saying it's not a bad thing to have, especially as a general tool. If you really need more focus in the low end, check out a 10 band EQ or a parametric one like I mentioned - the MXR's lowest band is like 38Hz or something. Plus it goes high enough for a 6-string bass too ;)
Weak on content. I was surprised that you did not show that 0dB is with no EQ. Everyone - please remember that a dB or two makes a drastic effect upon the tone. Dude - next time, talk about that decibels are
This is not new information. EQ can always change your sound.
Awesome stuff!!! Tom bukovac ❤