FRFR Tip: Give yourself a midrange boost

guitardoc said:
I observed this too. When playing at low volume you need more gain to give the sound some 'warmth', but the higher the volume the more I have to reduce the gain to receive a balanced and tight sound without it becoming harsh.
I don't know why that is though, F-M (as far as I know this effect) can not be responsible for this, can it?
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Don't forget about feedback here. More sustain means more distortion especially on longer notes.
 
The was I was thinking about this after reading primarily Yek's post was to use this as a sort of "live" or "loud" boost that would be always on when playing live our loud. And to expand on that, wouldn't it also be good to add a lowpass and highpass filter as a "live" setting. Something like:

Band 1 (Blocking): 150Hz, Q: 0.9, Gain 0
Band 3: 770Hz, Q: 0.35, Gain: 4db
Band 5 (Blocking): 7000Hz, Q: 0.9, Gain 0

That will cut out everything below 150hz and above 7000hz, and a nice mid boost. Attach this as global PEQ somewhere after the CAB across all live presets using the external controller trick as Yek described.

Obviously there's nothing stopping anyone from adding a second PEQ block for a solo boost as per these last couple of posts.

Sounds like a good idea or not? I'll give this a go on Sunday which is the next time I'll play properly loud with my band.
 
allard said:
The was I was thinking about this after reading primarily Yek's post was to use this as a sort of "live" or "loud" boost that would be always on when playing live our loud. And to expand on that, wouldn't it also be good to add a lowpass and highpass filter as a "live" setting. Something like:

Band 1 (Blocking): 150Hz, Q: 0.9, Gain 0
Band 3: 770Hz, Q: 0.35, Gain: 4db
Band 5 (Blocking): 7000Hz, Q: 0.9, Gain 0

Sounds like a good idea or not?
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I'm on board with Band 1 and Band 5. Band 3 I'm not so sure about. If your boost is always on, it's not a boost anymore. Then you have to do something else for your actual boost. :)

The idea behind that boost is to dominate the mix when you take a lead. If you're not playing a lead, the guitar should drop back down to be balanced in the mix.
 
I think the boost was intended to be "always on". That's how I use it anyway.
But it can be used as a solo boost only indeed.

I'm also doing the blocking thing, but in the Cab block. 150 and 6.5.
 
yek said:
I think the boost was intended to be "always on". That's how I use it anyway.
But it can be used as a solo boost only indeed.

I'm also doing the blocking thing, but in the Cab block. 150 and 6.5.
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I guess I missed that. When I use it, it's to stand above the mix when I have to.

Whatever works, works. :)
 
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The post started discussing using an always on mid boost to stand out better in a band context at band volume levels and it was in that context I took Yek and Scott's suggested PEQ block. Similar techniques can of course be used as a solo boost as well, maybe even using a similar PEQ block that can be switched on using an IA.

I'll follow your lead Yek (like I guess many men before me :) ) and use the frequency block in the cab block.
 
I dial all my patches with guitar at "8" with the amp running reasonably hot. Dialed like this, the amp compresses more and I hear more mids in the tone as I roll the volume knob up. Nothing new there.

I also use the factory mix cabs. They already have the midrange boost in them and sound warm/fat in a mix.

For tone/solos that need more focused midrange boost, I throw in a tubescreamer type pedal.

For tones/solos that need more full range boost with some color, I throw in the FET boost.

If I still need full range boost after that, it gets added to the scene Db output for the solo scene.
 
yek said:
I want to give this thread a bump. I've been playing a few rehearsals with the CLR, and applying this tip helps to add thump / punch to the sound.
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So, you're not using it to balance the Fletcher-Munson curve?
 
I have to say, I finally got around to trying this out. Killer! Replaced my null filter solo boosts with a PEQ set as posted (770hz, .35Q +4db). Amazing!
 
I got around to playing with this yesterday as well. I actually made a few changes to my presets in the end.

First, I created a PEQ block 770Hz, 0.35Q and I ended up with +6dB and a level -4dB for my always on "live" PEQ block for all my presets, with a external modifier to turn on and off as per Yek's post. The -4dB level because I didn't want to increase the overall level, I just wanted to boost the mids. Sounded really, really good. I first used +4dB boost but it was still a tad bright so I upped it to +6dB for even more midrange focus. I may even try +8dB boost next time.

Then, in all my cab blocks, I added 150Hz low cut and 6.5Khz high cut. I believe this really helped overall more amp-like sound as well. Definitely a keeper.

And then, finally, I added a second PEQ block with 770Hz, 0.35Q, +4dB boost that I replaced my previous Filter block as a lead boost. Overall much smoother lead boost than the Filter block. I may still experiment with different frequencies and maybe make it a bit flatter as well but definitely a good start.

If you haven't tried this yet, I can highly recommend it when playing with the band. Makes my preset at least much closer sounding in band context vs playing with a backing track at home. Very cool.
 
alexwald said:
would you use the same midrange boost for the signal path that goes out to FOH? (for a hi-gain preset.)
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I do... I'd say that a sound guy is going to nudge the mid eq at the board anyway. This way you are doing his job for him and he can just run the board flat.
 
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