1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before

de to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

TRENDING Axl Rose buys Dave Grohl guitar Gibson acquires Mesa/Boogie Metal Zone COVID vaccine conspiracy TikTok star shreds Metallica

Guitar World is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an a liate commission. Learn more

Home > Features

A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your

guitar tone bigger and better than ever
before
By Alex Lynham April 29, 2020

Whether you're playing live to thousands or creating mixes in

your bedroom, EQ is an essential but elusive tool. We break it
down for you in this comprehensive guide

(Image credit: Future)

 JUMP TO: EQ pedals you need to try 

EQ might not be the sexiest subject when it comes to pedals and tone-shaping
for guitarists, but it's probably the most overlooked. We know what you're
thinking - you're looking at the EQ controls on your amp and wondering what
we're on about. 

Okay - most guitarists have a pretty good idea of how to set up their amp, but
how does that translate to what the audience hear? Guitar amp EQ tends to be
quite a blunt instrument, with EQ lters that are either shelving or with a wide
Q - that is, a ected range of frequencies.

Ever wondered what the sound engineer is tutting about at your gigs? Or why
that studio engineer is making so many EQ adjustments to your already

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 1/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World
perfect-sounding guitar tone? Well, it's a subject that could involve many years
of study, but we're going to break it down into some practical advice for
knowing which frequency ranges - roughly - do what to your tone.

You're probably, like we were, a little confused at what 'Q' is if you've not heard
the term before, so we'll explain before continuing. In technical terms, Q is the
ratio of centre frequency to bandwidth. However, an easier way of thinking
about it is simply narrow or wide - where wide a ects more frequencies and
narrow is more focused.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU...

EQ terminology

(Image credit: Future)

We've all heard people refer to low mids, sub bass and growl, so here's a quick
glossary. A lot of these are a little subjective - this is our opinion, but we've also
checked online to make sure our versions are not way wide of the mark. Take
them as rules of thumb, and you'll be able to use them when talking to
engineers or mixers with more con dence and precision.

Sub-bass: anything under 60Hz. 

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 2/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World
Bass: 60-150Hz. Some consider this to go up into the low mids, and would go
as high as 200-250Hz.

Low-mids: 150-800Hz. We've seen people argue for 120Hz as low mids, or say
it should instead start at 250-300Hz.

Mids: centered around 1kHz. Note that this is a little guitar-centric; some
engineers would argue it's more around 1.6kHz

High mids: anything from around 800-3kHz, depending on who you ask. We
tend to think of it as above 1.6kHz.

Treble: around the 3kHz mark. Some consider treble to be a shelf that extends
from around 3kHz to about 20kHz, but we like to break it down further.

Highs: 6-8kHz.

Air: 14kHz and above.

What types of lters do we have?

(Image credit: Future)

High pass: this type of lter allows through - 'passes' - frequencies above its
target frequency and attenuates frequencies below that, with varying degrees
of severity depending on the lter.

Low pass: this lter passes frequencies below its target frequency and
attenuates frequencies above that.

Band pass: this type of lter passes frequencies in a certain range and
attenuates frequencies outside the range

Shelving lter ('shelf'): this type of lter boosts or cuts frequencies in a band.
They are often employed so that they extend out of the range of human
hearing.

Now, for the more vague terms

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 3/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Rumble: anything in the bass frequencies that's a lower octave resonance

rather than a fundamental note. In the lower bass and sub-bass, these sounds
can build up quickly, while not perceptibly adding an actual note for the
listener. This can not only make your mixes quieter, but also sound more
muddy and less focussed.

Growl: this is the area that gives grind to guitar and basses, and particularly
with distorted lower sounds, will need attention. It's around 100-150Hz, or with
a very wide Q can be a wide hump from 60-80 all the way up to the low mids
around 3-500Hz.

Bite: a rule of thumb for bite is around 2-10kHz, but crucially, you'll know it
when you hear it. Get a distorted Peavey 6505+ in a mix, and remove all the
bass and low mids - all that will be left is the bite.

Warmth: this is often a wide hump centred around the mids; think the sound
of the Ibanez Tube Screamer

Crunch: a less compressed and more open distorted mid sound often gives a
gravelly, 'crunchy' sound. It's notable that even some scooped Big Mu s like
the Ram's Head can get 'crunchy', which tells us it's probably more to do with
the character of the low mids and upper mids either side of the notch. 

The Big Mu usually has a notch at around 1kHz, although it moves as you
change the tone control. We tend to set the tone on our Triangle and Op Amp
reissues at around 2 o'clock, making the notch in the 800Hz ballpark. As a
result, we tend to assume most of the 'crunch' can be found at around 1.6kHz,
since this setting of the tone knob 'reveals' that frequency by moving the
notch.

The characteristics of each frequency range

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 4/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

(Image credit: Future)

Okay, so those are the glossary terms, but what can we hear in the actual mix
at which frequency, and why is it important?

It's worth remembering that where other instruments and elements sit is
important. The guitar has such a wide range that unless you're playing
completely solo, how much bandwidth you have in each range will determine
how impactful your playing is to the listener. 

If you have access to multitracks of your band playing, it could be a valuable

learning experience for you to look at things like bass and drum tracks through
a meter or imager so you can see visually the space they take up versus your
guitar parts.

As always, however, don't be overwhelmed by the visual cues - your ears

should always be your guide for what sounds good in a guitar tone, or either a
live or studio full-band mix.

50-60Hz: you might expect to hear the kick around this range, as well as bass
and synths. Guitars generate noise in this range, but unless it's an extended-
range instrument, you might nd it interferes with the bass without actually
adding to the sound. It's often a good idea to locate the lowest note played on
the guitar in a song and then apply a high pass lter a little below that
frequency to give plenty of space for the bass and kick drum.

100-200Hz: this is where you might nd the fundamental of the snare. Sounds
here go from 'rumble' to 'growl' and 'bloom'.

150Hz: one of the most valuable mixing tips we've ever been told is that this is
the rough area that gives a bass guitar 'beef'. By carefully changing the EQ of
bass and guitars around this point, you can alter the balance of the two
instruments so that they gel together better in a mix.

200-500Hz: a lot of the 'weight' of a mix can be found here; guitars with plenty
in this band sound warmer, but if you overdo it, they might sound overly
'woody'.

500-1kHz: this is where the 'body' of the sound comes from. Some snares will
have their overtones in this area, and it can overwhelm their 'snap', which
generally sits somewhere in the 'bite' frequencies.

2kHz: 'bite' for guitar and vocals sits here.

3kHz: in this area you quite often get guitars 'building up' in a mix, and also see
the 'cymbals eat guitars' phenomenon, especially with washy cymbals or open
hats - and yes, the collision of guitar and cymbal frequencies is where the band
got their name from. Male vocals in a rock context also often need some extra
bite adding in this band, meaning it's very busy in some mixes.

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 5/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World
5-10kHz: clarity and openness; when trying to get a really 'soaring' lead sound,
it can be good to roll treble o of rhythm guitars and free up this band for the
lead guitar to cut through more. Overdoing it can lead to a fatiguing, or
piercing sound; this is the area you'll often nd unpleasant 'ice-pick'
resonances. When mixing distorted pitch-shift e ects like the DigiTech
Whammy, you'll often have issues between 3-6kHz. Surgical EQ with a narrow
Q or careful use of multi-band compression is usually able to tame problem
frequencies, however.

10-12kHz: live, above this point can often cause issues depending on the room.
Especially for very high-gain tones, you'll sometimes see touring bands use an
EQ with a low pass lter around this point to take the edge o unpleasant
highs.

Final tip: pitch to frequency mapping

(Image credit: Future)

Finally, we've alluded often to the fundamental note. Especially with guitar, the
majority of its unique timbre is as a result of the mix of a fundamental note
and its overtones - although this is true of all instruments. If you use a
particular tuning or often write in a speci c key, then working out what the
frequency of a note is allows you to EQ around the impact of that note. Not
only that, but you can then calculate overtones.

With a graphic EQ that has 10 or more bands, this could be the di erence
between an overtone being in one band or the next, and with a pedal like the
Empress ParaEQ, it's likely to have an e ect on either the centre frequency you
use, or indeed the Q you apply to the low, mid, or treble band.

In the studio this is a far more powerful tool, as it can be applied on a song-by-
song basis, or even automated over sections that need a slight tweak. As a rule
with EQ, you want to keep the transition between bands as smooth as possible,
but careful mapping of frequencies can pay o even if you're having to make
more surgical adjustments.

EQ PEDALS YOU NEED TO TRY

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 6/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

Boss GE-7

(Image credit: Andertons)

The GE-7 is a graphic EQ with seven bands, controlled by sliders, and a level
control as an additional master boost or cut. It's active, meaning that each
slider controls either a boost or cut of up to 15dB per band.

The bands are 100Hz, 200Hz, 400Hz, 800Hz, 1.6kHz, 3.2kHz, 6.4kHz, and we'll
discuss those ranges in more detail later. For now, the thing to note is that
these bands are octaves.

The only drawback with the GE-7 is that it has some noise issues - although
there a number of mods available that remove this for the pre-2017 GE-7. After
that point, the GE-7 was redesigned to use SMD components, which are much
harder to work with for modding.

Boss EQ-200

(Image credit: Boss)

Boss reckons this is "the most exible compact EQ ever created for guitar and
bass", and it's certainly got the specs. The EQ-200 boasts two 10-band EQ
channels, with an onboard graphic display.

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 7/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World
You can patch external pedals in to shape them pre and post - ideal for
overdrives, distortions and fuzzes. There's also selectable signal ow operation
for stereo users, and up to 128 memory slots to save your carefully crafted
EQs, which you can switch between on the y.

If you're running a fully featured rig with MIDI switching and even multiple
amps, this is one of the best EQ pedals you can buy.

MXR 6-band EQ

(Image credit: Guitar Center)

The MXR 6-band EQ was originally a compact blue graphic EQ unit without a
footswitch, perhaps most famously used by Dimebag for boosting his mids.
Each band is active, controlling a +/-18db boost or cut.

The bands are 100Hz, 200Hz, 400Hz, 800Hz, 1.6kHz, and 3.2kHz.

The modern version improves on the original by being footswitchable, having

true bypass, and nifty LEDs on each of the sliders, so you can see exactly
what's going on even on a darkened stage. It's got one fewer band than Boss's
GE-7, but that may not be a deal breaker, unless there's some particular
reason you want to emphasize high treble frequencies.

If the 6-band isn't enough control for you, then MXR also o er a 10-band
version, with not only a much greater range, but also a volume and gain
control for extra exibility.

Chase Bliss Audio Condor

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 8/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

(Image credit: Andertons)

The Condor is an interesting beast for Chase Bliss at rst blush, but it's quickly
obvious that an EQ ts perfectly into their line of ultra-tweakable digitally
controlled pedals. 

Somewhere between a preamp and an analogue EQ, the main EQ control for
the Condor is a parametric mids control that can be moved between 150Hz
and 5kHz. There's also a bass and low-pass lter for more control over the low-
end.

In addition, you've got a plethora of dip switches with extra control options on
the top, and MIDI control as well. A second footswitch controls the drive circuit,
allowing it to be used as a boost, too.

Empress ParaEQ

(Image credit: Andertons)

The ParaEQ is exactly what it sounds like - a three-band parametric EQ. Each
band - low, mid, and high - has a Q control, a selectable centre frequency for
the lter, and a gain control, which allows for a boost or cut of 15dB.

The low centre frequency range is from 35Hz to 500Hz, the mid is from 250Hz
to 5kHz, and the high is from 1kHz to 20kHz.

The pedal also has a boost section, which is simply a 30dB clean boost. This
means that you can use the lters as cuts and then employ the boost as make-
up gain, should you wish, for extra versatility.

Today's best EQ pedal deals

LOW STOCK

Boss GE-7
Equalizer Pedal Boss GE-7 Gear 4 Music £85 VIEW

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 9/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

See all prices

Boss EQ-200
Graphic Boss EQ-200 Bax-shop UK £189 VIEW
Equalizer...

See all prices

We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices

MORE ABOUT... LATEST

The secrets behind Pete Anderson's tone on Dwight Yoakam's Guitars, Cadillacs  Watch Steve Stine demo three versatile models from Furch’s extensive acoustic range 

SEE MORE LATEST 

MOST POPULAR

Eddie Van Halen goes deep on his approach to tone,

technique and guitar design in this classic 1993
Guitarist interview
By David Mead January 07, 2021

READ MORE 

Evanescence: “Guitarists need to be honest. Use your

voice. We don’t need fake – we need humanity and
real people”
By Amit Sharma January 07, 2021

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 10/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World
READ MORE 

John Petrucci: ”The guitar melody takes the place of

the vocals. If it was all soloing and noodling, it would
get really boring”
By Jon Wiederhorn January 07, 2021

READ MORE 

JC Curleigh, Cesar Gueikian and Randy Smith on

Gibson's monumental acquisition of Mesa/Boogie –
and what it means for the iconic brands
By Amit Sharma January 06, 2021

READ MORE 

How Fender reimagined its flagship guitar line with

the American Professional II series
By Dave Burrluck January 05, 2021

READ MORE 

Steve Hackett: ”The wounds never healed from my

dad’s guitar. He said, ‘You’ll get calluses’… but I just
had fingers that were bleeding!”
By David Mead January 04, 2021

READ MORE 

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 11/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

Rookie: “Sometimes you just need to let the song

breathe... your part will be more powerful through
the negative space“
By David Von Bader January 04, 2021

READ MORE 

The best bass gear of 2020

By Bass Player Sta December 28, 2020

READ MORE 

Leslie West talks jamming with Jimi Hendrix and

seeing Eddie Van Halen for the first time in this
classic 1987 Guitar World interview
By Gene Santoro December 24, 2020

READ MORE 

Suzi Quatro: ”I grew up in Detroit, so I was weaned

on James Jamerson. He’s still the best. I very much
take my style from him”
By Joel McIver December 24, 2020

READ MORE 

GA-20's Matthew Stubbs: ”By 16, I really had the

blinders on for that early electric blues sound”
By Andy Aledort December 23, 2020

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 12/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

READ MORE 

60 years of the Fender Jazz Bass

By Joel McIver, Roger Newell December 23, 2020

READ MORE 

9 best guitar straps 2021: secure your guitar in style

By Chris Cor eld December 22, 2020

READ MORE 

TOPICS

EQ EQ TIPS FEATURES HOW TO PEDAL

 GUITAR WORLD NEWSLETTER

We’d love to stay in touch, sign up for the

Guitar World team to contact you with
great news, content and o ers.

Your Email Address

Contact me with news and o ers from other

Future brands

Receive email from us on behalf of our

trusted partners or sponsors

SIGN ME UP

No spam, we promise. You can unsubscribe at any time and

we'll never share your details without your permission.

RECOMMENDED
MORE FROM GUITARWORLD...

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 13/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 14/15
1/10/2021 A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before | Guitar World

1 Watch Steve Stine demo three versatile models from Furch’s extensive acoustic range

2 Corey Taylor, Dave Navarro, Chris Chaney and Taylor Hawkins to join forces as Ground Control for huge David Bowie tribute show

3 Tom Morello teams up with The Pretty Reckless for hard-ri ng new single

4 Gibson announces multi-year partnership with Gene Simmons on custom line of G² guitars and basses

5 Fender resurrects the late-’80s Boxer Stratocaster HH for 2021

Guitar World is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Terms and conditions Privacy policy Cookies policy Accessibility Statement

Subscribe Advertise/Contact us

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number
2008885.

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/a-guitarists-guide-to-eq-how-to-make-your-guitar-tone-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before 15/15