Options for EQing guitar

[mrhudson]

Good afternoon,

I am trying to incorporate bass and guitar into my home studio, being primarily a pianist thus far. I splurged on instruments, am practicing a lot, and am getting there - but also realizing/encountering those early guitar player "sounds good - but not quiiiiteeee there" tonal quests.

For the guitar, I picked up a Les Paul Studio 60s Deluxe

Gibson.com: Gibson Les Paul Studio 60's Deluxe Exclusive

and a VOX AC15.

I've experimented with different tone settings on the guitar and amp, and find myself wishing I could pull out some low mids more precisely. Tweak some more. Are there meaningful considerations/advantages/options between (i) using an EQ pedal before the amp vs (ii) just mic'ing it up and EQ'ing while tracking or in the mix? Studio setting alone.

I definitely am also going to consider a complimentary guitar (tele?/strat?-like) and a second amp to expand my options, but want to get what I can from what I have already.

[kafka]

A Les Paul with an AC15 should be able to get you from too dark up to too bright, so something close to what you want is probably in there somewhere. Back off on the guitar's volume knob, and don't be afraid to turn the tone knobs, too. Also, a lot of players start their knob twiddling with the tone knobs on the amp all the way up, and then turn them down. Try starting with them all the way down, and then turn them up slowly until you get what you want. The Tone Cut knob on the Vox is also very useful for backing off on the chime.

You can do some pretty extensive tweaking if you're willing to modify your gear, such as changing out pickups. I have Jimmy Page style wiring in my Les Paul (i.e. the volume/tone knobs are independent for each pickup), which greatly improves the flexibility of the guitar. However, I hesitate to suggest trying this until you have a really good idea of what you're going for, and what your current limitations are. One thing I can categorically suggest for Les Pauls is to upgrade the tone caps to PIO (paper in oil) capacitors. You can search out expensive, 'vintage' caps if you want, but the cheaper Russian caps can be really nice in their own right, and are categorically better (i.e. more 'open' sounding) than the ceramic disc caps you usually find in Les Pauls.

edit: I see the Les Paul Deluxe already has some kind of coil tapping, so really, there's not much I think you'd want to change on this guitar. It should be very flexible as-is. You may still want to look at changing out the caps, depending on what Gibson put in there. Actually, looking at the specs of your guitar, I'd really like one for myself.

[mattseidel]

Rather than EQ, it sounds like you might be looking for a different amp tone. (You definitely have the right guitar for warm low-mid tone.) I owned an AC15 Custom Classic for a few years, and wound up selling it - it's a great amp but it's very colored and not very versatilel, and in my opinion it's a bit more suited for single coil guitars like a Jaguar or Jazzmaster. For low mids on a Les Paul you might be better off with a Fender reverb-type amp - they're a bit easier to dial in humbucker tones (again just my opinion).

As far as EQ, I would suggest getting the guitar tone as close to what you want in the room, recording with a good dynamic mic (MD421, SM57, or e609), and then experimenting with a basic hi-pass or lo-pass filter in the DAW. When I was first learning I would go crazy with multi-band EQs, hyping mids etc., but the results were always harsh and unnatural.

It's not easy, but the best results are definitely going to come from experimenting with your guitar -> amp -> mic selection until you start to get a good understanding of your tonal palette.

[litepipe]

I don't always love les Paul's through fender type amps. I'm fine with tweeds, but higher wattage blackfaces don't do it for me... I like something more in the Marshall category.. JTM45, etc...

Fender Champs, princetons, deluxes are cool... Not so much twins and supers

[litepipe]

Those E609's are really nice on amps!!

[MikeTSH]

If you're going for a less bitey tone and can't afford to splash out the cash a reduction in the 1.5-4k region with EQ will help it sit back a bit. That's where a lot of an overdriven guitar's tone comes from.

Hope that helps.