How to Choose an EQ Pedal for Electric Guitar

This is how I choose between the three main types of EQ pedal. Understanding their strengths and weaknesses can help you choose the right EQ pedal for you.

00:00 - Intro
00:38 - 3 Band EQ
03:37 - Graphic EQ
06:06 - Parametric EQ
08:32 - Other Types of EQ

[MrMont-uekh]

Thanks for another great video, Michael. I always get excited when I see you've posted a video because I know it'll be spot-on and very practical. I also have to say that I love that you start your videos with a riff you actually played in the video. I'm not a fan of the usually distorted and too loud canned intro riffs that most channels seem to gravitate toward.

[PaoloGiacci]

Probably one of the most underrated pedals of all time is the Akai G-Drive, an overdrive with not one but two graphic eqs, one before and one after the gain stage. To me that pedal was a “school” of tone crafting.

[traviswaynedoyle]

Holy crap you read my mind down to the three specific pedals featured in this video. TY TY TY!

[jeffoberg]

I’m an EQ addict and may never get enough EQ control on my board. I love my digital multiFX units for the global parametric EQ and multiple EQ options.

My analogue board has both a graphic EQ for shaping my drive tones and a parametric for shaping the overall tones.

[MaTTheWish]

I always enjoy your ideas wth eq pedals..

[flotenn]

Nice Video as usual. I have a haunting mids in my one Band to boost my AD30 and/or OD Pedal, it does this great. My other EQ in my other band has the purpose to make the live mixers Job easier. Its an Ibanez PTEQ with which I gut the low end in certain frequencies and push some mids. Best EQ I evee had, especially for the Price.

[uwedasler]

I went through all three, plus several more... The GFI is awesome, but IMHO overkill for a guitar rig - I kept mine for recording though. My favorite on the pedal board was the Empress ParaEQ Deluxe which is awesome, but for stereo rigs it is obviously no solution (and buying two is a bit rich), also the lack of presets was an issue - operating these tiny knobs for adjustments on stage is not ideal. In the end I went for the Source Audio EQ2. It is stereo or dual-mono (in a mono rig you can e.g. use it in front of the amp and in the effects loop with different settings at the same time), it has additional features (boost, tuner, noise gate, low and high pass), and it can be used as a graphical or pseudo-parametrical eq, it has presets plus midi support... it did check all boxes for me.

[mkrj]

Dig your stuff. Thanks. Would love to see the new breed of analog and digital amps have a 7 band graphic eq on their front panel instead of the traditional 3 knob setup. I find running these types of amps through FOH and monitors there is a greater need for dialing in tone or dialing out undesirable tones from FRFR speakers.

[luizdemarco]

I would love to have all of them, of course, but in practice it is a bit complicated... both in terms of money and space occupied on the board.

So, I just keep the graphic EQ on the board and leave the 3-band EQ to the amp's own EQ controls and the parametric EQ to post-production.

[peterhall]

Currently switched out my eqs in favour of a Wampler Triumph overdrive with bass/mid/treble. It's a TS with switching for the type of clipping. Very useful pedal.

[riangarianga]

I'll mention a very affordable pedal, loaded with tricks.
Check out the M-Vave IR Box, in principle an IR loader. It has external knobs to do high and low pass filtering on the spot, without editing.
However, each preset can also have an EQ, and this EQ can be activated separately (meaning you could deactivate the IR and just use the EQ). The good part is this EQ can be programmed from the PC of from a smartphone app, and it has several parametric bands to select frequency and Q, plus high and low pass filters. Basically it's like having a Fab Filter Pro-Q of sorts in a guitar pedal.

[lancelucifer]

The Ibanez eq of the pentatone. Just the eq pedal gives any amp whatever and anything it can do in the fx loop.

[RAR]

don't forget LPF/HPF EQ/dry blend pedals like the EHX Attack Equalizer

[ricardososa]

Yo i also have the pro Reverb, what do you usually set your EQ to for the amp as a pedal platform?

[Jonesax]

I was wondering if IR - Impulse Response - is a fancy parametric EQ with an automatic way of setting it up the way you want