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How many of you use an external EQ for your stage monitor?


Moonglow

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Most of the keyboards and synth modules I use contain some sort of EQ or tone control, but I'm thinking about reconfiguring my rack which would result in one empty space......and I have a fairly nice EQ (Rane ME-30) sitting in my closet. I'm thinking about using it to set the overall EQ for my stage monitor and then use the on-board EQs in the synths/modules to fine tune things. Yet I don't hear a lot about folks using an external EQ in their rigs. Thoughts?

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Gut feeling.. any time I add another piece of gear in the chain, I compromise the sound. But that depends upon what sounds you seek!

You don't have ideas, ideas have you

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There have been times I've thought of it, but those have been because of finding myself in a particularly crappy room situation where things don't sound as I expected. But I don't have one in the rack - I just plug everything in, set a monitor level at soundcheck and play.

 

Part of it is I'm happy with the normal sound of my monitors, another is it's one less thing to fiddle with, one less thing to go wrong.

 

What I could really use is another master volume pedal...for the guitar player's amp.

 

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I avoid EQ whenever possible, prefer the source to sound good out of the ballpark. The only EQ I use is to cut back bass on the piano on the DP, which usually have too much bass for a group ensemble. And a master volume pedal for guitar players is a great idea.
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I haven't in years, and no longer put one on the main sound system either. Don't miss them at all. My current gear is very flat.

 

I'm always striving for elegant simplicity in my setup - the fewer pieces the better.

 

I have been finding myself running my PX-5s through a variety of things lately however, and I really appreciate it's front panel 4 band EQ for smoothing things out.

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It depends on if the goal is correct monitor issue on a send separate from FOH or if you are trying to EQ the FOH send as well as your stage monitor. I only use EQ if it does not effect the FOH send.

 

I really want the sounds out of my boards to go to FOH with no external EQ. I want it to be a constant known quality. I have stereo DBX EQ in my rack to correct for some muddiness in the monitors I used to use. But this does not change what goes to the PA. If I start cutting lo mids out of my keys and it goes to FOH it could get tinny, piercing, or have no balls out front.

 

The EVs I use now are pretty flat so I have taken the EQ out of the chain. But it is still in my rack just in case.

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From what the question sounds like, you either suspect there's no neutral sound in your monitors, or you'd like another emphasis in general or in comparison with the PA sound.

 

Check the distortion, and in many cases the signal to noise rate figures, it may well mess up your clean signal path, unless you have cheap mixer and like it, than you may want to just check it out to see if it creates a sound that appeals to you. Good eqs are relatively neutral when not adjusted wildly, but not so top ones can distort quite a bit. I happen to know some well known brand has an eq with per band limiting, that may help with getting a loud enough monitor mix.

 

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I have an ME15 and for a small period of time I was using it as my mixer with one side EQing the PC3 and the other side EQing the Voce. I did this because I didn't like the lame way the FOH was EQing the keys, so I would ask the FOH to set EQ flat on the keys and I would control the EQing myself also using the levels on the ME15 to individually balance the signals from the keys. I would send the outputs to FOH and monitor (EV ELX112P). Eventually I abandoned the idea due to simplification. A 3-band EQ on a small mixer was just simpler/easier.

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I have a stereo 15 band in my rack. One side does minor adjustments to the overall sound. The other side takes a monitor send from the PA and lets me adjust it to eliminate any possibility of feedback from my vocal before it goes into my keyboard monitor.

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