Learning the Art of EQ on the Venue DI

[Sixstringplayr]

So I've got the good gear - Baggs Anthem pickups in all my guitars running through a new-to-me Venue DI preamp and into a Fishman Loudbox Artist amp with quality cables throughout.

And I have nice guitars - a Breedlove C25, a Taylor 514c and a Martin OM replica I built.

And I play reasonably well - all fingerstyle in standard and dropped tunings.

But damned if I can get this gear to give me the sound I am looking for. When I start twisting knobs on the Venue, my sound quickly gets nasal or muddy or unappealingly "fake". I also get a ton of clicking noise from my thumbpick that drives me nuts - I'd really like figure out which frequency (and corresponding knob) that thumbpick click lives in to dial it down. I just want the great tone of these guitars to be louder and evenly balanced and I know the secret is in the EQ to correct some of what I am hearing, but I just don't know where to start to learn about this stuff. Any tricks for the beginner to learn the art of the EQ with this gear? What are some decent starting settings on the Venue DI?

Random knob twisting ain't doin' it, so any and all advice appreciated.

~Brad

[dcsmusic]

So I've got the good gear - Baggs Anthem pickups in all my guitars running through a new-to-me Venue DI preamp and into a Fishman Loudbox Artist amp with quality cables throughout.

And I have nice guitars - a Breedlove C25, a Taylor 514c and a Martin OM replica I built.

And I play reasonably well - all fingerstyle in standard and dropped tunings.

But damned if I can get this gear to give me the sound I am looking for. When I start twisting knobs on the Venue, my sound quickly gets nasal or muddy or unappealingly "fake". I also get a ton of clicking noise from my thumbpick that drives me nuts - I'd really like figure out which frequency (and corresponding knob) that thumbpick click lives in to dial it down. I just want the great tone of these guitars to be louder and evenly balanced and I know the secret is in the EQ to correct some of what I am hearing, but I just don't know where to start to learn about this stuff. Any tricks for the beginner to learn the art of the EQ with this gear? What are some decent starting settings on the Venue DI?

Random knob twisting ain't doin' it, so any and all advice appreciated.

~Brad

Great Gear! I will answer with some thoughts that will leave you with more questions:

Try dialing down gain and upping output of your venue di? might make the pick sound less audible...might not.

If you can get your hands an a graphic eq it would be more straight forward to determining where that impulse from the pick hitting the strings is. Just keep plucking and dropping one slider at a time, when its gone you've identified the area. Might want to be careful about this part though the venue di would likely have very different roll offs as it is semi parametric (not sure what the Q is set to) than the graphic eq. i.e. you might sacrifice a lot of your sound in trying to cut the pick impulse frequency on the venue.

I wonder if a compressor set with a fast attack and short release and some attenuation would minimize the audible thumb pick clicking. Not sure if the necessary parameters are included in the venuedi to accomplish this so it might require more out board gear, but you might be able to use the notch filter to minimize it.

A really low tech solution to the thumb pick sound, would be to not use one I suppose, or maybe try a softer/harder one (depends on your attack i think).

Perhaps someone who has the di/pup configuration would be better to answer though.

Good luck!
Dave

[Caleb_Elling]

So I've got the good gear - Baggs Anthem pickups in all my guitars running through a new-to-me Venue DI preamp and into a Fishman Loudbox Artist amp with quality cables throughout.

And I have nice guitars - a Breedlove C25, a Taylor 514c and a Martin OM replica I built.

And I play reasonably well - all fingerstyle in standard and dropped tunings.

But damned if I can get this gear to give me the sound I am looking for. When I start twisting knobs on the Venue, my sound quickly gets nasal or muddy or unappealingly "fake". I also get a ton of clicking noise from my thumbpick that drives me nuts - I'd really like figure out which frequency (and corresponding knob) that thumbpick click lives in to dial it down. I just want the great tone of these guitars to be louder and evenly balanced and I know the secret is in the EQ to correct some of what I am hearing, but I just don't know where to start to learn about this stuff. Any tricks for the beginner to learn the art of the EQ with this gear? What are some decent starting settings on the Venue DI?

Random knob twisting ain't doin' it, so any and all advice appreciated.

~Brad

The Venue will definitely be able to give you more control over your sound. However, it is very important to know what you are trying to accomplish and what you can accomplish with EQ, before randomly sweeping knobs back and forth.

Thumb pick noise can be an issue if the pick is hitting the top of the guitar, which the Anthem's mic will amplify to a greater degree. If that extra noise is not heard acoustically, then I'm not sure why it would jump out more in the amplified signal.

For a Venue DI EQ walkthrough, I'd rather explain things in person, if that's ok with you. It can be a little complicated, but the Venue is highly capable of dialing in a great tone, especially on the Anthem. If you want to send me your phone number over private message or at [email protected], I can call you. Or you can always call me at your convenience at 805-929-3545. I would be happy to go over those controls with you in more depth.