EQ Starting point?

[Snyd_]

Hi All.
I have a Martin GPC-35e with the factory installed Fishman Aura VT Enhance electronics which has Volume, Tone and Enhance control wheels. Volume is just that. Tone when full off is flat, full on sweeps mids, adds bass and treble. Enhance adds in sound board transducer in addition to the UST. The system has an Aura image derived from Martin/Fishman recording the guitar with mics, then creating the Aura image. Whew... that was a lot

I've been messing around with a borrowed, older PARA DI, one with the gain control inside the unit and find it a little confusing. I run it mostly flat and fully scoop the mids with the onboard Tone. Anyway, I just purchased a Venue DI and will have it in a couple days. I play on my Church Worship team so run through the soundboard, etc.

My question is this. When dialing in tone with the Venue where should I have onboard Fishman Tone and Volume settings to start with? I understand there are variables and it will come down to how it sounds but I'd like to start at the right place and take out as many variables as possible. So, Tone set flat or scooped before tweeking with the Venue?

[Caleb_Elling]

Hey Snyd_,
I replied to your email about 15 minutes ago. For anyone else who might be interested, here's what I said:

There's definitely more than one way to EQ a setup like that, so it might come down to trying a few things to see what works best. Personally, I would start with the guitar as flat as possible so that I could try out the Venue EQ and see how far it gets me. A mid cut like you have on the guitar can be helpful, but it's easy to take it too far and remove frequencies that you want to keep. If you start with the guitar flat, you can EQ from the Venue and then use the guitar controls.

You can also try getting the sound as good as possible on the guitar first, and then going to the Venue for the fine-tuning. The Venue has the most control available, so it's easier to make more precise changes there.

EQ'ing a guitar is definitely an art on it's own. So it's worth it to sit down with something like the Venue so you can get to know it better ahead of time. If you're interested, here are a few videos that might help in that process. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Using EQ: https://youtu.be/p2FH7UR2wJ4

Fighting Feedback: https://youtu.be/pTdUSQH_ckQ

Setting Gain: https://youtu.be/biwRxpuRGB0

[Snyd_]

Got it thanks!!