Best EQ Pedal for Bass Guitar Reviewed
EQ is one of the most neglected effects and equipment that a musician should have, this is due to its small overall effect on the final output of your sound. But then the EQ pedal becomes essential to guitarists, bass guitarists, and any instrument if you are tone chasing, performing, and especially recording. EQs are commonly found with use for guitars, bass guitars on the other hand is rare to be used with an EQ pedal. Today we’re taking a peek at our list of Best EQ pedals for bass guitar.
MXR has been a big name in terms of producing effects and musical equipment that provide amazing tone quality, which is a huge thing for tone chasers and professionals, The MXR M108S has been one of the most famous EQs recognized in our day and age.
The great thing about this EQ is that it is extremely versatile as it can handle boosting and cutting frequencies from 31.25Hz up to 16KHz, which means it can be used for keyboards, guitars, bass guitars, and you can even slap your mic into this and it would work fine.
Another interesting bit about this EQ is the fact that you can put out 2 outputs which means you can theoretically use this as a splitter to make a stereo output, I hope that makes sense with you. This also has a Volume and Gain faders, and while we’re at it, the faders also light up, which is cool to look at, and it will easily show your frequency graph while you’re playing.
Now you may be thinking, “why would I need to adjust up to 16k if I’d use this for a Bass?” Some people might not know it but an EQ with up to 16KHz control can be beneficial especially if you are playing harmonics or slapping the bass. Overall, this EQ is indeed one of the best EQ pedals not just for the bass guitar, as it is versatile, you can pretty much use this with anything.
- Ten Band EQ ranging from 31.25Hz to 16KHz
- Built-in volume and gain controls
- Has 2 outputs
- Can easily take out hiss and hum
- Needs a dedicated 18V power supply
Boss is undeniably the Boss of analog and reliable effect pedals, and to prove that, the internals of Boss pedals are still intact when their enclosures start to deteriorate, and I am talking about around 20 years of solid use. The Boss GEB-7 otherwise known as the Boss Seven-Bans Graphic Bass Equalizer is known for its simple and iconic interface and reliable functions.
Like most Boss pedals, the GEB-7 is powered by a 9V battery or a 9V power supply. This is also configured with a right to left input-output. Now with the 7 band EQ ranging from 50Hz-10KHZ, I’d say that this frequency spectrum is just perfect for what it is designed for which is for the Bass guitar.
With up to 10KHz you can easily adjust how your bass slap and harmonics will sound. With the low-end which at around 50KHz, I think it is perfect for the traditional bass, but anything lower than that like a 5-string bass would bring, would not be adjusted by this EQ.
Other than that, this EQ also has a level fader to help you out cut or boost some noise and hum. I wouldn’t personally recommend this bass EQ if you are using a 5 string bass or have a drop tuning on your bass as this would not help with that.
But I’d highly recommend this for you if you’re using a traditional bass as this EQ would be perfect to kick out some more chest-pounding tones from your bass guitar, and together with the overall reliability, this is one of the best EQ pedals for bass guitar.
- Reliable and simple to use
- Cutting and boosting frequencies work extremely well
- Lacks a bit of versatility with just having 7 bands
To be as straightforward as I can, the Caline CP-24 may be the budget option of the MXR M108S as it shares many similarities in which we’ll get into detail. But first, let’s get to the features.
The Caline CP-24 features a 10 band EQ ranging from 31.25Hz up to 16KHz, which means that this EQ is versatile as you can pretty much use this for anything. This has a single gain slider, which when compared to the MXR M108S, this does not have the dedicated volume slider. But one cool similarity is that the sliders on the Caline CP-24 also individually light up, which is a great help if you’re playing in a poorly lit event.
The pretty basic thing about this though is the single input and output jack, which the MXR has the premium of having dual outputs. And the final thing is, this EQ only runs on 9V power, which is a good thing from a budget standpoint as you can simply use a 9V battery or use your existing 9V power supply chain.
How does this perform? Well, you can perform well on this EQ pedal since it can do the job pretty well. But being a budget equipment, you can expect a hassle or two, for example, this can get noisy, this can have screws loosen up over time. While this is not the most reliable option you got, this can still perform well, and for the money you’re paying it for, it’s not that bad, that’s why this is still one of our picks for the best EQ pedal for bass guitar.
- Imitates the much more expensive MXR M108S well
- Sliders also lights up
- Has true bypass and a good signal quality
- A bit noisy with certain type of bass guitars
- Has a weird and loud screech when you turn it on for the first time
There you have our top picks for the best EQ pedals for bass guitar, in the end, picking one comes to your preference and your needs. You can use anything on this list for performing, but if you are looking for something reliable, you better stay away from the Caline CP-24 and invest in something better on this list.
Leave a Reply