LOOK: 10 Awesome 7 String Guitar EQ Tips

Looking to find the best ways to make your seven string guitar sound great? Check out these awesome 7 string guitar eq tips below:

How To EQ 7 String Guitar

1. Try using a low-cut filter. The low frequency components of the sound of the 7 string guitar are much more prominent than those of an electric guitar with six strings. A low-cut filter can be helpful; it cuts out frequencies below a certain point, so you get rid of some bass in favor of treble sounds. It’s a common technique that many music engineers use to make guitars sound more like piano with less muddy tone.
2. Have a sweepable EQ on your amp or pedalboard? Sweep through the highs and see if any frequencies jump out as sounding better when boosted and others as sounding better when cut. Be sure to try different pickups and different sounds to see how they affect the sound.
3. For the same reason as #2, experiment with different pickup selections while you have your sweepable EQ turned on. It might be something simple like adding more bass that makes it stand out, but you might find that a single-coil pickup gives you more cut in the high end than a humbucker.
4. Mix it up. Try playing the 7 string guitar with a clean sound, then add some light distortion to it. Keep adding more distortion until it’s all you need to play your song. Then take off the distortion and try a simple clean tone, then add more overdrive until you need it, and so on.
5. If you’re going for that classic rock sound and don’t have a wah-wah pedal handy, try using your sweepable EQ once again. With a wah pedal on the end of the guitar, sweep through the frequencies and listen to what happens when you add and then remove some frequencies. You might find that one frequency is cut quite a bit, while another seems much more apparent to your ear. Then experiment with different combinations of those frequencies, with and without a wah pedal, until you find something that sounds great.
6. It’s no secret that bass guitars often use boost pedals to make more bass sound normal. It follows that the other way around is just as true. If your 7 string guitar needs a little bass boost, you can get one with the help of a boost pedal.
7. Don’t forget about overdrive and distortion pedals! They’re great for giving you that classic rock tone, even if you use them only sparingly.
8. If you’re going for a rock sound, a boost pedal works just as well as a full-blown distortion pedal. Unless you want to stand out so much that people start pointing and laughing when you play in public, I suggest using the boost instead of the full-blown distortion.
9. Don’t use too much low end. If your bass guitar has a lot of low end in its tone, it can make your overall sound muddy. EQ will help with this – you might have to cut it a lot, but it can make a difference.
10. If you’ve already done #9 and find that the bass guitar is overpowering your 7 string guitar, consider adding another 7 string to the mix. The two guitars can provide a powerful and unique sound that is unique (at least in our ears), even if the total amount of low end is fairly small.

Looking for a great 7 string?  Look at our recommendations on the top seven string guitars.

Setup EQ For 7 String Guitar

Here is a good video on setting up your eq for great seven string guitar tone:

EQ Pedal For 7 String Guitar

For 7 strings, I would recommend the Boss GE-7.  Boss is a well-known brand that excels at producing high-quality sound and effects.  The Boss GE-7 EQ Pedal is a popular and moderately priced EQ pedal.  It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but it has everything you need to get the job done.  If you’re looking for a simple, economical EQ pedal that works a little better than you may anticipate, this is a fantastic choice.  It’s not cheap, but it’s a fantastic investment.

This EQ has seven bands.  The sliders and a master level slider are located at the top of the pedal.  Each one is simple to modify and has a high level of precision.  In fact, the design is so simple to use that you can adjust it even in low light.  Because there are so many bands, you have a lot of control over your sound and can shape it to your liking.  This makes it suitable for almost any genre.

Boss pedals are famed for their toughness, and this one holds up to the test of time.  It’s truly designed like a tank, and it’s ready to take on the open road.  Even the jacks are well-constructed.

Some users mentioned that high gains produce some signal loss and hiss, however others suggested that this could be due to other issues.  Some people claimed that these sounds were less noticeable when the pedal was put near the beginning of the circuit, while others claimed that they could be controlled by using the sliders strategically.  Another concern was that if the disparity between bands was too great, the tone degraded.

7 String Guitar Amp Settings

This is going to depend on the amp and the tone that you are looking for.  To obtain the best tone from my 7 strings vs. my 6 strings, I’ve discovered that I need to utilize different settings on my amps.

My regular 6 string settings would be:

• Gain at level 4
• Bass at 8 or 9 o’clock
• mids at 7 o’clock
• 6 or 7 on the treble

Depending on the cab/volume, there is a presence/resonance to taste (usually 6 and 8, respectively)

With my 7 strings, this is usually good enough for me, although my “ideal” settings for them would be more like:

• Gain is set to 3.5 and the bass, mid, and treble are all set to 6.
• If the guitar is intrinsically darker, you could want to boost the mids or treble.
• Presence should be the same or pushed up a notch, and the resonance should be dialed back one or two notches depending on the guitar/pickups/tuning.

The second set of amp settings will remove some low-end surplus and mid-range congestion, resulting in a more defined sound. The 7 string’s thicker strings and lower notes will fill out the sound in a different way than the amp’s EQ, so the end result won’t be an identical tone between the guitars, but two very comparable tones that function in various ways for distinct sonic ranges.

Recording 7 String Guitar

When recording, you definitely want to experiment with the tips above but also:

People that record 7 strings usually do it with the guitar going through a halfstack or a combination of some sort.  To get those bass notes to ring properly, you simply need strong air movement.
And distortion pedals are unlikely to help.  The larger harmonics of a competent tube preamp stage are required.  Also, even if you have a good sound with a larger amp, you might need more than a 57 to record it.  Often, an LDC or an SM7 can be used to assist.  The problem is that these sounds necessitate responses at a wide range of frequencies.  Lows provide oomph, lowmids provide body, mids provide bite, and highs provide definition.

7 String Guitar Scooped Vs Boosted Mids

Scooped is the most enjoyable game to play alone.  Mids simply sound better and blend better in a band context.  So I enjoy both; it just depends on what I’m doing – feeling like a rockstar at home, composing, or performing with a band.

With a hefty scoop, you can achieve ideal live and studio tones.  Of course, the tone of the other instruments must take this into account. Most thrash records from the 1980s are extensively scooped and sound great.

Final Words On 7 String Guitar EQing

If I were to offer some final advice, I would just say EXPERIMENT.  Try different amp settings, effects, string gauge, scale length, lower tuning, higher tuning, etc to see what you prefer for a guitar tone.  Search forums for ideas too!