gjbrake
Yep, everybody is fascinated with "scooped mids" where you shape your EQ like a smile or letter V. This will get you a very Marshall stack like tone. This tone is very good for rhythm guitar or when playing alone. But as soon as you start playing with a bass player you will get buried. No matter how loud you turn your amp, you will barely be able to hear yourself. You are playing the same frequencies as the bass. :x
And forget about playing lead with scooped mids, nobody will hear your solo at all. I see this problem with live bands all the time.
I think where the big problem comes from is recordings. Oftentimes on recordings the guitar will sound very bassy. But this is a recording, all instruments are highly compressed to have their own slot in the mix. It is not really a realistic sound, listen to any of your favorite bands play live and they will sound much different. And often on recordings people are mistaking the bass for guitar anyway.
Let the bass play the low end. The electric guitar sounds best in the mids. Boost your mids, cut your lows and highs a little. Your tone will cut right through the mix, and your bass player will be happy that you are no longer hogging his frequencies. :D
Here is a good example of boosted mids, Slash on Sweet Child O Mine. Slash uses Celestion Vintage 30 speakers in his cabs, a speaker known to emphasize mids and attenuate lows and highs. That's why he cuts through so well. And listen to the rhythm guitar, no super mid-scooped tone there either.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
