A guitarist's guide to EQ: how to make your guitar tone bigger and better than ever before

Close-up of an MXR 6-band EQ pedal
(Image credit: Future)

EQ might not be the sexiest subject when it comes to pedals and tone-shaping for guitarists, but it's probably the most overlooked. We know what you're thinking - you're looking at the EQ controls on your amp and wondering what we're on about. 

Okay - most guitarists have a pretty good idea of how to set up their amp, but how does that translate to what the audience hear? Guitar amp EQ tends to be quite a blunt instrument, with EQ filters that are either shelving or with a wide Q - that is, affected range of frequencies.

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