EQ you

I'm someone who favours midrange but what's going on here? I've basically trimmed both the midrange & top end down.

Ditto this setting. Do you, instinctively, make an amp sound like how you want it to sound like, say when you try a guitar at the stores? You'd probably do likewise in the jamming studio; you dial up what you think might work because it worked for you at home. I'd bet you sound awful while you were at it. In fact, this is largely the reason why many people deem a certain instrument below their expectations, it's because they don't hear what they've heard all along at home, it's how they deal with tone. In this light specifically, it's how you handle EQ.

Ladies & gentlemen, the advice here would be to address tone issues that manifest in real time, as opposed to dialing up you favourite settings. It's as simple as trimming down the top end of a bright sounding guitar, for instance, & not insisting on your scooped (excess treble & bass with zero midrange) tone. Just some days ago, this took place at the music store. I walked past someone who was auditioning a semi-hollow guitar with the amp set to a scooped tone. OK, maybe the previous guy who tried the amp left the settings as such but I found that hard to believe because he kept pumping up more distortion after selecting the METAL amp module. There is actually no hard & fast rule as to how you should EQ an amp for the very guitar that's plugged into it. However, there is this thing called glaring ignorance if you try scooping your soup with a fork. Just sharing :-)

What's 'scoop'?

If you are new to guitar & wondering what's a 'scooped' EQ setting then your understanding would be aided by the pic above. The term 'scoop' is very much a lay person's reference to an EQ setting where the midrange is reduced, coupled with the enhancements of bass (low) & treble (high). So ladies & gentlemen, what we get here is a shape very much like a cross-section of a bowl, that's the 'scoop' setting.

Worthy quote: Alexi Laiho

I don't scoop my mids, & it sits much better in the sound when you're playing with a band.

A simple statement from Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) but one which stems from a keen ear. Any respectable sound engineer would tell you guitar signals would show up as mid-frequency charting on the monitor screen; the guitar in its entirety is an instrument churning out loads of midrange. If you play guitar in isolation, that scooped EQ would do you good- you sound very deep, more menacing with plenty of distortion. However, this is disastrous in a band context- the guitar would be buried by the bass' bottom end, the drums are also thumping low frequencies so it's a competition best avoided. Drum snares & cymbals are riding the treble end as well, so once again, the scooped guitar sound would only serve the player some deserving involvements into obscurity...

So this is a call for added midrange, then? Of course not. You'd do well to EQ your tone during sound check before you start jamming away. Listen to your band in context, fill in the 'space' which would make your guitar tone more upfront. If you are wondering what EQ is all about, this is the best time to find out. It's more probably a very useful tool to cut through the mix, not the perceived solo booster as deemed/ misunderstood by many.