so ive been running SSB on 40m for a while now and keep getting reports that my audio sounds kinda boomy or muddy, like too much bass. im running an IC-7300 into a Heil PR-40 which should honestly be a great combo but something isnt clicking. i did set the mic gain by watching the ALC and keeping it out of the red but people still say it sounds off.

i read somewhere that you're supposed to roll off the low end pretty aggressively for SSB, like maybe a high pass filter starting around 300hz or so, and keep the upper end somewhere around 2700-3000hz. the radio has a built in TX equalizer but i havent really messed with it much because honestly those parametric eq screens are kind of intimidating and i dont want to make things worse. anyone have a starting point for EQ settings on the 7300 for voice that actually works? or is this more of a microphone placement thing

also curious if the TX bandwidth setting matters as much as people say — i have mine set to the default which i think is like 2.4k wide. should i be narrowing that down

the PR-40 is a large diaphragm condenser-style dynamic and it does have a pretty pronounced proximity effect if youre too close to it, which will give you exactly that boomy sound you're describing. most people put their mouth like 2-3 inches away but with that mic you probably want to back off a bit more than you think, or angle it slightly off-axis. even just moving it 4-5 inches changes the low end a lot.

on the 7300 TX eq i started with cutting somewhere around -6 to -8dB at 100hz, leave the mids pretty flat or bump them slightly around 1.5k, and roll off above 2.8k or so. honestly the best thing you can do is get someone to give you a live report on a sideband frequency and just tweak in real time. the waterfall on the 7300 can also give you a rough idea of where your energy is concentrated if you watch the TX monitor. also yes the TX bandwidth matters — 2.4k is fine for general use but some guys narrow it to 2.0k for more punchiness, just depends what youre after

yeah what he said about mic distance is spot on. i had the same issue with a different mic and spent weeks messing with EQ before someone just told me to move the mic back. felt dumb but it fixed like 80% of the problem instantly.

one more thing — check if the bass boost on the Heil is switched on. i think some of those mics have a small switch on the element housing for it and it's easy to accidentally have it enabled. might not be your issue but worth checking before you go too deep into the EQ rabbit hole