Hello there!
You are going to get lots of opinions on the ES2, and there are absolutely those who love this pickup system. And the very first iteration of the ES2 was very bass heavy: I heard this with my own ears at a Road Show and vividly recall myself saying this when Taylor was rolling out the ES2 and touting it as their new "improved" system. The preamp was eventually revoiced as enough folks clearly agreed it was not a balanced tone. You may want to call Taylor and talk to them about what you hear as see if they can get you a new preamp gratis.
So that said, I will say absolutely yes, the bass is disproportionately heavy (still) on this pickup system in my experience. It is still usable, better than many standard piezo systems, and
can be EQ'd to sound good live. So yes, you're on the right track with lowering the bass on the guitar and then also on your tonematch. Likewise, see if you can get a better tone starting with the flat curve rather than the preset EQ curve.
IME, the ES2's bass-dominance stems roughly in the 120Hz-350Hz range. Attenuating there is a great start, and keep the 80-100Hz close to flat to maintain the guit's bottom end punch. And raising a few of the freq in the mids (say 1.5k) and highs (around 5-6k) will help balance against the inherent boominess of the ES2 ...though be very judicious with boosting freq as a heavy hand can create issues as readily as subtle adjustments can solve them. Every PA's preamps and speakers are markedly different, so ultimately the frequencies you need to dial out will vary system to system. But you
can get it to sound decent live.
Side note on the hex screws: they are easy to adjust, but its effect is subtle and
no gamechanger (provided that it was setup properly from the get go, of course). All you need is a .050" allen wrench (got mine from Amazon for a few dollars) and a few minutes using your ears ...it ain't hard.
FWIW, I have owned guits with the ES2, still own and gig one now, and had also owned/gigged previous iterations of the ES1, which is not relevant here except to offer some context. FWIW, with my ES2 guit now, I use either a sweep EQ or a graphic depending on which board I run through; either will get me decent tone in the house. All of which to say that while the ES2 is not my first choice, it
can be EQ'd to deliver a pretty good acoustic-guitar sound IMO/IME. Experiment, and chime back in with what you find.
Edward
