Peter - thanks for elaborating on your gear and setup. Yes, all graphic equaliser knobs at zero to begin - sorry if I didn't make that clear.
Peavey don't say on their web site, but I'd mke an educated guess and say that the low end of the frequency response (50Hz) is at -10dB rather than the more realistic -3dB. Listen as you adjust the bass control when setting your eq - if you're having to turn it by a huge amount compared to the mid and top controls before you hear a noticeable difference, it's more than likely that your boosting low end frequencies which your speakers can't cope with.
Never "go mad" with tone controls, especially when you're boosting rather than cutting! What may not sound like a huge increase in volume may still be increasing the power going into your speakers dramatically. When this happens, you can overdrive your amp (causing distortion - bad for amp and speakers), and even without overdriving the amp, you may overheat your speaker voice coils. This will do nothing for their extended life! (But on the bright side, you've got a five year warranty with your Peaveys!)
I'd suggest that your speakers ought to be good enough to give you a reasonable sound without the "smiley" graphic equaliser. I'd think leaving it closer to flat may not sound quite so impressive, but I'd also be pretty sure the clarity of your vocals, and the ability to punch through the backing track will improve, as will overall balance.
(Think of it like this - if you've got a good mike, your mixer/amplifier faithfully reproduces the signal from that mike, and the speaker in turn does a good job of turning that back into sound, why would you need the smiley eq? If "flat" doesn't sound right, something in the chain is not reproducing the sound correctly. (Unless you happen to be singing in a room with big bass traps, and heavy curtains to kill off the top end - in this case, "smiley" may be just what you need!))
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