We show that the traditional quasipotential equations (QPEs) may be vi
ewed as special cases of a more general QPE written in terms of three
parameters. We analyze the behavior of the ladder QPEs for bound state
s in terms of these parameters. From the generalized QPE we obtain one
QPE that resembles more closely to QED fourth order perturbative resu
lts than the traditional QPEs. We compare and contrast the QPEs in the
low, intermediate, and large coupling regimes, including fits to heav
y meson spectra.