Hardware EQ, is it worth it?

[brontosaurus]

I have used a variety of EQ in my music production and just about all of them have been software based (Trackplug, Liquid Mix, Waves). Will a quality hardware EQ impart sonic benefits that these soft EQ cannot? I have been eye balling the great river EQ-1NV, but 1500$ seems pretty steep. Any thoughts...? Thanks.

[bplr]

here's my take on it (though my experience with any single piece of gear worth more than $1000 is next to nothing):

viewing it as an investment is the only way i can justify recording at all. software will immediately lose value once you've opened the box/file. it will decrease in value bit by bit (or megabit by megabit everytime there's a new OS or faster computer introduced to the market). every time i upgrade, there's $500 in upgrades necessary just to get my software to work on the new system.

buying hardware, however, isn't like that, so long as you do your research. if i had the money and the smarts to see it coming, i'd have bought every blackface fender i could find 10 years ago. good gear doesn't lose value ... it's like real estate. so instead of putting money in the bank, i dump it into gear that, 5 years down the road, i'll be able to at least recover my costs.

knowing this, its hard to spend cash on software at all. buy hardware. buy it used in new condition. learn how to fix your own s#!t and don't buy behringer unless you haven't got any choice.

[joel hamilton]

I have used a variety of EQ in my music production and just about all of them have been software based (Trackplug, Liquid Mix, Waves). Will a quality hardware EQ impart sonic benefits that these soft EQ cannot? I have been eye balling the great river EQ-1NV, but 1500$ seems pretty steep. Any thoughts...? Thanks.

It is only "worth it" if you feel it is worth it. Nothing more, nothing less. Every single piece of quality gear you own will get used for something. At some point, it will be "just the thing" and other times it wont. Sometimes, the U47 isnt the "best" for the job. Sometimes it is. Sometimes one of the pultecs (i have two) gets turned off, because i am not using it for a whole record!
Sometimes I use my melcor EQ's on every guitar track on a record, sometimes not.

all of them feel "worth having" because the times when they have rocked it, they have rocked it like nothing else can!

Just like having a fender twin... or maybe a tele AND a strat AND a les paul. One of them will probably be great for about any song you need to record, but maybe not ALL of them, ALL the time.

Your choice....

[RodC]

Software may go down in value fast, but if you need 20 channels of comp, EQ, Flange, Chorus, Verb.... you cant get much more bang for your buck.

Go buy that many of the cheapest nastiest of any effect and it will cost a bit more if you go the hardware route.

I like to focus my hardware on the signal chain in, Mics and pres and the occational Comp.

If I had an unlimited budget I would buy more hadware, I guess you just got to set your priorities.

[the tiny dancer]

I think I would have said it's absolutely worth having real eq, until the waves ssl bundle.

Don't get me wrong, If you've got $ to burn, get real eq!

I'm just glad software's getting better. The ssl waves is perfectly fine for me...and no noise. I loved my Chandler LTD-1...really nice mids, but I can do 99% of that with the new plugs. I felt similarly about the UAD pultec some years back, too. Those are the only two I've ever reallly dug. Never like Waves Renniasance, etc...the eq in Logic is better than most lately, actually....

YMMV...

[The Real MC]

Software EQ means planned obsolescence when your PC craps out and you have to replace all your software because you can no longer buy a system that will run your OS that became abandonware.

Hardware EQ means no upgrade treadmill. As with software there are good EQs and bad EQs.

[snatchman]

I just finished demo'ing the VSC-EQ from Speck (500 series). It's really a nice EQ..!.. ..Thanks to Vince @ Speck. It has this optional power supply/stand that you can use it stand alone, and not have to put it in the "500" rack. ( another great ideal by Vince)..So....If you don't have a rack just yet,and still want a great 500 EQ, you can get this one and use it, until you get the rack later! The EQ has a selection for transformer or clean output. I'll be picking one up right after Christmas!.....

[Ken]

This must be a question that a lot of people wrestle with. I think it's much like a previous poster, Joel H., said - it's "worth it" it you feel it's worth it. Although I am salivating over things like the Great River EQ-1NV and the Speck stuff (I agree, Vince is great) and the Manley Massive Passive (EveAnna is great too), I haven't bitten the bullet for this yet because of the expense.

I've even considered things like the FocusRite Liquid Mix (or whatever that EQ/compression doohickey is called) because it bypasses some of the "problems" of each (hardware - difficult to apply on every channel; software - upgrades, CPU load).

So far now, I'm putting off the purchase of a hardware EQ (well, I occasionally use the Peavey VMP-2 for its very limited EQ, but that's not really an EQ unit anyway), but it's always something I think about.

[brontosaurus]

Thanks for all the good feed back. Those Speck EQs do look interesting, wonder if they sound interesting too...

[tonebass11211]

The Massive Passive is a very useful piece of gear whether eq'ing the whole mix, sorting out a kick drum, or just using the filters and it's clean tube gain to "pump up the mix" a bit. It's not cheap but we do use it a bunch here at Studio G.

[snatchman]

Thanks for all the good feed back. Those Speck EQs do look interesting, wonder if they sound interesting too...

Yeah...they sound as good as they look..!.. ..Heavy as hell too, for it's size. ( good stuff in there!)...SOT...Vince's mic pre ( 5.0) sounds great also!