Budget outboard EQ?

[KennyLusk]

Is there any love out there for budget outboard EQ like the ART Dual Tube EQ or the Meek 3Q or the Presonus EQ3B? Especially the ART unit - anyone have it and like it?

Any other's out there I'm not seeing that sound nice?

[Mane1234]

I'm still saving up for some API or Manley Pultec stuff...Or even something decent for ITB like Sony Oxford....I have the Meek 6Q and I love the pre and I love the compressor but I don't use the EQ on it much. Just never found a great use for it.

[weatherbox]

The blackface Orban - 642 or something? 644 maybe? I dunno. I had the blueface which looked nice and was functional, but not tremendously special (and had low headroom.) The blackface is quieter, more flexible, sounds better. I used to have API Eq as well, which obviously sounded better, but that particular Orban was pretty decent and not too pricey - 2 channel unit for I think $400. The bluefaces are like $250 but just didn't do it for me.

[littlepokey]

I have an Alesis PEQ 450 that I picked up off Ebay for cheap (about $100 I think).

http://www.alesis.com/downloads/manuals ... Manual.pdf

I like it. It s kinda a weird beast in that it s actually a digital EQ, but doesnt really look like it or feel like it. No digital I/O, presets, patches or screens. Just lots-o-knobs. It s not a funky-personality-type-color EQ at all but very clean sounding and very useful. It s a 5 band parametric with a bunch of stuff thrown in (Low pass, High pass, shelving curves, bla bla bla...). This same line produced a compressor (CLX something or other) which is also pretty cool. Again with more knobs than you would expect.

Definitely budget style, but looks and sounds good. For funky retro, there are a million better choices, but for something that is more fine tunable than the EQ's on just about any board, it s pretty nice.

[cgarges]

The Ashley SC-66 is a funky-sounding, cool box. It can be really ringy, but that has its uses. The Audio Arts EQs are also sort of cool. The (older) JoeMeek stuff had a really useful midrange. I have yet to hear a low-cost EQ that sounds particularly "hi-fi" to me, but there's certainly some interesting stuff out there.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[joel hamilton]

The Ashley SC-66

Second that. It is really fun, and you can get some nice, slightly saturated sounds out of single bands.... like you can switch the low and hi OUT, and crank the mid and let it drive a little on the vocal, or just the low, or just the HI... I love that box. I wish I still had one, or the space in the rack!!! they are big.

[chetatkinsdiet]

Wouldn't the Chameleon Labs 7602 strips be considered cheap? A great eq and the throw in is a very decent mic pre for around $700. That's hard to beat.

m

[rhythm ranch]

The Ashley SC-66

Second that. It is really fun, and you can get some nice, slightly saturated sounds out of single bands.... like you can switch the low and hi OUT, and crank the mid and let it drive a little on the vocal, or just the low, or just the HI... I love that box. I wish I still had one, or the space in the rack!!! they are big.

Third. I love the grit you can get with the SC-66. ALso, take a look at Furman PQ-3 and (stereo) PQ-6.

[KennyLusk]

Thanks for your responses guys. I figured I might be pissin in the wind looking for a budget outboard EQ that had any mojo. Figured it was worth a shot though. I'm springing for the Black Lion Tweak Head mod for my 1814 and want a decent outboard EQ to accompany the new fun.

[A-Barr]

The Toft stuff is said to have great EQ's.

You can also pick up those silver-faced 80's UREI graphic EQ's pretty cheap on the bay sometimes. I have one and the sliders are all crapped out so I never use it but it does have transformer balanced ins and outs I think, always wondered what the scoop on them was. Kinda lame to have fixed bands but it can be a cool effect on a re-amped guitar or something.

[KennyLusk]

I would love to spring for the Toft AFC2 which is supposed to have beautiful EQ but there's no HPF and that's a feature I really want.