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A-Barr
tinnitus
Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 1010
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 Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:47 pm Post subject: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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I have seen references to this, but despite all my searching, have not been able to find a thread that actually describes it. I am really curious because I think I may have one. In high school, I traded a Korg multi-effects pedal for this thing. I can't for the life of me remember why, but I was desperate to get an EQ back then. Anyway, it's "Realistic," "blackface," it has an led spectrograph (?) that is broken, and an "IMX Expander." It's 2-channel, and has been sitting in my closet for 5 years on my list of stuff I should probab;y get rid of. Is it actually a usable piece of gear?? I don't think I've plugged it in since my 4-track days, so I guess I'll give it a shot, Anybody know that really simple yet elusive mod that supposedly helps so much?
Thanks!
-Alex |
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dwlb
zen recordist
Joined: 31 Jul 2003
Posts: 6618
Location: criticizing globally, offending locally
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:04 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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I don't know about the specific piece of gear you're talking about, but I've gotten some great use out of Radio Shack gear over the years.
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joelpatterson
carpal tunnel
Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 1723
Location: Albany, New York
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:11 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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Are you interested in selling it? I've PM'd you.
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r0ck1r0ck2
re-cappin' neve
Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 704
Location: Milwaukee!!
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:20 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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easy there cowboy...
radio shak stuff needs to come o YOU...
like a Genie or the Plague |
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A-Barr
tinnitus
Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 1010
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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| OK, so I guess i do have the sought after one? I didn't get any pm's, but I probably wouldn't sell it, now I'm curious about it and it'd be a big hassle to ship it out and do all that stuff for the 10 or 20 bucks I think I'd get for it. Plus in a fit of brilliance I took out all the screws holding it together and never put them back. This was a couple of years ago so god only knows where they went. Besides, the UREI 537 I got off ebay's sliders are totally shot so it'll be good to have the realistic around. Anybody know how to mod it? Or where to get replacement UREI sliders? |
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toothpastefordinner
buyin' a studio
Joined: 07 May 2003
Posts: 877
Location: ohio
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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| A-Barr wrote: | | OK, so I guess i do have the sought after one? I didn't get any pm's, but I probably wouldn't sell it, now I'm curious about it and it'd be a big hassle to ship it out and do all that stuff for the 10 or 20 bucks I think I'd get for it. Plus in a fit of brilliance I took out all the screws holding it together and never put them back. This was a couple of years ago so god only knows where they went. Besides, the UREI 537 I got off ebay's sliders are totally shot so it'll be good to have the realistic around. Anybody know how to mod it? Or where to get replacement UREI sliders? |
This is still a fairly secret weapon, I used it all over my last album... you can run signal straight through without touching the EQ sliders and it still makes things sound present without turning the high end into a tinny, scrapey mess.
From what I can tell, the "RSEQ sound" comes from a poorly-designed negative feedback amplifier in the input circuitry. I don't know for sure which part is "magic", but I do know that I track guitar amps and vocals through it all the time, in between my 1272 and distressor... |
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Rigsby
mixes from purgatory
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Posts: 2869
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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| toothpastefordinner wrote: | | A-Barr wrote: | | OK, so I guess i do have the sought after one? I didn't get any pm's, but I probably wouldn't sell it, now I'm curious about it and it'd be a big hassle to ship it out and do all that stuff for the 10 or 20 bucks I think I'd get for it. Plus in a fit of brilliance I took out all the screws holding it together and never put them back. This was a couple of years ago so god only knows where they went. Besides, the UREI 537 I got off ebay's sliders are totally shot so it'll be good to have the realistic around. Anybody know how to mod it? Or where to get replacement UREI sliders? |
This is still a fairly secret weapon, I used it all over my last album... you can run signal straight through without touching the EQ sliders and it still makes things sound present without turning the high end into a tinny, scrapey mess.
From what I can tell, the "RSEQ sound" comes from a poorly-designed negative feedback amplifier in the input circuitry. I don't know for sure which part is "magic", but I do know that I track guitar amps and vocals through it all the time, in between my 1272 and distressor... |
My uncle used that model on Five Star's 'Luxury for Life' LP, i don't think i need give further endorsement.
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joeysimms
ears didn't survive the freeze
Joined: 05 Jun 2003
Posts: 3838
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:54 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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How the fuck could radio shack make anything useful? I smell bullshit. Or, I bet whatever sounds soo great WITH it prolly sounds exactly the same WITHOUT it.
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Roman Sokal
buyin' gear
Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 531
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:34 am Post subject: re |
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was this the blackface graphic eq?
i suppose its uselful for something- they did market it for home stereo system use, and the little colored LED display and how the lights 'fell' when a signal was no more was kinda cool. i suppose one good use of it would be for a budget room eq situation after spectrum analyzing a control room...? |
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RefD
on a wing and a prayer
Joined: 28 Aug 2004
Posts: 5986
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:17 am Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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no, it was very stripped down and only had seven bands per side.
no bargraph RMS meters or "IMX Expander" (that was the extremely inferior ten band unit) or anything fancy like that.
actually quite homely looking, but the beauty lives inside!
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Mr. Dipity
carpal tunnel
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
Posts: 1528
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:13 am Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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As I understand it, it didn't do very well on the consumer market because it was way too honest an eq, in addition to the sound of the transformer. People didn't know what to make of it.
I also heard that there were some serious issues interfacing it with consumer stereo gear, as opposed to studio gear, but that makes no sense at all, and is probably just hype.
Still, you can't argue with results. If they had known, they could have sold could have easily sold it to recording studios for way more cash - not even necessarily as an eq, but for the sound of the unit.
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matyas
pushin' record
Joined: 03 Nov 2005
Posts: 207
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:12 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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| joeysimms wrote: | | How the fuck could radio shack make anything useful? I smell bullshit. Or, I bet whatever sounds soo great WITH it prolly sounds exactly the same WITHOUT it. |
Makes me a little nervous too, but remember, back in the day they were licensing other people's stuff, not designing their own. It's well known that Moog actually made a synth for them that's got the Concertmate logo on it, and RCA outs, but is in every other way pretty much a Moog synth. So who knows? Although I gotta say, if the rest of your signal chain is 1272s and Distressors, it'll probably sound good. |
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YOUR KONG
buyin' a studio
Joined: 10 Jul 2003
Posts: 872
Location: CT & NYC
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:20 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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| joeysimms wrote: | | How the fuck could radio shack make anything useful? I smell bullshit. Or, I bet whatever sounds soo great WITH it prolly sounds exactly the same WITHOUT it. |
I dunno, Radio Shack is unsexy but often functional. Some of their products have a place in TapeOp lore, like the PZM boundary mics and that faux-moog synth they made.
Not to turn this into a Rat Shack thread.
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snatchman
tinnitus
Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 1238
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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Hey....I think I have one in the storage.! Humm....  ..If I remember correctly, this thing has RCA connectors, 7 Band EQ, etc. or was it 10 Band..  I"ll check and see.!..  |
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vvv
on a wing and a prayer
Joined: 13 May 2003
Posts: 5703
Location: Chi
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:25 pm Post subject: Re: What is this Radio Shack EQ Everybody's Talking About? |
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If you open it up and it's got "API" or "Urei" or "Neve" stamped on it, you have a good one.
Well, it could happen, y'know...
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