Good, inexpensive EQ?

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:01 pm

We talk about low-end-but-good preamps and compressors all the time, but EQ rarely comes up. What's out there that's decent for under $1000? Under $500? Things that look promising are the Speck ASC and the Summit FeQ-50. Anyone have an opinion about either of those?

I know there are tons of low end offerings from dbx, samson, alesis, etc, but I have a hard time believing they're any good. Besides, they're mostly graphic EQ's, and I'd rather stick with parametrics.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:17 pm

Anything but the orban paragraphics, which someone will inevitably hate me for saying that.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:34 pm

I've got a Symetrix SE-400 parametric. I don't know anything about it, there doesn't seem to be much info out there...but it sounds pretty decent and I paid like $75. I mostly just use it for cutting, not boosting, though it does have a bit of gain to it.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:38 pm

Some amazing EQ's that can be found for decent money piles:

Filtek/BFE EQ's.

Neumann PEV (all discrete, used in cutting lathes back in the day).

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:44 pm

dbx 242 or something by symetix.. good enough

http://tinyurl.com/adfgv

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 8:58 pm

Back in the day, I had a pair of Rane parametric EQs, FPE13's... three bands you could select to any range, lo/mid/high in any combination. When I'd come back with my "live to DAT" recordings, I'd run them through these babies and it always gave it the spit-polish shine. Drool-polish? Very different from these days, watching the EQ curve, convincing yourself all is hunky-dory. In those days you had to actually listen.

The power supplies terminated in a phone cord that plugged into the back, and there was some dire warning about never ever plugging the TRS line in at the same time as the 1/4" ins and outs... I assumed that a mad scientist had designed these things, and if they exploded, well, he warned you.

Rivers · Post by **Rivers** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:47 pm

Definitely check out the Speck ASC eq.
Get the one with a Transformer.
Clean, sweet and musical eq.
Around $500.

ryanlikestorock · Post by **ryanlikestorock** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:04 pm

I really like the HHB Radius 20. Good for a little tube fuzz in there too.

PSP MasterQ is a great software EQ for the price too.

snatchman · Post by **snatchman** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:48 pm

Hey, I have a .......Behringer 5 band Parametric ( the older unit) that sounds pretty decent!..( put 'em up.... put 'em up...!

)

thearnicasync · Post by **thearnicasync** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:59 pm

hate to say it, but those Mackie Onyx eq's are fine. 8+ channels for $600.

MikeCzech · Post by **MikeCzech** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:13 pm

I haven't checked it out myself, but I read a very generous review about the Alto Q 5 band parametric for $100. I've been curious, but I always figure if it sounds too good to be true it probably is...

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:21 pm

Mackie?! Behringer?!?!

See, when you guys start talkin' like that I think these guys don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Then I remember that I don't either.

It's kinda funny how we're conditioned to dismiss certain brand names without ever hearing them. I suppose that kind of elitism (for lack of a better word) has a place in that it keeps us from spending money on crap, but I wonder how many decent products we miss out on because of it?

groove guru · Post by **groove guru** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:00 pm

I'm fond of my Pendulum SPS-1 eq. Stereo mic pre + eq for under $700 used.

snatchman · Post by **snatchman** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 2:35 pm

groove guru wrote:I'm fond of my Pendulum SPS-1 eq. Stereo mic pre + eq for under $700 used.

Hey....not fair, not fair! I thought we were talking about cheap Behringer type gear!...

..

Cellotron · Post by **Cellotron** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 3:31 pm

I'll second Joel's recommendation for the circa 70's-early 80's European module eq's.
Filtek, BFE, Neumann, Siemens, Telefunken, ANT all made some great sounding stuff. A lot of the less expensive modules (i.e. Filtek/BFE MKIII, ANT W696) tends to have harder edged bottoms and glassy highs and leaning more towards the transparent rather than colored end of things - and most of these designs do use IC's - but they are usually transformer balanced - and even good enough to use without a problem on the 2buss if they are restored or in mint shape.
Neumann 495b's & OE-DUO's if you can find them have incredibly great sounding high and bottom shelfs on them too.

Vintage City - http://www.vintagecity.de - is a great place to get racked pairs of these. In general you can get pair of nice eq's including rack and power supply from them for around $1200. The service is very good from their also - just tell Mazz I sent ya.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Message Board

Good, inexpensive EQ?

Good, inexpensive EQ?

Who is online