Square State EQ test drive - under way! Post thoughts here!

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Dakota
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Post by Dakota » Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:45 pm

EQ has arrived safely for leg one!

Design and build is beautiful. Classic silver and big knobs. Has a lovingly handled artisan vibe that's fully impressive at the modest price point. Goes into audio use and paces tomorrow, and I'll be using as well with Josh Hager, a discerning gear hound, and whoever other Boston-ish engineer/producer peers I hook up with before it goes onto its next leg.

Do I smash a champagne bottle on it yet?

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Post by The Scum » Sun Sep 05, 2010 2:30 pm

EQ has arrived safely for leg one!
Very glad to hear it.
Do I smash a champagne bottle on it yet?
Maybe one of those tiny ones from the basket next to the register. "Budget gear" requires "budget wine." Save the Dom Perignon for when you get a Fairchild 660.

And in case anyone in the Denver area is interested in checking one of these out, next Sunday we'll be having an open house & listening session at Macy Sound. Info here:
http://www.squarestatesolidstate.com/do ... tation.pdf

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Dakota
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Post by Dakota » Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:38 am

I'm still in the middle of putting the EQ1B through a wide variety of real world paces (this afternoon: it subs as a professional dog walker, lucrative if a client base is cultivated). Seriously, a rounded review is upcoming.

Fast review up to this point: Drums, Definitely. New Classic EQ, Definitely.

I lurve lurve this EQ. Tons of character if you want, can run subtle too, audio path and headroom are excellent. This is "real" gear.

The way that the Dramastic Audio Obsidian has gone from small obscure US company to new classic in its class, I am dead sure the EQ1B will become widely considered a new classic across the next 1 to 2 years.

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Dakota
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Post by Dakota » Sat Sep 11, 2010 10:26 am

This EQ is entirely awesome. I'm in love. Don't expect it to be a swiss army knife and do everything & surgery too - that's not fair, this isn't meant to be that. But as a tool that's super excellent when you learn its personality and strengths, it's top notch.

Overview of my subjective experience upcoming, have been too busy to write it justice yet. News in the mean time:

Took it briefly by local vintage tech and mad scientist I trust, Vince (http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?p=602288), and he thought it was totally cool - real classic "caps and coils" EQ with a new clean design twist, for reals machined frame, silky big knobs, classic look, all the aesthetics that separate real gear from the dross.

It's headed to Arlington VA next, I'll make sure it's not sitting for days for pickup - I've got good shipping I use, go in direct.

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Post by losthighway » Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:27 pm

I went to a listening party for this thing in Denver today at Macy Sound Studios. It is really awesome, and Joe and Byron are also very awesome guys. The layout of the frequencies on each of the three sections coupled with being able to switch to a low shelf on the bottom, or a high shelf on the top if you desire seems really complete. This thing can very musically alter any track you want to eq and give it a tone with mojo.

I am buying a pair after I get paid on my next round of projects. I'm saying bye-bye to doing any major eqing in the box and a pair of these is a much more fun way to print eq'd tracks back into the DAW than twisting away at my Soundcraft.

I am totally stoked on this eq.

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Dakota
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Post by Dakota » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:17 am

EQ is on weatherbox's Virginia doorstep Monday. Round two, ding!

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Post by Dakota » Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:27 am

Image
Scott Dakota with Square State Solid State Equalizer Model One B

Image
Josh Hager with Square State Solid State Equalizer Model One B

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weatherbox
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Post by weatherbox » Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:25 am

as such, people in the area who want to check it out, let's work out a day. Monday and Thursday are out, but other days/nights would be cool if people wanna bring tracks in or we could record something.

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Dakota
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Post by Dakota » Tue Sep 21, 2010 6:43 pm


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weatherbox
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Post by weatherbox » Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:32 pm

First impressions would line up with Dakota's. The control room is a bit scattered right now as a new console is going in on very short notice but I've had a chance to put a few things through it and have thus far been impressed. I recorded a band a while back who, as we were talking initially before recording was set, described their dissatisfaction with how every engineer they'd worked with had used sample replacement on their drums. I thought maybe it was just laziness and told them no way, we won't do that. Sigh.
The day arrives, they start loading in, and I see the drumkit. My horror is confirmed when I hear it; it is the worst sounding kick drum I've ever heard. You know how people use the "bouncing basketball" reference to describe cheesy sounding kicks? This was worse, like one of those rubber dodgeballs from grade school instead... through a high pass set at 150hz. Awful. No front head, no padding, no chance we're going to change that or use one of my drums. The kick sound was a loss from the start.
Anyways. That seemed like a good session to go back to so as to test what this thing sounded like at extreme settings - like knob at maximum travel settings. I took that kick drum, gave it STUPID amounts of bottom boost, mercilessly ripped out all that "boing!" signature mid '90s Pearl Export shit, and rolled the top off a little as well. Solo'd, it still sounded like a bad drum (what can you do) but in the context of the mix, all the sudden there was a respectable kick sound. The frequency choices worked well, and it forgave a really absurd amount of push/pull.
I briefly checked it out on bass guitar, snare, electric guitar, and vocals. The EQ points weren't quite where I wanted them for this particular snare or vocal track but that's why the world has more than one equalizer. I was pretty into the bass tone to start with so didn't get too silly, but gently pushing the low mids a little sounded great. Electric guitar totally ruled. It was a Jazzmaster + overdriven Super Reverb rhythm track that again I felt pretty good about to start with. Pushed a tiny bit of 100hz, a little more 700hz, and rolled off the top, and I quickly felt even better. The Calrecs are my usual go-to for guitars but the SS nailed that one.
I'm so far really liking it. I don't like wall warts (more because or durability concerns than space) and do wish the back panel had XLRs so it'd just fit right onto any of my patchbay snakes without an adaptor, but these are pretty minor quibbles for something that sounds really good, is easy to use, and is affordable and compact. If you ever feel like making a two channel version with mebbe a HPF, I think my stereo overheads would be pretty much permanently fed into one. Nudge nudge.

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weatherbox
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Post by weatherbox » Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:49 pm

I passed the EQ down the hall to Don at Inner Ear for an afternoon tracking and he really liked it too. He used the EQ on the snare drum; Beta 56 - 1272 - EQ - tape, and commented that it almost gave it a slightly compressed feel in how it brought the drum up. I can't imagine this unit won't sell well. It sounds really cool, feels solid, looks great, and I'm having a hard time thinking of anything outside of 500 series that comes anywhere close in terms of cost to quality ratio. You can definitely hear the thing; it has a character, but it's controlled and doesn't get silly at heavier settings. I think it'd be really fun to mix through several of these, and once the financial shock of new console installation passes I'm definitely going to be looking back at them.

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evilaudio
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Post by evilaudio » Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:00 pm

Should be arriving tomorrow. If anyone in the 260 area would like to check this out while it's here, PM me.
Blah!

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Post by trodden » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:23 pm

Great reports on this!

Has anyone who has had a test drive able to compare it to black lions AM/CHAN1 EQ which is similiar in style (inductor eq) and price per channel, the BLA eq being a two channel model.

The only eq i have besides in the computer are the soundtrac's eq in my board, which I love.

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evilaudio
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Post by evilaudio » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:43 pm

Unit has arrived safely at the Ensomberoom. Unpacked (GREAT packaging job, BTW!!) and hooked up to my guest lines in the patchbay. First impressions are great! I really love the feel of the knobs. I've been running some stuff through it and am pleased so far.
Blah!

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Post by drumsound » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:35 pm

The EQ showed up today. Yes, it did take 10 days for the USPS to get a box from Indiana to Illinois....

I racked it up and summed the CD player to mono with some ruff mixes of my band that were recorded in a friend's home studio. Just messing around, it seems pretty cool. The high shelf might be worth the price. I'm starting a mix in an hour or so.

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