Great outboard guitar EQ?

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

I'm after a nice, broad, sculpting stereo EQ to strap across my rhythm guitars. Something with nice shelves that don't get harsh, perhaps in a 4 band parametric format would be ideal.

What are the prime candidates here? Ideally I don't want to spend huge amounts like over $2k, but if there is a serious product here I'm definitely willing to try.

Cheers!

 

[colonel kurtz]

i have a UREI in my rack i can part with if you'll cover shipping to AUS

not saying it's the best guitar EQ in the world, but michael wagener seems to love it, amongst others...

 

[aortizjr]

Hmm.. I don't know of a lot of stereo EQ's for that. I do like having a graphic in my guitar rig. Parametrics are cool too, but graphics I feel I can dial in faster for shaping tone.

I do like my ACMP-73's and ACMP-84's which are group buy chinese clones of the 1073 and 1084. The chamelon labs 7602 I have heard is the same thing. I like the high-pass and broad boosting. Sometimes they can be too... crunchy yet smooth at the same time.

You also definitely can't go wrong with the 500-series stuff. API stuff obviously is awesome. And there are tons of others out there too.

I also hear great things about the Great River EQ, never used it though.

I like typical console EQ on guitars a lot too. I have a heavily modded Tascam M320 that is nice since it has parametric mid and lows-mids with a high shelf. Mixed with a shelving and surgical plugin it often is just what I needed. Sub $1k or so, I like the A&H Zed's and actually the Mackie Onyx series. The dual parametric mids really give a lot of flexibility.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Some possibility would work for guitar:

500 serie:
GR 32eq (harison design eq) x2
A design EM-PE-Q x2

19 format:

A design hammer (great on everything btw)
RND eq (check Mark levis post about it)
Pultec like eq (have Amtec in mind, Wojtek Wieslawski use this a lot with guitar)

So many choice...

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

You have a friend who's handy with a soldering iron, right? How about a couple of DIY Pultecs?

 

[greyskull]

api 550
YUM

 

[tdr]

Have not tried any of those, but for well below 2k$ there are actually a few options:

Speck ASC (with or without transformers)
Square State Solid State EQ Model One B
Toft ATB Pony (actually a whole mini console with 4 channels of eq)
SSL X-Rack EQ (E Series or SuperAnalogue) plus Mynx
Chameleon Labs 7602 MKII (would also get you two additional micpres, plus there are mods, but those would get you to the 2k mark)
JDK Audio R-24 (by API)
AMS-Neve 8803

 

[JonWormwood]

You have a friend who's handy with a soldering iron, right? How about a couple of DIY Pultecs?

I'd love more info on this.

 

[Ermz]

You have a friend who's handy with a soldering iron, right? How about a couple of DIY Pultecs?

Yes that's actually feeling like a good option. The lack of anything but shelves kinda make it a bit limited in use though. It'd probably end up on my master bus.

Thanks guys, I'll have to check into some of those. The 500 format definitely sounds interesting, and may be worth looking into.