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Which EQ pedal for live electric bass use?
- Thread starter smeet
- Start date
This gets my vote. I own the original version. This has the precision of a Japanese vegetable knife.
I have the original Empress Para Eq. The Q switches are really a great feature.
I have been interested in the Whirlwind as well though. At rehearsal there is an amp with an integrated graphic, it is so easy to see, and really functional. The Whirlwind graphic looks like the bands are well chosen.
I have been interested in the Whirlwind as well though. At rehearsal there is an amp with an integrated graphic, it is so easy to see, and really functional. The Whirlwind graphic looks like the bands are well chosen.
Hear me out. Not as detailed an EQ, but maybe a Darkglass Harmonic Booster. Clean and great EQ shaping.
I have a Q-Strip and it is cool, I find it to have excellent sound quality.
I don’t like how high the HPF is set though. I have a variable HPF on my amp. Another consideration is there are only two semi-parametric EQ bands on the Q-Strip so it might not have the flexibility you need.
Out of the others you listed I would go w/ the Empress or Broughton, but I don’t have actual experience with either.
I don’t like how high the HPF is set though. I have a variable HPF on my amp. Another consideration is there are only two semi-parametric EQ bands on the Q-Strip so it might not have the flexibility you need.
Out of the others you listed I would go w/ the Empress or Broughton, but I don’t have actual experience with either.
So far I’m leaning toward the Q-Strip. I have a Broughton mini HPF, so I don’t need another. And I like the easy quick shelving high and low controls, the mids are where I need the sculpting power of a para.
I’d like a full parametric, but it’s not as immediate. But…. I’ve found a few more, by Sine, Master Effects, GUP tech, etc.
Hm…
I’d like a full parametric, but it’s not as immediate. But…. I’ve found a few more, by Sine, Master Effects, GUP tech, etc.
Hm…
If there's anything that fits your stated needs better than the Empress ParaEQ MKII I haven't seen it. I've got the old big version and a couple of HPFs but given how much the MKII does in such a compact box I'm planning on selling some stuff to get one. I'm kinda getting over replacing gear all the time but this looks like a real long term keeper.
WMD Utility Parametric EQ, it's more powerful than the Empress IMO. I generally use mine only for room correction, and use the preamp EQ controls for tone adjustments.
I’ve had the WMD, and the controls have such a huge range that it’s too sensitive to tiny adjustments.
It does everything I want, except easy quick adjustments. Also - probably a minor point - no volume control. The boost helps, but it’s not quite the same.
I know what you mean about quick and easy. I've been using an ancient Boss GE-7B sometimes lately just because it's really easy. Nowhere near the precision though which has been an issue. It's an ongoing dilemma.
The WMD looks quite excellent but how is it more powerful than the Empress especially the MKII Deluxe? What am I missing?
FYI the WMD website says the EQ is discontinued. Theoretically it would be more powerful and also more flexible than either Empress.
I'll try to explain:
The ParaEQ has three bands, but they are not continuously variable across the entire audio range. Essentially you have a low band, a mid band, and a high band that overlap by about and octave. This is a significant limitation IMHO.
The WMD has three bands that are variable from 40 to 15kHz. Hopefully you see the potential advantage. Unfortunately this is two wide of a range to be effective. I believe it's why they controls were described as too touchy. Normally the range would be broken into at least two or three segments and you use a toggle with a multiplier.
Example:
Here is a snip for a KT DN410
Notice the frequency multiplier toggle in the lower left quadrant: .1, 10, 1
As set the frequency range is 20hz to 200hz...the center frequency is set to 200hz
If set to 10 then the range is 2kHz to 20kHz...the center frequency is set to 20kHz
If set to 1 then the range is 200z to 2khz...the center frequency is set to 2kHz
So each band gives you access to the full audio range from 20hz to 20kHz, but not on a single rotation of the control.
Thank you, I missed that part of its function but I do understand the concept. Applied specifically to a bass rig I'm not completely convinced it outweighs the MKII Deluxe's high and low pass and shelf filtering in terms of real usefulness. Depending on specifics I can definitely understand the appeal though.
There was another TB'er who scoped a WMD Parametric and noticed strange behavior with it where its frequency center points and gain were highly interactive with other controls (changing one freq control shifted the others to a degree IIRC and even with gain set flat on all the bands moving frequency controls changed the sound). Something about the way they designed it didn't quite work as one would expect. I liked mine when using fairly subtle settings but found it pretty unpredictable beyond that and this behavior may explain why. I found the Empress v1 to be much more predictable by comparison (though it did lack something without the continuous Q control), and look forward to eventually grabbing a Empress Deluxe v2 which theoretically would give most of the best of both worlds.
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To be clear, I only have experience with the MkI, but I was never able to hear as much of a difference when sweeping frequencies (i.e. it just didn't seem as "powerful") as I do with the WMD -- or as I do with a Rane PE15, my preferred rack unit for room correction.
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