You can find Fromel pedals at Tonefactor and similar web shops, and they pop up used on TGP fairly often. The Shape EQ is based on the schematic for the old Ibanez PQ9. It's a 3-band EQ, and the middle band has a sweepable frequency. All three bands are "shelving" though, which is very unusual for a mid band. So turning up the mids also boosts the lows, and turning down the mids cuts the lows. The lows knob allows you to shape it further, creating a sweepable mid-scoop, or a massive boomy dub low end, or AM radio with no lows.
The big knob on the left is lows, big knob on the right is highs, and both are cut and boost. The small knob on the left is the corner frequency of the mids, and the small knob on the right is cut/boost of the mids. The switch on the left defeats the mid-frequency knob, leaving it at a fixed 900 Hz. Kinda useless. The switch on the right toggles between two different bypass switching systems: mechanical true bypass, or buffered bypass. The buffer is very good quality, so this is a great pedal to have in the chain even if you don't use a lot of EQ.
It works great with bass--the high and low bands are at corner frequencies that I think are useful and pleasant for bass, and there is no loss of lows.
There are two downsides:
1) there is no output level control, so any boost of any band results in an overall boost of your signal. Makes it difficult to set up unity between EQ'd and bypassed signals.
2) the lack of markings, and the semi-mysterious interaction between the low and mid bands, means you have to fiddle with it until you get a sound you like, hoping that a sound you like is in there.
With a normal EQ, you say to yourself "I want to cut a bit around 250 Hz for an SVT emulation" and you reach for the knobs that are labeled accordingly. Here you just have to tweak and listen, and understand that it is a quirky and somewhat limited design. The reason Fromel called it the "Shape" is because it's best at broadly shaping your tone, rather than any surgical application.
The upside is that it sounds great! The tone is very warm and full, and there is no noise. Plus it improves any signal that runs through it, via the good buffer. I really dig adding this pedal to any OD's or distortions that lose some of the mids, or that get too unfocused to cut through, on their own. The Shape gives them a mad punchy mid strength. And of course those mids can be swept up or down for different qualities.
Anyway, I like this pedal a lot, and I accept its quirks and limitations. Give it a try!
