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Empress ParaEQ deluxe mkii- Opinions?
- Thread starter Scopey
- Start date
I assume you mean the ParaEQ mkII Deluxe. If so, it’s about as fully featured as it gets for an analog pedal EQ. Empress builds great stuff. If you need this much EQ on your board it will be hard to go wrong.
I own one. It is a terrific pedal. As Silky said, it has any kind of EQ one might want on it. And the audio quality is top-notch.
Does a gigging bass player need this much EQ? Probably not. Do most recording bassists need this much EQ? Probably not. It's tempting, I know.. I succumbed and bought one a couple years ago, but I don't generally use it that often.
Does a gigging bass player need this much EQ? Probably not. Do most recording bassists need this much EQ? Probably not. It's tempting, I know.. I succumbed and bought one a couple years ago, but I don't generally use it that often.
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I recently bought one and will gig it tomorrow for the first time. My bass finally sounds like I’ve always wanted it to. The boost is fantastic as well and has a ton of gain on tap
Brilliant...but the non deluxe model is better if you're gigging IMO. The deluxe would be amazing as a 500 series rack.
So, the deluxe didn't last on my pedalboard just because a graphic EQ is easier to use in the heat of battle. Not only in terms of the visual sliders, but the small knobs of the paraEQ deluxue are fiddly if its dark and you're sweaty etc. For this reason, I would consider buying the non-deluxe model with the switches.
But you won't be disappointed. I use mine to record all the time.
So, the deluxe didn't last on my pedalboard just because a graphic EQ is easier to use in the heat of battle. Not only in terms of the visual sliders, but the small knobs of the paraEQ deluxue are fiddly if its dark and you're sweaty etc. For this reason, I would consider buying the non-deluxe model with the switches.
But you won't be disappointed. I use mine to record all the time.
Would be worth looking at the Source Audio EQ2, it's got the same features; parametric EQ and hpf.... Compare the prices and features. I have the empress and it's good, but am now thinking I should have looked at the SA EQ2.
It certainly does what it says on the box.
You get three bands with adjustable frequency and Q. You get LPF and HPF, plus shelving lows and highs.
Built quality is good, sound quality is great.
Note: It is a fairly complex pedal that lets you shape a lot of EQ curves as you wish. Some people are into that kind of thing, while others prefer a pedal with three knobs that has a baked in sound that you can influence a little. The Empress with all knobs at noon sounds like nothing. It's transparent, just an EQ.
You get three bands with adjustable frequency and Q. You get LPF and HPF, plus shelving lows and highs.
Built quality is good, sound quality is great.
Note: It is a fairly complex pedal that lets you shape a lot of EQ curves as you wish. Some people are into that kind of thing, while others prefer a pedal with three knobs that has a baked in sound that you can influence a little. The Empress with all knobs at noon sounds like nothing. It's transparent, just an EQ.
Seconding the SA EQ2 if you’re looking for the most full-featured EQ (and tuner and noise gate and wah pedal and it’s 2-channel so you can go stereo or run double EQ) on the market.
The Empress is definitely more immediately tweakable if that’s your speed. The main reason for snagging the Deluxe over the standard ParaEQ would be for the sweepable Q’s and HPF/LPF/shelves. Either way, that’s still lots of tone shaping no matter what instrument you’re playing.
The Empress is definitely more immediately tweakable if that’s your speed. The main reason for snagging the Deluxe over the standard ParaEQ would be for the sweepable Q’s and HPF/LPF/shelves. Either way, that’s still lots of tone shaping no matter what instrument you’re playing.
Interesting, I plan to use it as a set and forget second in the chain after the tuner before compression and drive. That so far seems to be the sweet spot. Doing some corrective eq and tightening the low end with the HPF and boosting bass into that at the same frequency. To my ears it sounds nice and tight and like I want my bass to sound. The boost will be used for the couple of passages where I need the bass to stand out and also being that it’s before drive I can boost into said drive pedal (Sushi Box Underground Accelerator for now) and get it to break up even more.
set and forget would be fine I imagine because you're not trying to tweak those tiny Q knobs. i tweak my eq a couple times a gig so it was a deal breaker but i still use it to record. compression -> OD -> EQ -> tuner is how I like it personally.
I have one of these and love it. I put it at the end of my chain right before the DI and use it as my primary HPF/LPF, boost, room correction, and for surgical toneshaping when I want to get more specific than the Bass and Treble controls on my DI.
@el murdoque notes that the box sounds transparent when set flat - I disagree. It's not like it has a baked-in EQ curve, but I can definitely hear the signal change, in a good way, when the unit is active. There must be a transformer or some kind of saturation circuit in there, because even with all the controls flat I still get a bit of saturation / color - I'd describe it as "your tone, but richer". To me, it has a similar subtle tonal enhancent as a nice console channel strip or a good piece of outboard gear.
If the Source EQ2 is indeed easy to dial in from the pedal itself, that might also be a worthy contender. I've never used one but do have a C4 that pretty much requires a computer/phone app to program it, which is the only downside to me. Especially for an EQ pedal, I'd want every feature to be accessable right from the pedal without the need for an app to be able to make game-time changes.
@el murdoque notes that the box sounds transparent when set flat - I disagree. It's not like it has a baked-in EQ curve, but I can definitely hear the signal change, in a good way, when the unit is active. There must be a transformer or some kind of saturation circuit in there, because even with all the controls flat I still get a bit of saturation / color - I'd describe it as "your tone, but richer". To me, it has a similar subtle tonal enhancent as a nice console channel strip or a good piece of outboard gear.
If the Source EQ2 is indeed easy to dial in from the pedal itself, that might also be a worthy contender. I've never used one but do have a C4 that pretty much requires a computer/phone app to program it, which is the only downside to me. Especially for an EQ pedal, I'd want every feature to be accessable right from the pedal without the need for an app to be able to make game-time changes.
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I gigged with one for over a year, and it was always-on, was a big part of sculpting my sound. It was a cover band where the material was done heavier than the originals. Since the guitar tones were heavier and abandoned the kind of gain structures in the originals, it was important for the bass to maintain much of the original 'feel' of the songs. The ParaEQ+ was a big part of that, and the huge boost it offered allowed me to drive my dirt pedals with a different / second voice. It also allowed me to cure EQ issues in the house quickly, maintaining a musical, thick tone regardless. You need to get to know the pedal because it does so much.
I have one but use it primarily with my upright. It’s got way more than I’ll ever need so I set the HPF at noon which is around 80hz I think … and adjust the mid scoop a bit depending on the room and the volume level. If things sound too bright and clacky, I’ve had good luck dialing the LPF back to warm things up.
The boost feature is super cool for solos but it’s got a frightening amount of headroom on tap. I wish it tapered up a bit more gently.
It also sounds amazing on my passive electric basses, but it’s basically overkill since my amp (GK) has all the EQ I need.
The boost feature is super cool for solos but it’s got a frightening amount of headroom on tap. I wish it tapered up a bit more gently.
It also sounds amazing on my passive electric basses, but it’s basically overkill since my amp (GK) has all the EQ I need.
I don't use gobs of eq, but having an eq pedal that will let you dial up precisely what you want is key. I use Source Audio EQ2's, which are a step up functionally from the Empress (more eq sections, and it includes a tuner). If those did not exist, I'd be using Empress EQ's - they are very good for what they are, just not quite the last word at this point in time for my needs.
I like the Deluxe over the standard one mainly because of the high pass filter. No need for an additional pedal (and the LPF, shelviing and fully adjustable Q ain't too bad either.)
Great EQ. Does more than you'll ever need. Had a boom in my room it took care of nicely, but i decided to sell it and rely instead on a HPF. It’s kinda complicated and you can spend a month of Sundays getting it right. If you’re gigging in a lot of different places you’ll pull your hair out unless you’re really well versed in it’s capabilities, IMO.
Yes, they are. The SA EQ2's are also stereo - one of my boards splits the signal into a dirty channel and a clean channel. That dirt pedal that sounds great, other than losing a little low end, or having a bit too much mid push, or it's a bit harsh? you fix that in the eq of the dirty channel, so that when you switch from clean to dirty, your low end stays intact and you have the ideal eq for each sound. You're need two of the Empress units (and a tuner) to do what the EQ2 does for me in one pedal. I don't have space for all of that.
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