equalizer pedal

[Luther Blissett]

I did a search, but couldn't find a good answer on my next question:

I play in a experimental improv / drone project. And I would like to put an equalizer pedal at the end of my chain, to change the frequency range of the loops and sounds I'm playing, while I'm playing them. a sort of live changing the colour of the sound I'm making.

I'm in doubt between the boss geb 7, or the mxr m-108. I'd prefer the 108 because then I have a 10 band eq, so I can colour my sound more precisely. However I've tried it out in the shop, and while I'm very happy with the sound, I'm a bit worried about the faders themselves. the handles of the faders are very small and a bit ficky to play with. And I was wondering how well I could work them during my sessions (difficult to tell after 10 min in a shop).

The Boss has faders with are much more manuable, but then I'm restricted to a 7 band eq.

does anyone else use an equalize like this, and what are your experiences?

thx!

 

[BioDriver]

I owned an M-108 and I liked it a lot. You could get a wide variety of sounds out of it and like all MXR pedals it's built pretty solid. Plus the light-up sliders really help out on stage.

The only downside to this pedal is it takes an 18V power supply.

 

[bongomania]

You know, what I'd recommend is not an EQ pedal at all but a frequency killer used for DJ mixing. Electrix, MAM, NeXT (rebranded MAM), Stanton, and a few other DJ gear companies make (or have made) them. They're usually in rackmount format, but I'm sure there must be tabletop units as well. I bet M-Audio or RedSound or possibly even Rane might make tabletops.

How they work is you dial in usually three bands of frequency range, and then each band has an instant kill switch so you can cut those frequencies in or out quickly. IMO it works better in modern loop-based music than traditional EQ controls.

 

[MooseLumps]

Boss eq-20, discontinued, but if you find on then it will give you 10bands and a gain , plus you can switch between 2 eq's on the fly

 

[Guiseppe]

Boss eq-20, discontinued, but if you find on then it will give you 10bands and a gain , plus you can switch between 2 eq's on the fly

Wish I'd kept mine. I had it modded to swap "modes" from the foot pedal instead of only the button. I liked it just for a boost in gain, using exact same EQ settings but more gain on setting 2.

 

[Edmang]

Source Audio PEQ might be worth checking out. Can have 4 presets. No sliders to worry about. Done electronically. Might be a little touchy editing on the fly since you first have to select the band you want to edit before changing it. But having the presets, may not need to tweak it as much as you would a regular EQ.

Source Audio Programmable EQ

 

[kurotenshi]

I was going to say the same as @Edmang, the Programmable EQ is awesome. Plus you can make it jump from preset to preset on a constant speed to make some cool sounds.

Check out my demo:

 

[ga_edwards]

You know, what I'd recommend is not an EQ pedal at all but a frequency killer used for DJ mixing. Electrix, MAM, NeXT (rebranded MAM), Stanton, and a few other DJ gear companies make (or have made) them. They're usually in rackmount format, but I'm sure there must be tabletop units as well. I bet M-Audio or RedSound or possibly even Rane might make tabletops.

How they work is you dial in usually three bands of frequency range, and then each band has an instant kill switch so you can cut those frequencies in or out quickly. IMO it works better in modern loop-based music than traditional EQ controls.

Going off on a tangent - I wonder if other DJ tools like a Kaoss pad, or the old Alesis AirFX might be better. A few Source Audio pedal also work with their 'hot hand' device for similar tinkering.

 

[ga_edwards]

Come to think if it, if the OP is just after doing eq sweeps, perhaps a simple wah pedal would suffice?

 

[ddnidd1]

Empress ParaEQ

ParaEq – Empress Effects Inc.

 

[kurotenshi]

Come to think if it, if the OP is just after doing eq sweeps, perhaps a simple wah pedal would suffice?

It would IF it's only sweeps. If on the other hand he wants both sweeps and sharp changes he would need something more.
To be honest, to have full control and hands free the way to go would be something like an M5 with expression pedal. That way you could not only change presets to make instant tonal changes but also use the expression to sweep. A bonus point of the M5 is that you can connect the expression to multiple parameters and sweep them simultaneously and with configurable interval (not just from 0 to 100%)

 

[NoiseNinja]

I got an MXR 108, 10 band EQ, and I am pretty happy with it.

So that would naturally be my recommendation.

 

[jd56hawk]

I've been thinking about getting one.