The best EQ pedal out there???

[John Egerton]

Hey guys...

I'm looking to tweak my sound a little with an eq pedal and I was wondering which is the best one out there...

I could build on however I'd rather buy one as they aren't generally expensive.

I've heard good things about the DODFX40 and bad things about the Boss GE-7

I really would like one that isn.t very noisy...

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance..

John

[petemoore]

actually...Ive never tried any others that were better ... not saying much.
 My buddy wanted me to suggest three pedals to start off with [he's ditching that digital [noise..lol..IMO] thingy he was tryin to use, and the GE-7 was one of the ones I suggested..does the DOD=EQ/Boost have an advantage of some sort?
 I also suggested a basic Fuzz and some modulation like a chorus.
 What three pedal [types or models] would you guys suggest as the 'first three' [analog] pedals?

[gez]

If I recall, Dano do a little graphic EQ.  Haven't tried it, but it got top marks in one of the UK Guitar mags (cheap too!)

[Mark Hammer]

EQ's are one of those pedals that everybody has to market one of, just because they have to for a complete line, but nobody gets to do much different with them.  There is a large stable of one-chip solutions for EQ makers that pack a 7-band on a 14-pin dip which only needs some pots and caps to complete.  Most EQ pedals will be 7-band because that's what the chips permit and the chips are geared to that because EQs have traditionally come in 5, 7, 10, 15, and 31-band flavours....because it makes it easy to divide up the audio spectrum that way.

So, if the features and guts aren't all that different, then the choice is made on the basis of little things like how the pots feel to you, having a master level or not, compatibility with pedalboard layout, hiss levels, battery drain, etc.

Personally, if I had my druthers, my ideal EQ pedal would have a 2-pole tunable lowpass filter with adjustable resonance, a bass shelving EQ control, and maybe 3 or 4 low-Q resonant EQ sections with a range-shift toggle switch for 2 of them.  Lots of voicing flexibility there.  Of course, nobody makes that.

[Arn C.]

Hey Mark!  You design it and I'll build it!

Arn C.

[Paul Marossy]

I'll agree, Mark's EQ idea sounds very interesting. I bet you could do quite a lot with something like that!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Tragically, there are some things that are REALLY USEFUL, but they aren't sexy enough! I know if I made an EQ like that, I couldn't sell enough (there aren't enough 'sensible' peope!).
I think Boss should do it... let's start a 'write in'! Certainly sounds a nice idea, Mark!

[bwanasonic]

I never did get around to trying Craig Anderton's *Super Tone Control* from EPFM. Seems like it would be a good starting point for a really flexible EQ.

Kerry M

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Some inspirational EQ analysis at Headwize:
http://headwize2.powerpill.org/projects/showproj.php?file=equal_prj.htm

[Ammscray]

Some inspirational EQ analysis at Headwize:
http://headwize2.powerpill.org/projects/showproj.php?file=equal_prj.htm

If you want classic tone, go with the old original MXR 6-band EQ pedal...it blows away the ultra-noisy boss and dod IMO...this pedal was used by both Van Halen and Tom Sholtz on their first LP's...and also live too...

 you can get a pseudo-rangemaster tone out of it as a bonus!

YES, you can drill a hole for a carling, I did it 20 years ago and I still use the same one...and even though it's not as noisy as the boss, you can change the 1458's and TLO22's to 5532 and you'll cut the noise down another 50 percent!

There's a guy in CA that bought all the overstock from one of the MXR guys and when he runs auctions with that pedal it's usually like $39.95 buy it now or something ridiculous like that...grab one while you can...and DON'T use the dumlop version...

[Mark Hammer]

That was my meat-and-potatoes pedal from 1976-1980.  Best part was that it seemed designed to exceed its own headroom,  Made it a great little overdrive.  Push it with a compressor cranked and you have some nice bite.