Empress Effects ParaEQ

Much has been written praising the Empress ParaEq and I can understand why. It has a wide range of applications and while it does not have some of the features of, for example, Tech21's semi-parametric Qstrip, the paraEQ is able to either: precisely extinguish problem frequencies; add fairy-dust to an already good sound or radically-sculpt an unusable sound. One of the problems of acoustic instruments is that they often don't really sound like themselves once amplified; I bought the paraEQ (after much on-line research) to convert the sound of my mountain dulcimer (which is fitted with a very expensive contact pick-up) into something useable. Without the paraEQ, the best I could manage was, using the EQ on my amp, to make the dulcimer sounded like a banjo, now...with the paraEQ in the signal chain, when amplified, it sounds like a dulcimer. It is a quiet pedal and doesn't seem to contribute to the noise of the signal chain. Of course, it does take a little time to figure out what the variable Q sizes do and what happens when the frequency mid-point on each of the pots is shifted but remember, when used to its maximum potential, this pedal is doing radical things to your signal and so there is a learning curve (thankfully, the manual provides some useful advice for a variety of instruments). I imagine most will use this as a sound enhancer or to allow the instrument to sit better in a mix (and not for as radical a use as I required) and while I cannot compare its performance to other EQs, I am very pleased with its performance.

Excellent product. Good frequency management with true reproduction even at 15 dB.