Zähl EQ1

Wow wow wow. I've been testing 500 series equalizers for a couple of months. I tried three different stereo eq but none gave me a very good impression. This one changes everything.
This sounds like the pinnacle of the channel eq. You can throw everything at this beast and you can rest assured that it will do the job nicely. The controls on the equalizer are very in depth, so that all material can be treated with this.
The sound is pristine, but matching the curves with pro q3 and you immediatly notice how smooth the sound of this equalizer is. You can crank 15 db of very high frequencies (something that in a standard digital eq will result in ear piercing noise) and you almost dont notice it. Everything you correct with this eq will sound more natural than the original sound. If you need the perfect all rounder, this is it.

I needed an outboard EQ for my masterbuss chain. It was between this one and the Elysia xFilter Mastering Edition. The Elysia looks great, but this one stuck in my head. It took a while for me to get it, its not a cheap EQ.

When it came, I thought "thats really tiny". It looked like a toy, at first. The build quality and feel of the knobs is solid as hell, but I felt a bit disappointed for a moment.

Then I turned it on and tried it on an old mix of mine, which wasn't a very good mix. A few quick moves with the Zahl got it sounding night and day better.

They say its the most depressing bypass button. It really is.

A quick note on stepped pots, the +5/+15 gain range sensitivity, and the practicality of this units approach.

Some users have complained about a lack of stepped pots.

When the unit is in +5 db mode, its very easy to match the knobs to the markers. I never feel its difficult to recall, and I think they made the right choice not to use stepped controls.

When you want to shape mix level tracks that are problematic, for example - putting it into +15 sensitivity gives you the perfect freedom to really sculpt things.

The Zahl on the master buss shapes your mixes beautifully and lets you really set your level just right going into your converter.

This is a killer EQ, musical and technically brilliant.

Wer einen sehr flexiblen und funktionell umfangreichen EQ sucht, der wenig färbt und sehr natürlich klingt, wird beim EQ1 fündig. Es ist unglaublich wie umfangreich die Funktionen des Zähl EQ1 sind und dass obwohl er nur 2 Slots in der Lunchbox belegt.

Ich persönlich mag das platzsparende 500er Format sehr gerne, aber leider muss man aufgrund des Platzmangels auch öfters Abstriche bei der Bedienung machen. Vor allem weil es an der Frontplatte des EQ1 viele Potis und Druckknöpfe gibt. Daraus resultiert ein Stern Abzug.

Die Features und vor allem auch der Sound des EQ1 lassen ihn locker als Mastering-EQ durchgehen, aber leider fehlt hier für mich ein entscheidendes Merkmal: gerasterte Potis. Deswegen auch hier ein Stern Abzug.

Alles in allem aber trotzdem eine klare Kaufempfehlung meinerseits.