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  1. #1

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    I've discovered two parametric eq's which i have not heard of so far.
    Does anyone have "hands on experience"
    I'm specifically interested in sound quality, and the possibility to zoom in on individual notes, reducing wolf tones.

    MegaPara 3-Band Parametric E.Q. | Sine Effect
    MicroPara 1-Band Parametric E.Q. | Sine Effect

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  3. #2

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    I don't know this particular maker but it looks right. I have the Empress, which was pretty much top of the heap in it's day. It's been discontinued. Looks like it's comparable to the 3-band Mega, including cost. Mega may be a bit less. Looks to be a lot easier to read the frequencies than the Empress, which is the only complaint about them.

    Not sure what you know or don't know about these things. The 'hooo' in my archtop lives right around 160hz. The Empress allows this to be tamed to a large degree. But even at the narrowest setting the effect on tone can be noticeable. There's a lot of 'warmth' that lives around there that I want to keep. It's a balancing act.

    A good para is also a very powerful tone shaper. I'd consider getting the 3 band. The single may be something of a 1 trick pony for you. I had an amp that had a nasty spike around 1.5K. The amp's tone controls were just too brutish to nail this frequency without killing off a lot of the top end.

    I set the amp flat and put the para in the effects loop. Basically allows you to kill the amp's tone stack, and put the nodes right where you want them. I used a notch for the 'hoooo', and wider Q's for mid and treble to work more like tone controls of an amp. Some less expensive ones won't let you do that. IE limited ability to set the Q shape.

    I got a new amp that has better tone for me without the need of the para. I will keep it though. It's a very powerful problem solver, and I don't know what I might run into down the road.

  4. #3

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    I have the Tech 21 Q/Strip. I waited too long to obtain the Empress Effects ParaQ and it is now discontinued. I hope Empress Effects brings it back. I have no problem with its being an analogue pedal.

    The FAQ of Sine Effects is rather interesting...That alone gives me pause. Is this company actually in business?

  5. #4

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    Ha!! I see what you mean Jabs. Looks like they've still got some work to do on their web page.

    Do You Ship Internationally? Hoodie tote bag mixtape tofu. Typewriter jean shorts wolf quinoa, messenger bag organic freegan cray.






  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by ccroft
    I don't know this particular maker but it looks right. I have the Empress, which was pretty much top of the heap in it's day. It's been discontinued. Looks like it's comparable to the 3-band Mega, including cost. Mega may be a bit less. Looks to be a lot easier to read the frequencies than the Empress, which is the only complaint about them.

    Not sure what you know or don't know about these things. The 'hooo' in my archtop lives right around 160hz. The Empress allows this to be tamed to a large degree. But even at the narrowest setting the effect on tone can be noticeable. There's a lot of 'warmth' that lives around there that I want to keep. It's a balancing act.

    A good para is also a very powerful tone shaper. I'd consider getting the 3 band. The single may be something of a 1 trick pony for you. I had an amp that had a nasty spike around 1.5K. The amp's tone controls were just too brutish to nail this frequency without killing off a lot of the top end.

    I set the amp flat and put the para in the effects loop. Basically allows you to kill the amp's tone stack, and put the nodes right where you want them. I used a notch for the 'hoooo', and wider Q's for mid and treble to work more like tone controls of an amp. Some less expensive ones won't let you do that. IE limited ability to set the Q shape.

    I got a new amp that has better tone for me without the need of the para. I will keep it though. It's a very powerful problem solver, and I don't know what I might run into down the road.
    I'be been using parametrics for three decades, so i'm certainly not a beginner ;-). My first was a TC which i bought in the eighties, this had some issues with headroom when using 9V batteries, but after using a 15V power supply it was just great. When i started regularly using a volume pedal the technology didn't match and the resulting ugly scratch sounds when moving the pedal made it worthless. Next i bought a 3 band unit from a Studer engineer living nearby, but this had issues when getting warm and after the second (very expensive) unit showed issues i decided to go on and found the Carl Martin 3 band parametric preamp. It's sound was better than anything else i heard before, but it is not really parametric (only center and level controlled) and after a while i found out that there are noise/hum issues when recording. I still use this for live gigs, but kept my eyes open for another. So i tried a Fishman, a Boss (Bass) , and an Empress, but was not happy with their sound after having gotten used to the Carl Martin. The Fishman and Boss i have currently for sale, the Empress i sent back a week after purchase.

    My Clarus2R with the RE cabinet leads to a wolf tone on the G (2nd string 8th fret and 3rd string 13th fret) on three of my guitars at a certain volume. I hope to be somehow able to tame this without loosing sound in other ranges. It's not possible with neither the Carl Martin nor the Boss. The Fishman would work, but i do not like the sound of it.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
    I have the Tech 21 Q/Strip. I waited too long to obtain the Empress Effects ParaQ and it is now discontinued. I hope Empress Effects brings it back. I have no problem with its being an analogue pedal.

    The FAQ of Sine Effects is rather interesting...That alone gives me pause. Is this company actually in business?
    I've exchanged a few mails with the owner of the company, who is very helpful answering questions. Yes they are in business, either go direct with his mail address or via etsy, there he has some ratings.

  8. #7

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    Hey J-Note. Sorry for going to such pains to explain the bloody obvious! Way too much of that around here as it is :-)

    Interesting about your experience with the Empress. I got mine when I was about 64 years old. My blown ears couldn't pick up the problem at that point.

    He really ought to do something about the FAQ section on his website though. Doesn't do much for a shopper's confidence.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by ccroft
    Hey J-Note. Sorry for going to such pains to explain the bloody obvious! Way too much of that around here as it is :-)

    Interesting about your experience with the Empress. I got mine when I was about 64 years old. My blown ears couldn't pick up the problem at that point.

    He really ought to do something about the FAQ section on his website though. Doesn't do much for a shopper's confidence.

    No need to apologize ;-). I think that i would been happy with the Empress too if i hadn't been spoiled by the CarlMartin sound. We were discussing the matter also here in jazzguitar.be, and someone who is obviously highly competent with knowledge of electronic devices and components, thought according to the used components in the empress, it would be impossible to hear a difference. However to me the response sounded less dynamic, with slightly less depth, but i guess this is also a matter of taste.

  10. #9

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    Finally a Mega Para EQ has arrived and I am very happy with it. I ordered a version with black knobs exclusively. The flexible bandwidth allows a very narrow cut to zoom in on certain notes. It's able to successfully remove the annoying wolf tone on the G (second string) which I experienced with some of my archtops. The box is very compact and looks very good and it allows for true bypass.
    Sine Effect MicroPara & MegaPara parametric EQ known by anybody here?-img_7038-jpg

  11. #10

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    Since you received one, I'll have what you're having.

  12. #11

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    This looks like a nice box. Would love to hear your thoughts about it once you have had some time for a test drive.

    The only thing that weirds me out is the orientation of the knobs. When viewed in the normal orientation that the lettering and placement of the stomp-switch would suggest, the lowest band is at the top and the highest at the bottom. Kind of counter-intuitive. The sideways orientation in your photo makes more sense (lowest on the left, like a graphic EQ) but then the switch is in a really odd position...

  13. #12

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    3rd knob across in the Q width? (Freq -> +/-Gain -> Q ?)

    I've managed to get by with the Tech21 Para driver. Not strictly a Parametric, but allows me to address (target) that MidBand frequency.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by starjasmine
    This looks like a nice box. Would love to hear your thoughts about it once you have had some time for a test drive.

    The only thing that weirds me out is the orientation of the knobs. When viewed in the normal orientation that the lettering and placement of the stomp-switch would suggest, the lowest band is at the top and the highest at the bottom. Kind of counter-intuitive. The sideways orientation in your photo makes more sense (lowest on the left, like a graphic EQ) but then the switch is in a really odd position...
    Yes, it's a nice small box although the orientation is not really intuitive. I believe this is just a matter of getting used to. The orientation of the photo was random, initially taken vertical with the iPhone, the upload did the change.

    Quote Originally Posted by EastwoodMike
    3rd knob across in the Q width? (Freq -> +/-Gain -> Q ?)

    I've managed to get by with the Tech21 Para driver. Not strictly a Parametric, but allows me to address (target) that MidBand frequency.
    Frequency = center of the boost/cut
    Gain +/- = amount of boost/cut
    Width = bandwidth of boost/cut

    The possibility to control the bandwidth allows for more precise fine-tuning, which is needed to get rid of wolf tones without too much unwanted coloration of neighboring (or other) frequencies.

  15. #14

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    Grant sells through Etsy and ebay UK, for your information:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/7587429...search_click=1

  16. #15

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    i don't hate this thing at all, and it has some things, like the peak/shelf thing that i really like.

    but i'm not super in love with the ranges, especially since there are only three bands. i tend to like to scoop a little lows and boost the sub lows, make cuts around 2-2.5k and 4-4.5k while boosting 3kish and maybe a little high shelf, depending on the situation. the amount of bands and ranges on this thing wouldn't allow for that. but it does look to be a fine tone shaping tool. still offers a hell of a lot in a relatively easy to navigate package.

    didn't know the empress was discontinued. that thing was a legend. their compressor got a mkii, maybe the eq will too at some point. still have me trusty tone jobs and platinum pro eq and those are plenty for now, since i don't even really use eq like that these days. but i'm more into studio type eqs like this micro para and such so i like keeping an eye out. this whole trend of shrinking old school studio gear into a pedal is one i'm all for. i hope we get a trident a range eq in a pedal. or a pultec

  17. #16

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    After getting used to the Mega Para on a few gigs "taming" my 98 LeGrand plugged into a Clarus/RE Stealth 10, or in another case into an AER Compact 60 i can only praise the little box.

    My goal is to retain a transparent sound, as acoustic as possible without muddiness and disturbances, keeping the overall roundness also at slightly louder volume, where, without the possibility of zooming in on specific notes, unwanted side effects caused by the raised volume would destroy the balance.

    The box has solved all problems which came up in the different rooms i've been playing and i was able to zoom in narrowly on the individual notes which presented difficulties. It will definitely replace my Carl Martin which i have used for many years ....

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by feet
    i don't hate this thing at all, and it has some things, like the peak/shelf thing that i really like.

    but i'm not super in love with the ranges, especially since there are only three bands. i tend to like to scoop a little lows and boost the sub lows, make cuts around 2-2.5k and 4-4.5k while boosting 3kish and maybe a little high shelf, depending on the situation. the amount of bands and ranges on this thing wouldn't allow for that. but it does look to be a fine tone shaping tool. still offers a hell of a lot in a relatively easy to navigate package.

    didn't know the empress was discontinued. that thing was a legend. their compressor got a mkii, maybe the eq will too at some point. still have me trusty tone jobs and platinum pro eq and those are plenty for now, since i don't even really use eq like that these days. but i'm more into studio type eqs like this micro para and such so i like keeping an eye out. this whole trend of shrinking old school studio gear into a pedal is one i'm all for. i hope we get a trident a range eq in a pedal. or a pultec
    Did you base your observations exclusively on the specs, or did you actually try out the unit? IMHO the ranges overlap sufficiently if the goal is to remove unwanted resonances.