Members ToHarm Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Looking to purchase a brand new Dual 31-band EQ for FOH EQ'ing purposes. Three models i was looking at were the following ... DBX 1231 (http://www.dbxpro.com/1231/index.php)RANE DEQ 60L (http://www.rane.com/deq60l.html)BSS FCS-966 (http://www.bssaudio.com/productpg.php?product_id=2) Now firstly, the price difference between them is quite apparent. Dbx running around the $450 mark and the Rane and Bss Audio units running around $800-$900. I don't have a problem paying more for a certain EQ if the unit is a much better unit, better sound, less noise, etc ... can you guys let me know what the major differences are about these EQ's ? ... is one better than the other ? The Rane and Bss Audio EQ's have low and high pass filters ... as i've never used these before, are those filters useful and for what situations ? What are high and low pass filters used for in general ?Any other dual EQ's you would recommend ? Thanks for your help and knowledge !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bugzie Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 I think the DBX 2231 is more in line with your choices. Good unit too! May have features that you don't need though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flogger59 Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Rane rep here. The DEQ60 and DEQ60L are digital equalizers, though they don't look like it. This allows a couple of things. You can switch between Perfect Q and proportional Q.In a norml EQ, the more you boost or cut, the more you effect adjacent frquencies (Proportional Q). With the Rane you can choose Perfect Q, where the bandwidth effected by a slider is constant, no matter how much boost or cut you apply. There is also a mode that allows you to use each set of sliders for a different stereo curve, so that you may switch between them, . One could be used for the band, and the other for the break music, oe a DJ. The high pass filter will remove the useless rumble from the system (which munches up amplifier headroom like you wouldn't believe and saves your subwoofers some grief). There are also three band tone controls, which are useful if, say, the room was empty for soundcheck, and you want to apply a quick tweak to correct for the absorption of the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 The Rane units are very good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philw44 Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 I own 2 of the BSS 966 units. God i love those chunky faders! Looks beautiful, sounds great and built to a really high standard. I recommend it. Can't comment on the other models in question but i have compared the BSS966 to the DBX231 model side by side and it does sound a little better both with EQ in and EQ out. But then i guess you'd expect it to! Edit: The BSS has a High filter control and a LF and HF contour. The HP filter is useful for say keeping the super low sub frequencies out of your subwoofer or taking out some unwanted low end out of a vocal wedge. I actually find the LF/HF contour controls useful - they operate in quite a musical fashion. I mostly use them for when i'm playing recorded music and a certain track needs a bit more sizzle or thump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Frankly the differences are trivial at best between the units. Functionally and performance-wise for most applications that folks here are likely to be dealing with and the environments that the will typically be used in. And, other than the DEQ Rane units which are different though not necessicarily better, there are really only a few different graphic eq topologies out there, so everytjing is a variation on everything else. The differences , especially in the really cheap units, is the features (like fader length) and quality of execution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted January 20, 2010 CMS Author Share Posted January 20, 2010 In other words, the dbx will do everything you need from it, and won't cost a fortune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToHarm Posted January 20, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Haha, ok .. so there's basically votes for all three ... I was wondering if stuff like high or low pass filters were even necessary ... my subs for instance have a freq. response from 50 - 1500Hz ... so typically i just cut out all frequencies below 50Hz .. isn't that doing the same thing without a filter ? Same thing with my monitors ... they're freq. range is 70 - 12000Hz .. so on the EQ i just cut out the frequencies the monitor doesn't have in it's range. Therefore, do i really need a high and low pass filter ? I was pretty dead set and purchasing the DBX 1231 ... then i read some bad reviews on it, sound quality wise which got me thinking ... http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/dbx/1231+dual+equaliser/10/1 I then looked into the DBX 231 .. and found the same bad reviews ... http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/dbx/231+Graphic+Equalizer/10/1 So this got me thinking ... like i said in my first post .. i'm willing to pay more money for an EQ if the sound coming through the unit will be better ... but if they are the same, sound wise ... i would obviously buy the DBX 1231 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 If you can afford it then there ARE benefits to the Rane unit. The question you have to answer is ... is it worth it to you. Part of that will depend on the quality and setup of your system. No sense putting a pro unit in a guitar store system. As far as HP filters ... yes, there is a big difference between using a single HP filter as opposed to just slamming down the last 4 or 5 sliders on a gEQ (again assuming you have a quality system). You do not get the same result as you'll get additional phase shift, ringing and the frequency response will not be the same. Same question ... can you hear it and does it bother you. A separate HP filter is the proper way to do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NUSound Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Haha, ok .. so there's basically votes for all three ... I was wondering if stuff like high or low pass filters were even necessary ... my subs for instance have a freq. response from 50 - 1500Hz ... so typically i just cut out all frequencies below 50Hz .. isn't that doing the same thing without a filter ? Same thing with my monitors ... they're freq. range is 70 - 12000Hz .. so on the EQ i just cut out the frequencies the monitor doesn't have in it's range. Therefore, do i really need a high and low pass filter ?I was pretty dead set and purchasing the DBX 1231 ... then i read some bad reviews on it, sound quality wise which got me thinking ...http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/dbx/1231+dual+equaliser/10/1I then looked into the DBX 231 .. and found the same bad reviews ...http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Effects/product/dbx/231+Graphic+Equalizer/10/1So this got me thinking ... like i said in my first post .. i'm willing to pay more money for an EQ if the sound coming through the unit will be better ... but if they are the same, sound wise ... i would obviously buy the DBX 1231 .... If you ask me, whoever wrote those reviews are crackpots, who probably don't know how to use one properly. The 231/1231 are really good EQ's. As a FOH EQ, it's tough to beat the 1231... unless you really need extra features (unlikely?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToHarm Posted January 20, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 I agree with you NUSound, Craigv and agedhorse ... i think the one guy said that the unit produced 'hiss' in his FOH ... i don't know ... i guess it's hard to judge the credibility of that review when you don't know the user, his experience, or the equipment he has. Well, i still have a decision to make in the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monthlymixcd Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 As long as you're picking something that won't NEGATIVELY impact your sound... and none of the units discussed here are in that camp... you're fine. For me, I want an EQ that does EQ well... and not a lot of stuff that I don't need. And while most would prefer 45mm sliders over 25mm sliders... we don't always have the rack real estate. Digital is nice with recall for venues that you frequent... but harder to adjust on the fly to fix something. It's all about tradeoffs and compromises. Don't second-guess yourself on whatever you purchase... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 I use 1231's in a >$100k system and haven't experienced any problems at all. I have installed maybe 40-50 of the 231's and have had no problems with those either. Maybe the guy who had problems had OTHER problems and blamed it on the eq because that was the easy thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Haha, ok .. so there's basically votes for all three ... I was wondering if stuff like high or low pass filters were even necessary ... my subs for instance have a freq. response from 50 - 1500Hz ... so typically i just cut out all frequencies below 50Hz .. isn't that doing the same thing without a filter ? Same thing with my monitors ... they're freq. range is 70 - 12000Hz .. so on the EQ i just cut out the frequencies the monitor doesn't have in it's range. Therefore, do i really need a high and low pass filter ? Do you really need it? Yes. Your speakers' acoustic response my limit audible frequencies below 50Hz, but that doesn't mean the speaker isn't still trying to reproduce them. By cutting out the unnecessary information, you're saving a lot of power bandwidth in your amplifiers, getting rid of low end rumbling, extending the life of your speakers, and protecting against accidental damage. Cutting the frequencies out at the EQ doesn't really do much. At best you're cutting 12dB at the low frequencies, whereas a real high pass filter has a sloping response at 12 or 24dB per octave. As for the EQ's, my vote goes for the dbx 1231. The Rane and BSS EQ's are good, sure, but you're not getting any more bang for your buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dubravac Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 Agreed, you should have a low cut filter ... they all have this ... i also agree with the DBX 1231. It has the low cut at the push of a button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Unalaska Posted January 20, 2010 Members Share Posted January 20, 2010 The DXB231 low cut s 40hz and 12dB I think. Eh, you could get better results with a low cut in an amp. The 1231 I don't know about for low cut, it has the long throw faders which is nice. Of the 3 though I'd definitely take the rane. For monitor world the perfect Q would be really nice! and NO phase shift! (read the white paper on EQ's on Rane's site) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 21, 2010 Members Share Posted January 21, 2010 The DXB231 low cut s 40hz and 12dB I think. Eh, you could get better results with a low cut in an amp. The 1231 I don't know about for low cut, it has the long throw faders which is nice.Of the 3 though I'd definitely take the rane. For monitor world the perfect Q would be really nice! and NO phase shift! (read the white paper on EQ's on Rane's site) 40Hz, 12dB/octave BW is fine for most applications. It's when you get to 30-35Hz that 3rd or 4th order filters becomes really important... trying to squeeze the last bit out of the poor speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToHarm Posted January 21, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 21, 2010 Bought the DBX 1231 today ... got a pretty good deal i think as well. Brand new in box for $400 Canadian. Thanks for the help guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.