Artec Parametric EQ Reviews

Does what it says...

I would suggest you get a parametric one, like the Boss, or something else. The one band is actually limiting, even though it's customazible.

Solid-built and Medium Usability

Okay let's get the easiest part out of the way: this thing is built like a tank. The buttons are sturdy and rotate without any weird bumps or slides along the way. It doesn't feel cheap.

On to the functionality. I wanted to use this for Djent/Modern Progressive Metal to get that tinny bass tone, and it sort of did that, but too lightly to say it works for a recording. I'd say this piece is great for non-extreme adjustments to your sound, but if you want to bend your sound out of shape to something experimental, this isn't it.

Does the job perfectly... but it really shines as a booster

As a single band parametric EQ, it does the job perfectly in order to adjust your guitar tone before the preamp or tweak a bit your preamp sound if you place it in the effects loop. You know, remove muddiness, tweak brightness, add mids, adjust tone when changing from dual to single coil...

But I've ended up using it as a booster as it really nails it. Because of the 4 controls (level, frequency, freq. curve and gain), you can use it as a plain booster (just volume) or a custom booster that can add extra brightness, mid-boost or even a lower frequencies push when soloing without increasing the overall volume too much.

excelent

For this price i wouldn't be surprised to find some problems, but I don't see any. It is now permanently on the FX loop, powered by a shared switching supply. No noise.

Does its job if you know what you are doing

I've seen people getting parametric EQs because they have read silly articles on the internet claiming parametric gives you more control than graphic EQ. Needles to say, most of them get very disappointed.

Well, this is NOT a replacement for a graphic EQ. This is a special use tool which will let you attenuate (or amplify) one specific frequency band. Basically an active band-rejection filter.

As for this pedal, well, it does its job and it's the only parametric EQ in a really affordable price range, but it's definitely not professional as it claims to be.

The box is sturdy metal, but the button, pots, and especially the battery door look very cheaply made. The frequency knob is marked 1 to 10 instead of real frequency values and this is quite dumb. The width and gain knobs are super tiny and impossible to grip, let alone read their values. Why didn't they make 4 normal size knobs is beyond my understanding.

All in all for such a price its a good deal, I can't complain. Compared to other parametric EQs this one is dirt cheap and it's a no brainer to give it a go. It's interesting to combine with distortion pedals, you can make humbuckers sound like singles and you can get some wah-y sounds too.

Cheap & useful

It was cheap enough to buy for experimenting with. Seemed to work OK as a notch filter with my 7 strings low B string. Annoyingly there are no frequencies marked around the FREQ knob so I calibrated it using tones from Audacity. With smallest bandwidth I could find octaves between 125Hz and 1KHz. Couldn't find 62.5Hz or 2kHz. The only thing I don't like about it is that the low battery indication (flashing LED) seems very over sensitive and a corresponding ticking noise gets through to my amp speaker.

An EQ that can work as a NOTCH filter

I use it on an acoustic pedalboard. Aside very expensive pedals, like Tech21 , Suhr and MXR, this cheap little box does its job very well.

I mean it works perfectly as a Notch filter, and it is damn easy to make it work. Some people should learn from Artec. True bypass, looks good too, but has only 1 possible issue: when engaged, it is swapping phase! Why is that, I don't know. Maybe because when you want a feedback kill switch action, first thing is to swap the phase? We should ask Artec. Anyway, for this price it is a bargain. I though of having two of them. Recommended!

Q factor not good

This product is very good, but is no good for the purpose that I bought it:

I bought this product to use as a narrow band bass 'cut', to 'EQ the room' for my PA system, i.e to remove standing waves. The specification is RATED AS CAPABLE OF THIS, at 1/2 octave to 1/4 octave i.e, a 'Q' of 4 to 7. I find this not to be the case. The Q factor is too wide, and to remove a resonant bass frequency from a room, too many frequencies are lost. To prove this, I tested this product at my work on a frequency generator and scope at 400Hz and the Q factor is very wide at the narrowest setting. I would like to say the unit build quality is very good and has low noise and will work very well for anyone looking for a wider band lift or cut, it just doesn't work for me. I will try a bass EQ pedal in the future.

Great parametric eq for the price

I use it in front of a high gain amp, for tailoring guitar frequencies for specific needs such as solos or sound sculpting similar to setting a wah-wah at a certain point in wah-wah pedal "travel". When the pedal is turned on in front of high gain channels It is very noisy, but i have it in the loop of a noise gate, and there is a gate after my guitar amp signal in the band mix. For such a low price it does it's job well and is a good all around tool for guitar and bass guitar. I use it in the studio and have not used it live yet.

Beginner

I bought this pedal because was cheap, but I could never get a good sound from it.

Some issues but still great value.

This is a single band parametric EQ that works reasonably well. It is quite sturdy in a metal housing with plastic knobs, two of which are quite small as has already been said. There is a quick release battery compartment which is welcome and the DC jack is at the input side but it is recessed through a hole in the case so one of my power supply leads would not fit through - but it's a small problem.

My main gripe with this unit is that the "cut" is not nearly as extensive as the "boost" for any frequency. The pedal comes with no documentation at all but the website mentions +/- 12bB of gain, so that should be an equal swing both ways.

The frequency range and width are OK for bass, I did not test it on a guitar. True bypass seems to be correct.

Great product but with a big caveat

The highest the frequency can reach is not even 4000Hz, the band Q also opens and is less effective as you approach the higher extreme.

I needed two of these to kill the 5000Hz whine from my Line6 G10 and other digital gear.

Unfortunately this pedal is useless for that purpose.

The unit itself is well made, also has a clean signal.

Excellent little tool

I have been trying to set up my looper to play backing tracks through a Mackie SRM 350 pa speaker to get enough volume to practice my sax. The volume is fine but the speaker is ridiculously bass heavy and unusable at home.

I have tried taming the bass with a small Behringer mixer which helps a bit, but it's not hitting the right frequencies and it's a cumbersome solution. I had thought about a graphic eq pedal but had doubts that it would be effective because of my experiences with the Behringer. Then I discovered the Artec Parametric EQ and decided to take a risk with it because of its potential ability to target the frequencies I want to control.

It works! It does exactly what I need and is very effective. It's very simple to operate - you can set a boost or cut and then turn the frequency knob until you hit the offending frequency. Then you can alter the Q setting to adjust the range of frequencies you want to modify.

The build quality is good, at least for what I need. I do agree with other reviewers that having tiny frequency and q control knobs with an even tinier black on black centre point marker is a very poor design. It was ok at home where I could hold it up to a bright light to see, but using it live to adjust the tone would be a challenge to say the least.

The sound quality is good and I didn't detect any noise or impairment of the signal going to the speaker. It works well with the supplied battery it is a much tidier solution than a mixer with an external power supply. I don't know what the battery life is yet.

So, in summary, for my very specific requirement it is an excellent solution and the Artec is a fraction of the price of other parametric eq pedals.

Nice, fat lead boost in the loop

There are many places you can put an EQ to work. I put this one in the effects loop, immediately post gain. In under five minutes, I was able to dial in a mid and volume boost that pushed my normally semi-scooped rhythm sound into glorious, fat and loud lead territory - smooth, round and majestic.

Highly recommended.

Good, iff finicky parametric EQ pedal

Every guitar player touring should have an EQ pedal. As you go from place to place, amp to amp, you'll just need to be able to make adjustments the amp's 3 or 4 band EQ won't let you.

The variable Q is an awesome adjustment, but the problem is the knob sizing. The gain and Q knob are small, indented knobs - perfect! The Level and Freq are really big, not so much! If I've set something up to notch a ringing tone, I don't want to kick it on stage by mistake and throw it off.

Overall good, much better than a Graphic EQ but not without problems.

Great parametric eq

If you are here you'll probabily know what we are talking about. This is one little precious piece of equipment, a parametric equalizer in pedal form is definitely not that common these days, and definitely not at this price! Parametric equalizers let you sculpt your tone in a much more musical way than graphic equalizers, which boost or cut specific bands with a very narrow spectrum for each, so that your tone will be typically affected with strange noises. Try and you'll see/hear, especially in recordings. This parametric example, instead, lets you choose very precisely the one frequency you want to cut or boost, with a useful width little knob: this one lets you set how many frequencies around that one that you chose as the central one, you want to be boosted or cut, too

A cheap pedal, that can get the job done.

I bought this as I had no idea when I could get money for a more expensive parametric Eq, with only a single use in mind. I wanted to scoop away some highs and mids as my rig before the pedal was very mid focused and not very balanced. Now to move onto the effect this effect had. It managed to cut a good amount of mids and lower presence a little bit too, which certainly made my rig much more enjoyable and balanced to listen to. Now to move onto the controls. The level controls volume of the pedal, and if turned over about 5 can turn the bass to mush, not a welcome quirk when you like to have a deep sounding tone. The width and gain controls are only worth mention in that they feel a little flimsy and difficult to turn from their size and shoddy plastic grip. The frequency control is very good in that it has some very nice range, but all other features are not noteworthy in either a good or bad way. The pedal switch and enclosure do feel like they could take some throwing around and powerful stamps, so they won't be the parts to break. Overall, an affordable workhorse pedal with some quality quirks but gets the job done well.

Most useful toneshaping tool for tubeamps - get a bunch

To decide exactly which frequencies that saturate tubes first is the most useful thing to shape your tone.

Tone controls on amp functions as post EQ then.

Set Q-value and sweep the frequency control to find the sweet spot.

I bought a couple of these, and activate different loops depending on tone I want.

Extremely useful and unbelievable low price.

Easy tone shaper

I bought this pedal with the intention of getting more out of my single channel Hayden Mofo 30 amp. I've started gigging more and found it fiddly rolling off the pickup volume on the fly. I was looking for something that had a gain & level control, but was also able to shape a different sound. This pedal works perfectly as it does all those things whilst being transparent. Now instead of rolling off the volume pot, I am able to drop the input gain to the amp, getting a clean sound, but also maintaining the volume. The build quality and packaging are top notch. Couldn't rate highly enough!

Not for me...

I have used a graphic EQ pedal on my guitar for some time and regard as a very underrated piece of kit.

However having read that parametric EQ is gives more control I thought I would give this Artec a go especially as it is relatively cheap.I also thought it would be an inexpensive way to get that honky stuck wah sound.

Let's talk about the build quality first.The case is some sort of cast metal and seems very sturdy.Battery access is screwless(hooray!).The controls generally are OK but the gain and width knobs are very small have no markers on them so it is difficult to know where you are.

So what's it like in use?Firstly forget the stuck wah sound.It just about gets you in the right ball park--but only just.And using the knobs to shape your tone does not make a huge amount of difference.

Maybe I'm not using the Artec correctly--there were no instructions/manual included--so for now I'll stick with my graphic EQ.It is easier to use and has a greater range.