Kiwi Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I think my Epiphone Valve Junior (single volume knob amp) would benefit from having an EQ in front of it. At lower volumes it has this almost Fender-ish clean tone, which sounds amazing, but once you go above 10 o'clock it sounds somewhat dark and undefined. Being a huge Fender amp fan, I want an EQ to be similarly voiced and have come up with some alternatives to choose from: Wampler Black '65 (vintage overdrive with an EQ section): http://www.wamplerpedals.com/overdrives/black-65.html Tech21 Sansamp Blonde (which is a bit over my budget, and I've got a so-so feeling about amp simulation. Seems cool though): http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/characterseries.html Barber Barb EQ (pure EQ pedal with three voicings: Blackface, Tweed, British): http://www.barberelectronics.com/barb_eq.html Out of these three, the Barber seems to be the most appealing to me. Sadly enough, I can't seem to find much information on them at all, and only one video on Youtube. Does anyone here have any of these pedals and would you recommend them? If else, are there any other alternatives I might have missed? It might be worth noting that it's mainly an EQ I'm after and not something that automatically adds gain or saturation, however, if the gain can be turned down somewhat (like in the Wampler) it's alright. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I had an Empress ParaEq. It wasn't intended to make your amp sound like a fender or anything it was just an eq (with boost) and it was pretty amazing. You should check them out they're really nice. But honestly I wouldn't spend too much on an eq for a valve junior. I mean not to say that it's a bad amp or anything but it gets to a point pretty quickly where you might as well just get a better amp instead of getting pedals to try and make your amp something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 I had an Empress ParaEq. It wasn't intended to make your amp sound like a fender or anything it was just an eq (with boost) and it was pretty amazing. You should check them out they're really nice. But honestly I wouldn't spend too much on an eq for a valve junior. I mean not to say that it's a bad amp or anything but it gets to a point pretty quickly where you might as well just get a better amp instead of getting pedals to try and make your amp something else. I see what you're getting at, but it's not that I'm explicitly trying to make it sound like a Fender. It's just a plus if it sounds kind of Fender-ish, otherwise I think it has a fantastic tonality in lower volume settings. EDIT: I gave the Empress a look and it seems solid, but a tad expensive for my purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 The Empress was an awesome pedal but I sold it. Anyways the Barber seems like a good option. Barber has a really good reputation I wouldn't worry too much with them. You might also want to just check out the Boss eq. They're not the greatest but they're pretty cheap and abundant and maybe they could get the job done for what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenced Fred Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 The Empress was an awesome pedal but I sold it. Anyways the Barber seems like a good option. Barber has a really good reputation I wouldn't worry too much with them. You might also want to just check out the Boss eq. They're not the greatest but they're pretty cheap and abundant and maybe they could get the job done for what you need. I'll add on to that the MXR 10 band EQ, I see em pretty cheap on craigslist quite often Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Natural Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Plus 1 on the MXR 10 band. It's 3.3333333333333333 times more versatile than a 3 band EQ. You can tone-tweak to your heart's content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Plus 1 on the MXR 10 band. It's 3.3333333333333333 times more versatile than a 3 band EQ. You can tone-tweak to your heart's content. Agreed...............And I'm not just saying that 'cause I saw you on the cover of "EQ" magazine either........... ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Plus 1 on the MXR 10 band. It's 3.3333333333333333 times more versatile than a 3 band EQ. You can tone-tweak to your heart's content. The Empress ParaEq would change your mind about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenced Fred Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 The Empress ParaEq would change your mind about that. I see the MXR for sub 60 bucks. If he's gonna do this for an Epi Valve Jr, I think it would suit it just fine. The Empress is a little more than 60 bucks, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Epi Valve Jr is still a tube amp and it has to be one of the best "small" sound head amps out there. Even better with mods baby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I'm just sayin a well designed 3 band eq is every bit as versatile/useful if not more than a run of the mill 10 band eq. It was the subtle things about the ParaEq that make it better. No noise, control over bandwidth/ "Q", perfect transparency, switchable clean boost, the ability to pad down the volume, not to mention it was just built SO much better than MXR. I mean seriously the quality is like blatantly amazing. You open it up and it's ******* beautiful inside. Definately not assembled by a machine in Taiwan. But really I'm not telling the OP to buy one. I think that would be ridiculous. I'm just sayin the ParaEq is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenced Fred Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Epi Valve Jr is still a tube amp and it has to be one of the best "small" sound head amps out there. Even better with mods baby! All I'm saying is, I don't see buying a pedal that costs more than the amp itself. But I'm weird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Sorry I got a little carried away there didn't I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 The inside of my American made MXR is gorgeoust! But the best pedal I have found for EQing my Valve JR is a Pigtronix PolySaturator. It has a fantastic graphic EQ and if you turn the distortion down it's a killer clean boost with EQ. The distortion is great too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted November 6, 2011 Author Share Posted November 6, 2011 Hmm, interesting. I'll have to look into the Pigtronix a bit more, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 MXR has a 6 band EQ for about $70. I was considering that one for my Carvin Legacy. I needed something to cut some of the bass response out of that amp and tried the real cheap route with a Danelectro Fish and Chips. It worked pretty good until it stopped working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krock Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 MXR has a 6 band EQ for about $70. I was considering that one for my Carvin Legacy. I needed something to cut some of the bass response out of that amp and tried the real cheap route with a Danelectro Fish and Chips. It worked pretty good until it stopped working. I cant stand those plastic danelectro pedals. They're so noisy. But back to the topic of the thread. The MXR 10 band is pretty good for the money. Saying that, the Kerry King version was pretty good aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I cant stand those plastic danelectro pedals. They're so noisy. My Danelectro Fish and Chips is not noisy at all. In fact, I use it all the time to get rid of noise. I've had it for several years and really like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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