Analog EQ

Does anyone have experience with inserting analog EQ into the (phono) playback chain?

I have a couple of good reasons for wanting to do this:
- I own many many many vintage records where the mastering (in terms of FR) is waaaay off.
- My in room response has a hole in the midbass that I would like to address in the analog domain when spinning vinyl
- I do a lot of digital transfers of old records for DJ use. I regularly end up remastering stuff. 95% of the time involves fixing overly bright or super mid forward masters. (as well as the usual click/pop removal and L/R balance tweaks) It would be nice to have the option to do this in the analog domain.

I've been looking at outboard mastering EQ stuff but the good ones are very expensive.....

 

I have always been interested in an analog EQ unit - I do not know for sure, but I am speculating that it may have a more "analog" sound signature compared to a digital EQ such as those with EQ software or built-in software with a digital music player.

 

If you want a flexible analog EQ you're looking at money. If you want an all-toob one, that has all the works, think 5-figures.

I remember seeing this bad boy at NAMM 2 years ago.



Awesome piece of kit. Had a long talk with the guy. All tube, transformer coupled at all the interstages. I'm not sure how the EQ circuits are integrated but the amount of flexibility is jawdropping for what is ostensible a simple tube circuit.

 

Don't really need shelving stuff. Monitors have +-1.5 in either direction and fall off pretty hard after 40Hz. Phono pre has rumble filter.

What I really want is surgical EQ tools. ~3 programmable parametric curves where I can specify frequency, Q and depth. The more overlap and fine grained these filters are the better.

I've been looking at mastering EQs all morning and one that caught my eye was the Bettermaker series. They are digitally programmable (via a plugin or front panel) but the EQ is all in the analog domain. Sort of the best of both worlds. The 232 has 2 parametric bands and Pultec style cut/boost along with High/Lowpass; even works in mid/side mode which is pretty cool. Or you can buy just the 2 band parametric. Other stuff that caught my eye were the Manley products but again... big $$$.

Anyhow, I think first steps are that I am going to pull out my good old Rane Empath all analog DJ mixer and throw that in the chain after the phono pre. That will at least give me some confidence that dropping 2-5K on an outboard analog EQ is not a huge waste of money.