Can you explain parametric equalisers? I don't have the faintest what exactly they are. I know how ordinary equalisers work but not parametric.

I knew this one would come up. Since I'm the resident "EQ Poster Boy", I'll take it upon myself.

Parametric equalizers are usually only found on extremely high-end audio equipment. A parametric equalizer allows you to control, for a given band, not just how much louder or softer that frequency is, but also what the frequency is and what its bandwidth or "Q" is.

So, for example, instead of a given band being fixed at 50hz, you could make that band be at any frequency you wanted, from very low to very high. That is one of the parameters, hence the name "parametric".

The other parameter, the "Q", controls what kind of frequency slope surrounds that frequency center. For example, as you adjust that gain for that frequency up or down, it's going to drag some of the surrounding frequencies with it. The farther away from that center frequency, then the less it will be affected. Imagine that each band is surrounded by a "bell" of intermediate bands- the relative "pointyness" or "bluntness" of that bell is what the "Q" parameter controls.

On the Empeg, the "Q" is, by default, automatic. They automatically narrow the bandwidth as you get farther away from 0db. But a couple of presses of a button on the remote, and you can edit the Q instead of it being automatic. This was actually necessary for one particular thing I did... I needed to override the automatic setting because it was too agressive about narrowing the bandwidth for what I was doing. Once you know what you're doing with it, an adjustable Q is very powerful.

I'm pretty sure that higher "Q" numbers result in a more "pointy" slope (although I always seem to forget and have to do trial-and-error adjusting).

The amazing thing about the Empeg is that every band can be parametric now. Most hardware-based parametric equalizers only give you one or two bands to play with. For someone like me, who's used to seeing hardware like that, 20 fully parametric bands is just mind-bogglingly powerful. It's like driving a Yugo every day and suddenly somebody handing you the keys to a Ferrari. It's almost more power than you know what to do with.

Like I said to Mike, it's going to look great on the spec sheet. Audiophiles or sound engineers who know about parametric EQ's will do a complete double-take when they see it. I swear, they'll call up Empeg and ask if it's a typo.

The best part is that John (that's who did the work, right?) implemented it in such a way so that the EQ still behaves the way it always did, only now you can hit one extra button to edit the Q and the frequency. Very slick.

A word of warning: If you don't have a use for a parametric EQ, or you don't understand its operation, then don't mess with the feature because it could possibly tweak your sound in ways that you don't like. Like the Ferrari, just because you can drive 200mph doesn't mean you should.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.