Ronald Meij Maker · 1 d ago
Twenty modules, and one honest line each about what they are. Before the list, four things. Prices are what a European shop was asking on 14 September 2026, including VAT unless it says otherwise, and they move, so read them as a bracket and not a quote. Links go to the maker first and to a shop second, where I could verify one. Nobody paid to be here and there are no affiliate links. And this is not a ranking: there is no measurement that puts one of these at number three and another at number eleven. It is a spread across price, circuit and maker, filtered down to what you can still buy new. Every maker here is doing serious work, the cheap ones included. The useful split in this list is not by brand, it is by what the EQ does when you are not touching it. A passive Pultec type loses level and gives it back through a make-up amplifier, so the amplifier is half the sound. An inductor EQ has iron in the filter and rings slightly at the corner, which is most of what people mean by the Neve sound. An active parametric like the SSL is built to get out of the way and let you place a band exactly. Buy the behaviour, not the badge. 01 API 550A Discrete active, three bands, 2520 op-amps, and proportional Q: the filter narrows as you push it. Seven fixed centres per band, shelf or peak on the outer two. Saul Walker's design from the late sixties. For: drums, guitars, vocals, broad shaping About EUR 1259. apiaudio.com/product/550a-discrete-3-band-eq kmraudio.de/api-audio-550a-discrete-3-band-eq 02 API 550b The same proportional Q lineage with a fourth band and more filtering. For: mixing, bus and broad tone shaping About EUR 1349. apiaudio.com/product/550b-4-band-eq kmraudio.de/api-audio-550b-discrete-4-band-eq 03 API 560 Ten bands from 31 Hz to 16 kHz, plus or minus 12 dB, through the same discrete 2520 path. Based on the 1969 original. For: fast broad strokes on drums, room mics, guitars, busses About EUR 1049. apiaudio.com/product/560-graphic-eq www.audiosteps.io/en/product/api-560-500-10-band-graphic-eq 04 AMS Neve 1073LBEQ Inductor based, Class A discrete. 12 kHz shelf, switched peaking mid from 360 Hz to 7.2 kHz, switched low shelf from 35 to 220 Hz, and an 18 dB per octave high-pass. Inductors wound to the original seventies spec. For: vocals, bass, guitars, drums About EUR 939. www.ams-neve.com/outboard/1073-range/1073lbeq-mono-eq-module kmraudio.de/ams-neve-1073-lbeq 05 Rupert Neve Designs 551 Inductor based with custom wound inductors, transformers and Class A gain blocks. The low band draws on the 1064 and the mid on the 1073. For: tracking and mixing, vocals, bass, drum bus About EUR 949. rupertneve.com/products/551 www.musicstore.com/en_OT/EUR/Rupert-Neve-Designs-551/art-REC0012026-000 06 Pulse Techniques EQP-500X Passive Pultec programme EQ with a 2520 make-up stage and an output transformer. Low shelf at 30, 40, 70 or 100 Hz with boost and cut at once, peak boost 1 to 16 kHz, high shelf cut at 5, 10 or 20 kHz. The EQP-1A in a module. For: vocals, bass, mix bus, mastering adjacent work About EUR 1699. pulsetechniques.com/products/500-series/eqp-500x digitalaudioservice.de/en/Pulse-Techniques-EQP-500X/EQP500X-pultec 07 Pulse Techniques MEQ-500 Passive midrange Pultec with a Triad output transformer: low-mid boost 200 to 1500 Hz, high-mid boost 1.2 to 8 kHz, and an independent dip from 200 Hz to 7 kHz. The MEQ-5. For: midrange on vocals, guitars, snare and whole mixes About EUR 1799. pulsetechniques.com/products/500-series/meq-500 kmraudio.de/pulse-techniques-meq-500 08 Maag Audio EQ4-500 Six bands: four fixed bells at 10, 40, 160 and 650 Hz, a 2.5 kHz shelf, and the AIR BAND switchable at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 40 kHz. Minimum phase. For: opening the top on vocals, acoustic instruments, mix bus About EUR 1429, though one shop had it nearer EUR 1349. maag.audio/eq4500 kmraudio.de/maag-audio-eq4-500 09 Solid State Logic E-Series EQ (611EQ) Active four band console EQ with fully parametric mids and variable Q, bell or shelf on the outer bands, and switchable Black 242 and Brown 02 curves. The channel EQ of the early eighties 4000 E. For: mixing, including corrective work, drums, guitars, vocals About EUR 629. solidstatelogic.com/products/e-series-eq-module kmraudio.de/ssl-e-eq-module 10 Solid State Logic UltraViolet EQ Stereo, four bands: minimum phase shelves inherited from the Fusion plus two fully parametric mids with a precision Focus mode. A modern design, not a console reissue. Takes two slots. For: stereo bus, stems, mastering style shaping, groups About EUR 469. solidstatelogic.com/products/uv-eq kmraudio.de/ssl-ultraviolet-eq 11 Chandler Limited TG12345 MKIV Fully discrete transistor, with a bass shelf at 90 or 150 Hz and a presence section of eight bell frequencies plus a 10 kHz shelf. From the input and group EQs of the EMI TG12345. For: drums, bass, guitars, vocals, when period colour is the point About EUR 1299. chandlerlimited.com/tg12345-mkiv-eq kmraudio.de/chandler-limited-tg12345-mkiv-eq 12 elysia xfilter 500 Discrete Class A stereo, four bands: two parametric mids with switchable Q, outer bands switchable between shelving and resonant cut, plus a passive 12 kHz LC section. An original design. For: stereo bus, mastering style shaping, stems About EUR 785. www.elysia.com/xfilter kmraudio.de/elysia-xfilter500 13 Cranborne Audio Carnaby 500 Three bands where boost and cut are produced by a harmonic saturation circuit rather than by conventional filtering. Optical stereo linking between two modules. For: colouring and broad shaping rather than corrective EQ About EUR 590. www.cranborne-audio.com/carnaby500 kmraudio.de/cranborne-audio-carnaby-500-series-eq 14 WesAudio _HYPERION Fully analogue four band parametric whose controls are set by VCAs, eighteen per channel, giving total recall from a plug-in. Stereo, dual mono or mid side. For: mixing and mastering where the analogue path has to survive a recall About EUR 1173. wesaudio.com/product/_hyperion kmraudio.de/wes-audio-hyperion 15 WesAudio _PROMETHEUS Fully analogue passive inductor EQ in the Pultec idiom, with a THD control, and the same digital recall. Stereo, dual mono or mid side. For: mix bus and mastering style passive shaping, vocals, bass About EUR 1217. wesaudio.com/product/_prometheus kmraudio.de/wes-audio-prometheus 16 Heritage Audio 73EQ JR Baxandall type shelves and a dual inductor fixed Q midrange, transformer coupled in and Class A transformer balanced out. No mic preamp: EQ only, at line level. For: the 1073 idiom on a budget, vocals, bass, drums, guitars About EUR 949. heritageaudio.com/73-eq-jr kmraudio.de/heritage-audio-73-eq-jr 17 Lindell Audio PEX-500 Passive Pultec style programme EQ, transformer coupled both ends, with a discrete 990 type make-up amplifier and a hardwire bypass. For: the Pultec move on vocals, bass and mix bus, cheaply About EUR 359. lindellaudio.com/en/products/pex-500 digitalaudioservice.de/en/Lindell-Audio-PEX-500/lindellPEX500 18 Harrison Audio MR3eq Active three band parametric, plus or minus 10 dB, with a continuously variable proportional Q mid from 400 Hz to 8 kHz and a high-pass with a resonance peak. From their console channel EQ. For: broad shaping plus a usable high-pass, at the bottom of the price range Around EUR 240 to EUR 285 depending on the shop and on VAT. harrisonaudio.com/products/mr3eq www.audiosteps.io/shop/en/product/harrison-mr3eq-3-band-eq 19 Dangerous Music BAX500 Baxandall shelves, plus or minus 5 dB only, with 12 dB per octave high and low cut filters. Chris Muth design, from the BAX EQ rack unit. Shipping since January 2026. For: gentle tonal shaping on tracking, mix bus and mastering About EUR 1599. www.dangerousmusic.com/product/bax-500 20 IGS Audio RB 500 Passive Pultec style with IGS transformers and a discrete driver, with separate frequency selectors for the low boost and the low cut. A mastering version exists as well. For: mix bus and mastering style passive shaping, bass, vocals About EUR 719, with the mastering version nearer EUR 1019. igsaudio.com/products/500-series-modules/rb-500 That is twenty. If something you own belongs here and is not, reply and say what it does that these do not. Corrections welcome too: a price that has moved, a model that has been revised, a dealer link that has died.