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Empress ParaEQ Review – Ultimate Tone Fidelity

4.9 out of 5 stars

EQ pedals are essential tools more than anything else. One thing that will always make a good tool even better is practical value. In those terms, Empress ParaEQ is the ultimate hammer EQ market has to offer right now.

Empress went above and beyond to deliver one of the best EQ pedals you can get, which was immediately recognized by the community. Chances are you will find one of these on just about any pedalboard belonging to a person who appreciates clinical precision. Today we are going to introduce you to this mighty box, and show you just what kind performance it has to offer.

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Features

When it comes to features, we'll start by mentioning the bulletproof enclosure this thing comes in. It's a wide body pedal that can take mad amounts of abuse without giving up on you. Although, you got to ask yourself a couple of things if you are heavy stomping an EQ pedal.

Anyways, from a purely practical point of view, you get true bypass along with 30dB of additional boost and the ability to run the battery on 9V, 12V or 18V. Circuitry you find once you pop the cover is pure artwork. This EQ is so transparent it's just impressive.

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Controls

Lot's of capabilities means lot's of controls, at least in the world of EQs. When you look at the top panel of this pedal, you will see two rows of knobs and a single row of switches. The knobs include a three-band EQ with a boost control in one row, and a three band gain control in the bottom row. The switches located on the top are your Q selectors. Each one corresponds to a specific band of the EQ.

These are three-way switches that allow you to choose a narrow, medium or wide Q. The best part is that you can layer all of these features any way you want. Some of the most iconic pedals of today don't come with such a variety of controls.

Performance

This is by far one of the best-performing EQ pedals around. It's unbelievably transparent, comes with a plethora of features, and sports a crystal clear parametric design. What else can we even ask for? With additional boost and the fact that you can control the gain in so many ways, the range of tones you can dial in unbelievably wide. No matter what kind of music you're playing, or what instrument for that matter, Empress ParaEQ is going to keep up with you with no issue what so ever.

Conclusion

If there is one thing you can count on Empress to do, that is to deliver wholesome and complete designs which work 100% of the time with great efficiency. Let's put it this way, if a mission to Mars had to bring a guitar-optimized EQ for whatever reason, this is probably the only pedal that would pass the tests and meet the requirements. For all intents and purposes, Empress ParaEQ should be your first choice every time. It's that simple.

For more info about the Empress ParaEQ, click here.
For more EQ Pedal Currently On The Market, click here.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Louis says

    Hi people,

    I own the Empress compressor pedal so I trust the brand. The reviews of this Para EQ are mostly written by electric guitar players. But has anyone tried acoustic guitars and still better : nylon strung guitars?
    (I play bossa and jazz-standards on my HANIKA classical guitar, so no need for overdrive etc)

  2. Doug says

    I use a Godin multiac acs-sa koa, a nylon string guitar. The paraeq does just what they say it does, very precise, and it sounds marvelous. Combined with the compressor from empress, now you’re talking.
    I find that what you need for nylon strings is high fidelity, and that’s what these pedals have

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