The equalizer in the 8078 console is called a 31105. For all intents and purposes it is the same as a 1081, except it has logic functions so you may put the entire console in mic or line input at the flick of a switch, instead of turning the switch on every individual input module. In a 40-input desk, this will save you a bunch of time. This is a good thing.

The Neve 8078 console with EQ module 31105.

Referencing the 10 Series input modules to the 1272 mic amp for a moment, you will find the same input, same output transformer and the same B283 gain card in the 1272 as you will in the mic section of a 1073 (etc.), thus it sounds the same. On consoles like the 8014, you will actually find the 1272 used as the talkback microphone amplifier. Most of the routing modules (1883, etc.) also have the same input and output transformers and a half-filled B283 card.

Personally, I really don't like equalizers much. I've always felt that if you're a really good engineer, and you choose your microphones and their positions wisely, equalization is unnecessary. Granted, when you need to work too fast, they are a very handy tool and, when used sparingly, will enhance your project. Most of the modern console manufacturers seem to agree with me - otherwise their equalization sections wouldn't sound as terrible as they do.

Well, as long as we've opened up that EQ can of worms, let's spend a couple of minutes on some of the cooler old ones. Older equalizers tended to be closer to tone controls. They were regional devices.

The Trident A range module is one of the input modules that combined four-band function with wonderfully musical characteristics. Trident later came out with a single-rackspace, 3-band fully parametric, which gives unknowing users the opportunity to make something sound bad. Caution is greatly advised, grasshopper.

Trident consoles were, of course, originally built for Trident Studios in London. The owners of Trident Studios allowed their staff technical department the freedom to go off on their own and start a console company. The world is a better place because of this decision.

During the late 1960s, the folks over at Olympic Studios (also in London) had a genius named Dick Swettenham on their staff. He invented the Helios console. The original desk from their studio now lives at Keith Grant's house, and the important bits were built into his custom Raindirk console.

An original Helios still in action.

Grant is making some of the most exciting recordings (from an audio perspective) with these modules to this day. The original modules were used on Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" album.

Olympic console number two was also built for Olympic. It can be heard on the Rolling Stones' "Let It Bleed" and "Beggars Banquet," and a copy of the desk was made for the Stones' mobile truck for the recording of "Exile on Main Street." Folklore says that Chris Blackwell of Island Records wanted his artists to record in his studios, but they didn't want to because he didn't have one of these cool Helios desks.

Chris set up Mr. Swettenham with his own company and ordered the first five units. Mercenary purchased two of the Island desks for a client a couple of years ago, but they weren't quite as cool as the original "Stones" desks, in my humble opinion. Helios modules are still available in loose form and are well worth investigating for the serious audio professional.

The kings of equalizers for equalization's sake are now made in Virginia by a firm called API. They make an outstanding mic pre and, dollar for dollar, the best-sounding console under current manufacture, in terms of form without overkill function. (The Amek, Rupert Neve-designed 9098 is, in my opinion, the best-sounding desk that does everything but wash your car.)

API's equalizer design is as cool as a Neve, with its own (different) tone. Different, yes, but neither superior nor inferior. It can be chosen as the right tool for the job. When used wisely, the 550, 550A (a 550 with four additional frequencies) or the 550B (the new 4-band version--same design principle, equally cool sounding with greater flexibility) are very powerful tools. The 560 (10-band graphic) just rules.

API's 550B (left) and 560B modules.

Feel free to book Kooster McAllister's Record Plant Remote truck out of New Jersey to learn how great audio can be. His 48-input API console with 560 equalizers changed my life. The rest of my days on earth will be spent trying to re-create what I heard in that truck. It wasn't until the '70s that a couple of guys in Maryland added a bandwidth control. These smart fellas were Burgess MacNeal (currently of Sontec) and engineer/producer George Massenburg. The box they built was called the ITI MEP-230. It featured three bands of fully parametric EQ, plus a 10kHz shelf and a selectable 50Hz/100Hz low shelf.

Even though it was parametric, it still seemed that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't make anything sound bad. They made a console model as well, called the ITI MEP-130 - same function without the shelving band, and amazingly musical for a parametric.

Both Sontec and GML build wonderful units. Both seem to be functionally based on this earlier design but have cleaned the audio to a "straight wire" type of sound. The GML seems to me to have a bit more spaciousness, but the Sontec is about half the price (±3 dB). Let me add that both firms are also building mic pre's and compressors that feature the same impeccable audio standards.

Parametric EQ is, for the most part, used badly. It gives the user the ability to phase-distort a signal into complete submission. Very few in our profession should be granted a parametric license. This is one of the reasons that older EQ designs are so sought-after.

Recently, the term "British EQ" has popped up in our vocabulary. The British equalizers that I have used are all so radically different-sounding that this is, at best, an erroneous term. Let's clue the marketing departments that there is as much of a British EQ sound as there is a British compression sound, as there is a British mic placement sound...ad nauseam.