GEQ Shootout: Luke's Take

Posted by Luke Sheridan on December 20, 2003 at 20:54:17:

Well I had an exciting time in San Francisco. Here is my take on the shootout:

Winners:

Best bang-for-buck and best interface: Ashly Protea
Best "must have faders": Rane DEQ60
Best best: Audient ASP231/XTA GQ600
Most powerful: KT Helix

Whee: Lake Countour

Losers:

Worst interface: KT Helix
Least bang for buck: KT DN360

The rest didn't stand out in any way to me, although many were taken home by the time I got around to taking notes. Here is some detailed info on specific models:

Ashly Protea 4.24G:

This unit has the best interface and the best remote out there. Unfortunatly during the load out I lost the remote. Whoops. Sonically it appears that the filters are pretty wide, which is a downer, but this is still the unit I would like to have out on a gig. All functions have a dedicated button on the interface, and any function is at most 3 buttons away: Device->Channel->Function. Simple and quick. One you are on the right channel anything you want to do is one button away. KT should pay attention! No notch filters though, that sucks.

Rane DEQ60L:

The build quality of this unit rocked, the center detents were the perfect amount of click yet not hard at all to move a small amount out of detent. They also used really nice fader knobs, unlike most of their graphics. I thought the tone controls were giving users enough rope to hang themselves though, and the cut filters faders were detented at 60hz and 10khz, which was annoying to me. They should be detented in the off position in my opinion. Also they had nice switches for the options, and the ability to assign either channel the "A" or "B" graphic is great. Also good job on the in/out gain, all digital units should have this.

XTA GQ600: This is the prettiest eq out there. The fader knobs are great, but the switches suck, they are little mushy things. This unit also has my favorite adjustment, a high shelf with selectable gain and knee. I used this unit a bit the day before the show when I was demoing funktion-one stacks, and it was great to use.

Audient ASP321: This one astounds with its low low weight, it feels like there is nothing inside. I might be wrong, but this unit has the recessed knobs like a KT DN360, which I absolutly love. It looks like a next generation blue KT, and performs like the next generation also. Narrow mode rocked, and it has the unusual "tilt" knob. Not sure how that works in real life, but it seemed useful. I'd rather have the XTA high frequency shelf though.

Art HQ31: Pretty, VU(ooooh!), optical illusion inducing silkscreening and the same crap faders as most ranes and sabine uses. I'd hate to use this unit. I bet John Roberts has something to say about the FDC also.

Sabine GRQ3102: This unit packs quite a bit into one little package. The feedback thingy seems to still be the best out there, and it has cute little knobs and a nice display. The faders suck though, same with the art and older ranes. I hate those faders.

KT Helix: This unit would be good for FOH, or maybe in ears, but I would hate to walk up to a gig with these on wedges. The touch sensitive interface is buggy and difficult to use. At one point I was adjusting a fader in the middle of the screen and the unit made a group with a fader at the end of the screen and adjusted the entire group. Potentially show wrecking. WTF? The velocity sensitive twirly knobs are much better than non-velocity ones, but they still suck, to get them to adjust at high speeds I felt like I was going to torque the knob off. The blue buttons also suck, they are mushy and require quite the smash to get them to operate. The interface is also poorly designed, with menus you have to flip through(go one too far and you have to go all the way through to get back) and buried functions. None of it made any sense to me, and I'm a computer generation child. Very powerful unit though, the only one at the shootout with dynamic eq, and many other features. Also when any of the four possible filters are effecting the signal, a yellow led lights up, which is very handy to quickly see if you are flat or not.

Follow Ups:

• Re: GEQ Shootout: Luke's Take John Roberts 00:00:55 12/21/03 (0)
• Re: GEQ Shootout: The Sheridan's Tale Bink 22:43:15 12/20/03 (2)
  • brand bias Luke Sheridan 02:20:28 12/21/03 (1)
    • Re: brand bias John Chiara 03:31:47 12/22/03 (0)
• Re: GEQ Shootout: Luke's Take Mike Russell 22:41:57 12/20/03 (3)
  • Re: GEQ Shootout: Luke's Take Bink 22:44:06 12/20/03 (2)
    • Re: GEQ Shootout: Luke's Take Mike Russell 18:43:47 12/22/03 (0)
    • Re: GEQ Shootout: Luke's Take Mike Allen 03:42:06 12/21/03 (0)

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Comments:
: Well I had an exciting time in San Francisco. Here is my take on the shootout: 

: Winners: 

: Best bang-for-buck and best interface: Ashly Protea
: Best "must have faders": Rane DEQ60
: Best best: Audient ASP231/XTA GQ600
: Most powerful: KT Helix

: Whee: Lake Countour

: Losers: 

: Worst interface: KT Helix
: Least bang for buck: KT DN360

: The rest didn't stand out in any way to me, although many were taken home by the time I got around to taking notes. Here is some detailed info on specific models:

: Ashly Protea 4.24G: 

: This unit has the best interface and the best remote out there. Unfortunatly during the load out I lost the remote. Whoops. Sonically it appears that the filters are pretty wide, which is a downer, but this is still the unit I would like to have out on a gig. All functions have a dedicated button on the interface, and any function is at most 3 buttons away: Device->Channel->Function. Simple and quick. One you are on the right channel anything you want to do is one button away. KT should pay attention! No notch filters though, that sucks. 

: Rane DEQ60L:

: The build quality of this unit rocked, the center detents were the perfect amount of click yet not hard at all to move a small amount out of detent. They also used really nice fader knobs, unlike most of their graphics. I thought the tone controls were giving users enough rope to hang themselves though, and the cut filters faders were detented at 60hz and 10khz, which was annoying to me. They should be detented in the off position in my opinion. Also they had nice switches for the options, and the ability to assign either channel the "A" or "B" graphic is great. Also good job on the in/out gain, all digital units should have this. 

: XTA GQ600: This is the prettiest eq out there. The fader knobs are great, but the switches suck, they are little mushy things. This unit also has my favorite adjustment, a high shelf with selectable gain and knee. I used this unit a bit the day before the show when I was demoing funktion-one stacks, and it was great to use. 

: Audient ASP321: This one astounds with its low low weight, it feels like there is nothing inside. I might be wrong, but this unit has the recessed knobs like a KT DN360, which I absolutly love. It looks like a next generation blue KT, and performs like the next generation also. Narrow mode rocked, and it has the unusual "tilt" knob. Not sure how that works in real life, but it seemed useful. I'd rather have the XTA high frequency shelf though.

: Art HQ31: Pretty, VU(ooooh!), optical illusion inducing silkscreening and the same crap faders as most ranes and sabine uses. I'd hate to use this unit. I bet John Roberts has something to say about the FDC also. 

: Sabine GRQ3102: This unit packs quite a bit into one little package. The feedback thingy seems to still be the best out there, and it has cute little knobs and a nice display. The faders suck though, same with the art and older ranes. I hate those faders. 

: KT Helix: This unit would be good for FOH, or maybe in ears, but I would hate to walk up to a gig with these on wedges. The touch sensitive interface is buggy and difficult to use. At one point I was adjusting a fader in the middle of the screen and the unit made a group with a fader at the end of the screen and adjusted the entire group. Potentially show wrecking. WTF? The velocity sensitive twirly knobs are much better than non-velocity ones, but they still suck, to get them to adjust at high speeds I felt like I was going to torque the knob off. The blue buttons also suck, they are mushy and require quite the smash to get them to operate. The interface is also poorly designed, with menus you have to flip through(go one too far and you have to go all the way through to get back) and buried functions. None of it made any sense to me, and I'm a computer generation child. Very powerful unit though, the only one at the shootout with dynamic eq, and many other features. Also when any of the four possible filters are effecting the signal, a yellow led lights up, which is very handy to quickly see if you are flat or not. 



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