Sound Pure's Take
When Dan Kennedy and the team at Great River Electronics set out to adapt their iconic EQ-2NV circuit for critical mastering applications, they didn't just add stepped pots and call it a day—they re-engineered the unit from the ground up to create a modern mastering masterpiece. The Great River MAQ-2NV delivers the thick, musical, Class-A discrete Neve-inspired topology that engineers love, but with the surgical precision and recall accuracy required for high-end mastering and stereo bus work.
Unlike traditional Neve-style inductors, the MAQ-2NV utilizes custom-designed active inductor circuits that eliminate the magnetic crosstalk and noise floor limitations of vintage designs while preserving that signature transformer-balanced punch and weight. Each channel features two fully parametric mid-bands and two shelf/bell low/high bands, offering an astonishing range of control. To tailor the EQ's behavior to specific source material, Great River included selectable Sensitivity controls per band (adjusting the total boost/cut range to ±3dB for ultra-fine mastering adjustments or ±8dB for broader mix shaping) along with a Q-switch that automatically adjusts bandwidth relative to boost/cut depth.
In a modern mastering environment, recall is everything. The MAQ-2NV features heavy-duty, 24-position rotary switches for all gain and frequency parameters, ensuring exact left/right channel matching down to fractions of a decibel. Paired with Great River's signature custom transformer output stage, it infuses digital tracks with three-dimensional depth, glue, and authoritative low-end weight that simply cannot be replicated inside the box.
From Great River Electronics
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The MAQ-2NV is a stereo mastering equalizer based on the much-respected EQ-2NV. This two-rack-space digitally controlled analog parametric EQ offers similar topology to vintage 1081/1083 models, but with welcome improvements. Newly designed Class-A discrete single-ended amplifiers and true inductor/capacitor (L/C) circuitry add greater clarity and dynamic range to the musicality of the vintage-era models. The MAQ-2NV also has a discrete high-current Class-A balanced output stage. Built to satisfy personal requests from mastering engineers who have heard the EQ-2NV, it features extended high and low frequency ranges, EQ gain switches, linkable channel control, and very low frequency high pass filters. Each channel’s four EQ band gain switches range in ½ dB steps from 0 to +/-3dB, and 1dB steps from +/-3 to +/- 8dB, and each band has separate pushbutton bypass switches. There are Left and Right channel bypass switches, the channel high pass filter frequencies are 15, 20, 25, 32, 40, and 50 Hz, and the Link switch sets both channels from the left channel controls for identical EQ curves. As in the EQ-2NV, the front panel input selector / sensitivity switch offers the option of using the signal from the MAQ-2NV's transformer-coupled line input (ranging from +8dbm to -20dbm), or the patched signal from an NV preamp or other device. |
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MAQ-2NV FEATURES
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Warranty
This item is sold without the Sound Pure 3-year warranty (used / B-stock / dealer-exempt). Coverage terms for items in this category live in Terms & Conditions, Section 27.
Returns
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