Pete's Place Audio 'Electrodyne 511' 500-Series Equalizer  From Pete's Place

This EQ is a sleeping giant. Yes, it's only got two EQ bands on board, but if you can't get what you need with these two bands, you need to go back and just re-record the track. There's a HUGE amount of horsepower under the hood of this EQ that is available when you need it, but it's equally suited to subtle shaping. 

No doubt about it - when you pass a signal through this box even with the knobs zero'ed out, what comes out the other side is bigger, more massive and yet fully under control. This is glue in the form of EQ, and it keeps me from having to rely quite as much on compression later on down the signal chain. This on its own would be enough to seal the deal for me, but when I started to tweak the EQ on the 511, I really got a sense for the power that this unit wields. 

This is not a tool for the tweakers - it is the broad-stroke EQ to rule all broad-stroke EQ's. That means you can be gentle when you need to, and when you want to drastically manipulate the signal you can do so without ruining what was originally captured.

Use this eq when tracking guitars, bass, keys, horns, vocals, or nearly anything you're working with. and then make sure you come back with it on your master bus. It's easy to land on great settings with this EQ, so you won't waste time second guessing what you've just done.