As Greg Walker mentioned
in his Pacifica preamp review
in Issue 52, Neve, API and EMI preamps have all
been
lovingly reissued in recent times. API currently
has two
versions of their legendary EQ, the 550A and the
newer 550B
available. Other manufacturers have made forays
into the
area of ‘500’ series modular designs
and it’s this path that
the Avedis E27 three-band equaliser and the Purple
BIZ
microphone preamp have chosen. The Avedis E27 is
similar
to a 550A but not a copy or a reissue, and as such,
has some
interesting improvements and significant differences
to the
API, while the BIZ mic pre has no direct vintage
comparison
and offers a wide variety of interesting and useful
tonal
options in a compact format.ALL AMPLIFIERS OPERATIONAL
Way back in 1969, API began incorporating its discrete
products into what was later to become an industry standard,
5 1/4-inch modular steel casing. Based around the Saul
Walker-designed 2520 operational amplifier, the API 550A
EQ distinguished itself as sweet-sounding and musical. This
highly revered EQ employs a ‘proportional Q’ design that,
as the name suggests, gradually increases the Q (quality or
narrowness) of the filter as you apply more boost or cut to
your signal. This approach is also used in the E27, which
is clearly illustrated by Fig. 1. At the heart of the E27 is the
Avedis-designed 1122 op amp that can also be used to replace
2520s in API products. Very significantly, the E27 has Jensen
transformer-balanced inputs and outputs unlike the APIs,
which have an unbalanced input that can sometimes cause
interconnectivity problems.
LOOKS LIKE, SMELLS LIKE
Internally and externally the E27 looks similar to a 550A,
both in the layout and the positioning of its controls and
componentry, however, the Avedis sports a black faceplate
with red and silver knobs. On the subject of the knobs, the
E27s look great, but the inner red cut/boost control is a victim
of form over function. In an effort to replicate the curved
triangular Avedis logo, the knob has ended up with quite a
sharp indicator point that is less than pleasing to the touch.
This might seem a bit trifling, but after continued use I found
it very irritating and made the unit less inviting to use. Unlike
the outer silver frequency control, the inner knob is neither
stepped nor rough enough to grip, and unfortunately will
rotate with the outer knob if not held. This again might seem
insignificant, but lack of stepping makes recall very difficult
as well as requiring a two-handed operation if you wish to
hear your boost or cut amount at different frequencies. I hope
Avedis will consider providing stepped cut/boost controls as
well as fixing their knob design because these are the only
things that I don’t like about E27 EQ.
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SAME SIZE, DIFFERENT SOUND
What I do like about the E27 is its sounds. It’s more open
and extended in frequency response than a 550A and offers
greater levels of control both in boost/cut and frequency
selection: nine frequencies per band and an ‘off’ position
compared to five on the 550A, and +16dB of boost and cut
compared to +12dB. There are also push-button shelving
options for high and low frequencies and a bypass switch.
I tried the E27 on percussion, electric, acoustic and bass
guitars, vocals and program material. In every case, the
addition of E27 EQ improved the sound, either by allowing
me to precisely tune into a problem area or to enhance
some specific frequencies without boosting other unwanted
ones around the area of interest. Phil Punch also tried the
E27s on acoustic guitar and trumpets – read his comments
in the ‘second opinion’ section. The inclusion of a 28kHz
frequency position makes the unit a contender for mastering
applications, but I think many mastering engineers would
baulk at the lack of stepped boost/cut controls. The E27 has
all the great sonic features of a 550A but with more control,
a more open sound and an improved input design.
TWO’S COMPANY
The two E27 units I received for review last month
each came housed horizontally in Avedis Audio’s R52
rack-mountable power supply unit. The R52 allows for
the horizontal mounting and powering of two ‘500-style’
modules in a well made, machine milled steel 1RU chassis.
It also provides phantom power for mic pres, power supply
status LEDs and a linking function that feeds the output
of module one into the input of module two. This is a very
useful feature and depending on what type of modules you
have installed, gives you options of combined and split signal
outputs.
Linking two E27s together, for instance, gives you six bands
of EQ with the output from module one feeding the input of
module two. I tested this setup as soon as I became aware of
its potential, which gave me a very powerful configuration
of six bands of nine selectable frequencies in one big super
EQ! The link switch disables the external input to module
two while maintaining the output from module one; so if
you had a mic pre in slot one and an EQ or compressor in
slot two, you could record the ‘chained signal’ and the mic
pre ‘direct’ signal to two different tracks simultaneously
– perfect for those of us that like to have ‘options’
or just
plain can’t decide! I tested the mic pre/EQ combination
using the Purple BIZ mic pre feeding into the E27 EQ and
found the joy of adding some ‘colour’ to my signal.
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SECOND OPINION – PHIL
PUNCH: Electric Ave Studios
Recently, Robin offered me the
opportunity to have a quick trial
of the new Avedis E27 EQ in my
studio. In the past I’ve successfully
used Avedis’s 1122 opamp as a
replacement in some of my API
550B EQs, so I was certainly
curious to check it out.
Avedis Kifedjian is also a good guy
to deal with and he knows a lot
about opamps, circuit topologies
etc. It was some three or four years
ago now that he first mentioned he
was working on his own EQ design
and here it is!
I first tried the E27 on an acoustic
guitar miked with an AEA R92
ribbon to do some fairly radical
EQing. I think these mics sound
great in this application; sweet
open-sounding tops with no
graininess. However, you often
need to roll out some bass to get a
balanced sound, depending a bit on
the guitar and player, of course. In
this case I felt I also needed to pull
a little out around 600–700Hz...
also boosted a couple of dB around
10k.
I was subsequently using all three
bands on the E27 with very good
results. The E27 sounds smooth
– no harshness as the top end
was lifted, and importantly, no
noise. Later in the session, I used
two E27s to add a little ‘air’ to
trumpets miked with a pair of RCA
77s (ribbons again). I used the
high band in shelving mode (+2dB
at 10k). Once again, a nice sound
that compensated for the natural
roll-off of these vintage ribbons.
A look inside these units reveals
high quality components and a
layout similar to my 550Bs.
I’m impressed by these EQs. API-
like in some ways, although they
have more frequencies, they’re
perhaps a little less coloured,
but there’s certainly plenty of
headroom. I hate the boost/cut
knobs – they feel horrible and when
you switch frequencies they often
change position... painful!
However, apart from ‘the knob
issue’ I think anybody who likes
or is lusting after API-style EQ
would certainly like the Avedis
E27. (A pair of these with switched
boost/cut would be nice for
mastering or two-mix EQ... here’s
hoping Avedis.)
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