Each year, more examples of vintage-inspired EQs, compressors, preamps, and mics are made available. Big-name brands, as well as boutique manufacturers, seem to think we all have an endless appetite for clones of classic gear. Consequently, contemporary designs of bread-and-butter products are rarely introduced. Meanwhile, Wolff Audio is bucking this trend by releasing new products that speak to historical conventions and are classic in tone and feel but are also modern in purpose and functionality – a sentiment that several respected engineers have recently shared. Therefore, when Paul Wolff showed me his new proportional Q parametric equalizer, I was intrigued. Paul may be best known as the former owner of API and Tonelux, and inventor of the 500 Series API Lunchbox, the 550b EQ, and the 2500 compressor [Tape Op #52], among other studio gear staples. Like many engineers, I rely on several products of Paul’s design whenever I’m recording or mixing, and over the years, I’ve even had a few opportunities to sit in his lab and peer over his shoulder. I’m confident there are very few members of our industry who are as accomplished and as brilliant as he is.
The Wolff Audio FREQ equalizer has four bands, each with sweepable frequency; ±15 dB of boost/cut; and two bandwidth options. Nothing unique is evident upon first examination of its buttons and knobs, and it would be easy to pigeonhole this as simply another tool for manipulating the balance of frequencies. But, in reality, that’s where the comparison ends. What I immediately heard when I inserted the FREQ on individual tracks was a subtle but very musical polish to the sound, thanks to a transformer-balanced output stage that’s tuned for overall clarity while imparting a touch of body to the lows, primarily in the form of third and second-order harmonics below 40 Hz, and third and fifth-order harmonics in the lows and low mids. I instantly felt inspired as I operated the controls and heard results that, as stated above, were musical.
Over the next month, I tried my pair of FREQs on almost everything I recorded – instruments, vocals, and sampled tracks. Loving the results, I’ve grown my collection to eight FREQs and plan to add more. I’m not going to exaggerate and say that everything sounds better through the FREQ, because you can indeed make sources sound bad. But what I truly appreciate about working with an analog device like this is that you quickly learn how to make a particular track sound better or worse by freely turning the knobs without the annoyance of adjusting virtual controls with a mouse.
Moreover, several smart design decisions facilitate sonic outcomes that make this EQ so satisfying to use. All four bands offer boost/cut with a potentiometer that is tapered from the center out, such that small amounts within ±6 dB can be precisely tweaked, while big swings beyond that are available at the extremes of rotation. Because each band has proportional Q, the EQ curve becomes “skinnier/sharper” as you increase the amount of boost or cut. At ±3 dB, I observed a Q of 1, while at ±6 dB, Q increased to 1.6, eventually topping out at a narrow Q of 3.6 at ±15 dB (according to my own measurements). The middle LM (low mid) and HM (high mid) bands have a 1/3 octave switch that locks the Q at 3.6 throughout their ranges.