Pultec MEQ-500 500 Series Equalizer Jack Douglas Edition

Pultec MEQ-500 500 Series Equalizer in its Jack Douglas Edition is a midrange equalizer in 500-series format, built around an API 2520 opamp and a Triad output transformer. Before bringing the MEQ-5 into the 500-series family, Pulse Techniques discussed the project with Jack Douglas, the producer and engineer behind work with John Lennon, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and Cheap Trick, for whom the MEQ-5 had long been a staple on guitars, bass, vocals and keyboards.

Four new centres and sections that overlap

With Douglas's input the passive equalization section gained four additional frequencies: 1.2 and 1.5 kHz in the low midrange, and 1.2 and 8 kHz in the high midrange. The consequence runs deeper than the count of settings, because the two sections now overlap around 1.2 to 1.5 kHz. That lets you boost and cut in the same region with two independent curves of differing Q, which a standard MEQ-5 cannot do. Raising the upper limit to 8 kHz takes that section beyond the midrange proper, so the module can open up the top of a guitar or snare without a second unit in the chain. The Q of the high-midrange settings was tweaked as part of the same work.

The power region in a single rack slot

Three independent sections run at once: peak boost across 200 to 1500 Hz, a second peak boost across 1.2 to 8 kHz, and dip attenuation across 200 Hz to 7 kHz. The working range concentrates on roughly 300 Hz to 5 kHz, where most of the energy in program material sits and where hearing is most sensitive. In 500-series format that means several channels of midrange equalization can live in one rack, which when recording drums or several guitars at once is the difference between a workable setup and one that will not fit.

KEY FEATURES

• Midrange equalizer in 500-series format with an API 2520 opamp and Triad transformer
• Passive section extended in collaboration with Jack Douglas
• Additional 1.2 and 1.5 kHz centres in the low midrange
• Additional 1.2 and 8 kHz centres in the high midrange, reaching past the midrange itself
• Overlapping ranges between the two boost sections
• Revised Q on the high-midrange settings
• Three independent sections operating simultaneously
• Output level to +21 dBm and noise below -80 dBm

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Type: passive midrange equalizer in 500-series format, solid-state amplifier
• Gain stage: API 2520 with Triad output transformer
• Low-midrange peak boost: 200, 300, 500, 700, 1000, 1200, 1500 Hz, 0-10 dB
• High-midrange peak boost: 1.2, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 kHz, 0-8 dB
• Dip attenuation: 200, 300, 500, 700 Hz and 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 kHz, 0-10 dB
• Input impedance: approx. 600 Ohms
• Output impedance: approx. 50 Ohms
• Noise: below -80 dBm
• Distortion: 0.15% max at 10 dBm into 600 Ohms
• Amplifier response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz, +0 / -1 dB ref 1 kHz, transformers included
• Maximum output level: +21 dBm