Drawmer MQ-1 & MQ-2

These modules pair a vintage‑style EQ with a clever saturation feature — and the stereo MQ‑2 also brings controllable compression to the table.

Forty‑three years since the late Ivor Drawmer (1943‑2023) founded his eponymous company and introduced the first frequency‑conscious noise gate, the DS201, Drawmer have released what I believe to be the world’s first Motown‑inspired 500‑series analogue EQs. One is a single‑slot, mono, seven‑band EQ called the MQ‑1, and its sibling, the MQ‑2, is a larger double‑width stereo device that pairs the same EQ circuit with a compressor. The EQ sections are based on the frequency bands and bell‑shaped EQ curves of a passive EQ that was developed by Mike McLean of Motown’s Engineering Department in the 1960s: a proportional‑Q, seven‑band design. But neither module is a direct clone, and both have a neat trick up their sleeve that could well extend their usefulness today.

Design & Construction

Largely, these modules adhere to Drawmer’s long‑established black, yellow and white livery, although I noticed that the classic black knobs first seen on the DS201, which had yellow pointers, have been replaced with plain black knobs in yellow circles. To help you navigate the photos, both units’ seven cut/boost frequency knobs have light‑grey inserts with black position indicators, while the other level controls (gain only on the MQ‑1, and gain and compression level on the MQ‑2) have black inserts with white indicators. Black buttons with associated LED indicators control the hard bypass on both units and the signal path on the MQ‑2 (EQ pre/post the compressor).

Lastly, red buttons with LEDs switch in Drawmer’s unique Crush circuit, a harmonic saturation feature that’s been borrowed from their own 1971 four‑band parametric EQ. It’s the same circuit on both modules, but the MQ‑1 has an additional Harmonics LED that gets progressively brighter as the amount of saturation in the output signal increases. Other than that last LED, the MQ‑1 offers no indication of the signal level, whereas the wider MQ‑2 lacks the Harmonics LED but is equipped with three eight‑LED bar meters. The first displays up to 20dB of gain reduction, whilst the other pair indicates the level of the stereo output’s left and right channels.

Like all Drawmer hardware, the all‑analogue MQ‑1 and MQ‑2 are designed and hand‑assembled in Yorkshire, in the UK. All of the components are full‑size, through‑hole types, and the standard of workmanship is of the highest order. The ingenious mechanical design of both units creates a very stable structure, too.

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