Malcolm Toft Equate

Ditched your console but still have a thirst for analogue EQ? Maybe the Equate can quench it...

Well known for the highly respected Trident consoles of the ’70s and ’80s, Malcolm Toft is still designing gear, most recently releasing a range of niche products under his own name. I really enjoyed his 500‑series Punishr analogue distortion (which I reviewed in SOS June 2023) so was keen to check out his latest creation, which sees him return to territory for which he is perhaps best known: equalisation.

Design & Performance

The Equate is a convenient solution for engineers who still like to use several channels of analogue EQ but don’t have or want a full console. A 3U rackmount device, it resembles a loaded 500‑series rack but this is not a modular system. There are eight identical channels of EQ, along with an internal power supply and, conveniently, both TRS jack and DB25 D‑Sub input and output connections.

The balanced inputs and outputs are presented on both TRS jack and DB25 D‑Subs for convenience.

Unsurprisingly, the Equate leans on the heritage of the Toft’s Trident 80B EQ design, each channel featuring two sweepable ‘peaking’ midrange bands as well as high‑ and low‑frequency shelves. Unlike the 80B console EQ, the Equate sports sweepable high‑ and low‑pass filters, to give us six bands in total.

I received the Equate during a busy period of tracking and mixing and, after a little rummaging around in my cable boxes, patched it in to sit as inserts on the first eight channels of my Audient ASP8024 console. Given Malcolm’s background in large‑format mixers, it wasn’t a surprise to find that it seemed completely at home in that setting!

In busy recording sessions, I’m largely looking for an easy‑to‑use EQ that can give me a helping hand in shaping sources on the way in, so that they’ll need less work come mixing time. The two midrange ‘peaking’ style bands on the Equate EQ are superb for this, and the low‑mid band was probably the control I found myself using the most, especially to remove ugly low‑midrange build‑up or resonances. With its range extending from 100Hz up to 1.5kHz it was also handy for boosting audibility from 800Hz upwards on bass guitars or synths. The upper mid band also covers lots of ground (1‑15 kHz) and, generally, I was impressed with how smooth and forgiving it sounded when boosting for presence and clarity. There’s no Q control with this style of EQ, but the bandwidth sharpens/relaxes according to the amount of cut or boost applied, so it’s pretty forgiving.

The low and high shelves of my console are often the most used section for gentle shaping while recording, and the equivalent options on the Equate performed the same role with aplomb. Centred at 80Hz, the low band can be used to dial in plenty of weight on bass guitars and kick drums, and it soon became a favourite technique to add a generous amount of heft with the low shelf whilst using the high‑pass filter to keep things contained. Centred around 8kHz, the high‑shelf was similarly useful: great for easing off the top end of drum room mics or opening up the highs of an acoustic guitar or piano recording.

It was great to have a variable low‑pass filter...

I’ve touched on how I liked to use the high‑pass filter section, but it was great to have a variable low‑pass filter here too. It allows you to ‘bracket’ a sound to tuck it into the mix, but rolling off the high end can also make things sound warmer (I think this is one of the things about tape emulation products that makes them so appealing!), or push them ‘back’ in the mix.

Verdict

There are plenty of engineers who still like to record with multiple analogue EQs but who don’t necessarily need or have space for a console, and for anyone running such a ‘hybrid’ setup, the Equate could be a great option, perhaps sitting below a rack of 500‑series preamps or one of the many multi‑channel preamps now available. It might even prompt some who still mix on an analogue console to weigh up the pros and cons of keeping their desk. The bottom line is that the Equate is a great‑sounding, all‑round tracking EQ, with more than enough flexibility and creative options for most situations — and it’s better value for money than eight channels of 500‑series EQ too.