REVIEW: Undertone Audio MPEQ-1
Huge thanks to my new friends at Undertone Audio for sending me one of their MPEQ-1 channel strips to demo! Eric Valentine and Larry Jasper have developed a beautiful preamp paired with an insanely powerful and flexible EQ. This unit is the definition of tonal flexibility.
Overview
As soon as I unboxed the MPEQ-1 I threw it in my rack, powered it up and plugged my P-Bass straight into the front XLR/1/4 input and started gaining up the pre. The first thing that I noticed was how heavily stepped the input knob was. It felt like turning a vintage Neve unit. So right off the bat, I'm super impressed with the build quality. Next, I reached to pull the trim pot back so I could get a more saturated sound from the input stage! Having the trim pot on this unit really lets you choose how clean or aggressive you want your source to be.
Not only does the trim pot allow you to control your clean or saturated sound, the impedance and transformerless switch really lets you dial in the exact sound you want by matching the impedance to the mic OR completely bypass the transformer for a cleaner sound. Let's talk about bypassability. Nearly every feature of the MPEQ-1 is bypassable. Each of the four bands can be individually bypassed and the entire EQ section, the HP and LP, and the trim pot can all be bypassed. Having this capability really lets you A/B and see the difference each EQ band is making. Every time I use this pre I'm realizing more and more how flexible this unit really is. If you need in-depth info and details on the MPEQ-1's controls be sure to check out their online manual for the unit! Let's talk about this unit in use!
Drum Room Mic
I brought the MPEQ-1 to a session I had at Chase Park Transduction to test it out on drums! We ended up using it on a mono room mic. Our mic was the AKG D19 (known as The Beatles drum overhead mic) that we had placed about 10 feet out from the kit. I thought the MPEQ-1 would be great to pair with that mic for a few reasons. First, that mic is a fairly neutral, not super interesting. It's no Coles 4038. So it would be a challenge to see if I could get this mic sounding big. And second, Eric Valentine did a one drum mic video (definitely watch that video) where he showed the strength of the EQ to get one mic to sound like a more full kit sound. So again, a challenge to see if I could do the same. Long story short, that pre can do exactly what Eric says it can do. I was able to add some really nice, Coles-like body and low end with a combination of the HP and Q and the LF band. And I was able to open up the top end with the LP and add a little high mids for clarity. The MPEQ-1 made that 60's dynamic mic sound full range and added depth and weight to my drum room sound! My only regret is that I didn't have 13 other MPEQ-1's to put on every other drum channel we recorded that day!
Bass
Up until the day the MPEQ-1 arrived at my doorstep I had a favorite preamp for bass guitar. It was a boutique tube unit. It sounded great. Plenty of vibe, nice coloration and tube saturation etc. But as soon as I plugged my bass into the MPEQ-1, set the gain, and made a few subtle EQ moves, that all changed. I remember looking around after tweaking the EQ slightly to see if somehow I had a sub-octave pedal on the chain. I didn't. The slight HP filter turned to 60 hz with the Q turned three-quarters of the way up (which boosts the frequency you are HP up to) and the additional low-end bump I had added made my bass feel huge. Tons of low end, but because the HP was engaged it wasn't unruly low end. It was all very usable. Between the EQ and the gain settings, I was capturing gorgeous harmonic content that made my bass feel 3D and larger than life.
Electric Guitar
The day I got the MPEQ-1 I had a quick afternoon overdub session with the guys in the band, MYFEVER, who came in to throw down a guitar solo on their upcoming single. So we paired my vintage 421 HN with the MPEQ-1, set up the other mics and pres and hit record. The pre sounded great on the amp. We had the pad engaged and the gain turned up a good bit to get the pre sounding a little more saturated which made the solo have a thicker sound. When it comes time to mix, that song it'll carry more weight and space in the mix!
Vocals
As I was bouncing out some stems at my studio I decided to run a lead vocal through the MPEQ-1's EQ section to see exactly what I could do. What the MPEQ-1 did on this lead vocal was nothing short of impressive. Running the vocal through the EQ brought the performance to life and made it really sound like a record. And because the HP and LP are so useable, I actually found myself with a band of EQ that wasn't doing anything; ALMOST as if there's one too many bands on this thing ;)
After printing the EQ to the vocal track, I decided to get a little crazy and try using the EQ in notch mode to "de-ess" the vocal. I get that you wouldn't do this normally but I wanted to stretch this unit and see IF it could do it. And it definitely did! I was able to tightly and pretty effectively notch out the harsh "ess" frequencies with out the vocal sounding covered or lacking in those upper mids. While that technique probably wouldn't make it on the final record, it proved to me just how useable and flexible this EQ really is.
Final Thoughts
I've had the pre amp for a month and I can easily say that its the most flexible channel strip that I've every used or come across. This pre and EQ combo has a place in the world's biggest studios and in the bedroom studio. If I was back 7 years ago without hardware pre amps, this would be the one I buy. Whatever source you're recording, this channel strip will not just work but bend over backwards for you. Unmatched tonal flexibility, all packed in 1RU. There's nothing else like it on the market.