Poor mans Mesa 5Band EQ

[stratjacket]

Mesa 5 band eq's are crazy expensive, cheapest on Reverb right now if $675. I have a mesa 5 Band and love it post the amp. But I use a RedSeven Amp Central reactive load and it has stereo outputs which sound amazing going stereo into the AxeFx3 for effects. I have been using the Ibanez Pentatone EQ in front to push the mids and using the AxeFx Mesa 5Band inside the AxeFx. That sounds great, but really wanted to use the real 5Band EQ, especially since I have one.

I have the Left output of the RedSeven going through the Ibanez Pentatone EQ and the Right side going out through the Mesa EQ. It sounds fucking fantastic!!

Here is a picture of how I lined up the settings to sound very very close. It may not be 100% exact, but panning left and right it's hard to tell which is the Mesa and which is the Ibanez.
The noon settings of each band on the Ibanez is almost the same as the Mesa, so I have them just slightly turned. The Q settings on the Ibanez is what I had to play with the most and then the levels to get left and right speakers the same volume.

Anyway, for anyone looking for that Mesa EQ sound, I think the Ibanez Pentatone EQ can get you there for a fraction of the price.

 

[Techdeth]

How much for the 5 band ? Lol

 

[japetus]

Mesa 5 band eq's are crazy expensive, cheapest on Reverb right now if $675. I have a mesa 5 Band and love it post the amp. But I use a RedSeven Amp Central reactive load and it has stereo outputs which sound amazing going stereo into the AxeFx3 for effects. I have been using the Ibanez Pentatone EQ in front to push the mids and using the AxeFx Mesa 5Band inside the AxeFx. That sounds great, but really wanted to use the real 5Band EQ, especially since I have one.

I have the Left output of the RedSeven going through the Ibanez Pentatone EQ and the Right side going out through the Mesa EQ. It sounds fucking fantastic!!

Here is a picture of how I lined up the settings to sound very very close. It may not be 100% exact, but panning left and right it's hard to tell which is the Mesa and which is the Ibanez.
The noon settings of each band on the Ibanez is almost the same as the Mesa, so I have them just slightly turned. The Q settings on the Ibanez is what I had to play with the most and then the levels to get left and right speakers the same volume.

Anyway, for anyone looking for that Mesa EQ sound, I think the Ibanez Pentatone EQ can get you there for a fraction of the price.

View attachment 424647

Great review and good heads up

 

[RaceU4her]

did they stop making the eq's?? i do love mine, i dont know about $675 though, i can pretty much nail it with my rack parametric. that ibanez eq looks great, especially for the price

 

[stratjacket]

did they stop making the eq's?? i do love mine, i dont know about $675 though, i can pretty much nail it with my rack parametric. that ibanez eq looks great, especially for the price

Yep, they don't make the Mesa any longer. They make the 5Band with OD built in, but not the straight 5Band. Not sure why, I'd love to have a pair.

$675 is actually the cheapest.

 

[RaceU4her]

Yep, they don't make the Mesa any longer. They make the 5Band with OD built in, but not the straight 5Band. Not sure why, I'd love to have a pair.

$675 is actually the cheapest.

not sure what Mesa was thinking with that, a couple people here have been looking unsuccessfully for one recently, and obviously with those prices people want them. @griff10672 should make them

 

[The~Kid]

Just use an MXR 6 band and an OD808/TS9 or SD1.... Used both would run less than 125$-150$ and new less than 200$ with a discount.


More or less the same shit and probably better too

 

[BeZo]

not sure what Mesa was thinking with that, a couple people here have been looking unsuccessfully for one recently, and obviously with those prices people want them. @griff10672 should make them

I agree.

 

[BenoA]

I had one of those Mesa EQ collecting dust and now i know why i sold it in less than an hour on market place

i wasn't asking enough for it

 

[RaceU4her]

Just use an MXR 6 band and an OD808/TS9 or SD1.... Used both would run less than 125$-150$ and new less than 200$ with a discount.


More or less the same shit and probably better too

not even close to the same sounding, completely different frequencies from the MXR or GE7, the parametric is the way to go to get close

 

[RaceU4her]

I had one of those Mesa EQ collecting dust and now i know why i sold it in less than an hour on market place

i wasn't asking enough for it

i have a Myasnikov iic+ preamp i dont really use all that much and was thinking maybe i should package it with the EQ pedal, i was thinking $300 like i think i paid new for it, glad i saw this thread lol

 

[griff10672]

not sure what Mesa was thinking with that, a couple people here have been looking unsuccessfully for one recently, and obviously with those prices people want them. @griff10672 should make them

unfortunately there's a reason why nobody clones them ..... including myself ..... and is probably the same reason Mesa just doesn't keep running them ...

cause there's an obvious demand for them .....

 

[RaceU4her]

unfortunately there's a reason why nobody clones them ..... including myself ..... and is probably the same reason Mesa just doesn't keep running them ...

cause there's an obvious demand for them .....

that sucks, i thought eq's were pretty simple?

 

[JimAnsell2]

i think the mark series 5 band is NOT the secret sauce for anything. for one thing, i've read that the ACTUAL frequencies that it manipulates aren't exactly what is labeled. i think 6600hz is more like 4.5k, etc. I also have read that mesas mark 5 band is basically the same circuit as an old radio shack kit. Like its not one of Randalls accidental moments of brilliance.
To me, a parametric eq is more "the secret sauce" for those amps than their own 5 band. i run my parametric 100% of the time, and only use my 5 band to boost now. i'm the only metal guy on the planet that boosts his 750hz, because i scoop out 1.2k on the parametric and it sounds way better than the 750 scooped at all. I just move the "Scoop" up to the 1.2k range where it sounds more ear pleasing (i.e. listening to Hetfields tone my entire life with that frequency area scooped. to pay an inflated price for that pedal 5 band is Mesa/Boogie Cult shit. I understand though, as i've been a cult member for 20+ years now


edit: from a TGP post from 10 years ago...i guess its not THAT far off....

80Hz -> R=470 / L=1H / C=3.3uF ---> Real F=87.61Hz / Q=1.171
240Hz -> R=470 / L=0.39H / C=0.47uF ---> Real F=371.7Hz / Q=1.938
750Hz -> R=470 / L=0.22H / C=0.22uF ---> Real F=723.4Hz / Q=2.128
2200Hz -> R=1K / L=0.068H / C=0.15uF ---> Real F=1576Hz / Q=0.6733
6600Hz -> R=1K / L=0.033H / C=0.033uF ---> Real F=4823Hz / Q=1.000

The resistors, inductors and capacitor values are from the Mesa Boogie Mark IV/V specs...

 

[griff10672]

that sucks, i thought eq's were pretty simple?

just the physical layout alone would take some doing ..... for me anyway ... I do have the ability to do sliders .... but it would cost some money to get right ...

especially since I've never done sliders ....

the other problem is finding a schematic for the Mesa Pedal ... I've looked before with no results what so ever

plus I've never used one .... so I don't know how exact it is to the ones in my Mark series Heads ...

If I could get my hands on one ..... to look inside ...