Korg PEQ-1 Paramatric EQ

This is a parametric equalizer for guitars. It is in pedal form, which is an interesting way to replicate the studio rack parametric EQs. This pedal is not rackable, however. It is unable to be controlled or edited via MIDI or computers. It is an analog pedal. It has three knobs, Gain, Frequency, and Bandwidth. The frequency knob moves the range of frequencies enhanced across the frequency spectrum, the bandwidth knob reflects the amount of frequencies affected, and the gain knob enhances the volume of the selected frequencies.

UTILIZATION

Using this pedal is not very difficult, however each specific combination of guitar, amp, room, and player requires specific adjustment. Unlike the vast majority of pedals, the end result of this can vary pretty drastically. It is capable of proving a louder high end than a warm hollow body is capable of giving, or beefing up an overly bright stratocaster, and almost anything in between. Finding the settings to accomplish what you are looking for is a matter of understanding what each frequency range sounds like and knowing what sound you are looking for, and even after that, it requires a bit of effort. For this reason, the utilization is scored rather low.

SOUND QUALITY

I think that this thing does it's job pretty well. It performs about the same in a number of different environments, I didn't notice it reacting much differently between guitars and amps. I think that one of the best uses this thing has is noise reduction, however, it's not exactly the most effective noise reducer. The real selling point of this device is the ability to correct certain flaws or weaknesses with amp/guitar combinations. For instance, I have a Stratocaster that is insanely bright. When the brightness is highlighted, there is almost no low end. I tried to compensate for this using this box, and sure enough, I got a ton of low end with it. It wasn't exactly the most ideal sound, but it did go a long way towards beefing up my sound. I've heard people use this for the opposite problem, too. Some guitars are too dark and need a bit more high end. I've noticed that I wasn't as happy with the mid-boost as I was with the low and high end boosts, but I don't know if that was particular to the amp and guitar I was using or not.

OVERALL OPINION

This pedal is good at putting a band-aid on certain flaws that can arise with instruments. Anybody who thinks that they have a great tone that is just missing a little bit of push in one frequency spectrum would do well to check this out. It's not exactly the most expensively listed pedal, but it is no longer being manufactured, so it's probably quite rare. It might be worth picking up if you see one, even if you don't like it you could probably sell it again for more money!