Waves SSL G-Equalizer

SSL is pretty famous for their consoles. Because of that, Waves has modeled all kinds of things after the SSL series. With this plugin, they just modeled the famous SSL G series EQ292. They have more versatility than the E series, and they also have a different curve going on. This has the famous pre-boost dip an dprecut rise, as well as an extremely broad Q for all kinds of unique EQing. Some people found the EQ in the E series to be a bit limiting, so this was made to help combat any issues that those people were having.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Waves plugins are some of the best out there, bar none. For one, they're cross platform. For a Mac user, that means the world. I'm always trying to support companies that support Mac, and Waves has been pretty good about that since the whole Intel switch. I've used these in Logic without any problems. Although they're 32 bit plugins, Logic will add a bridge to allow you to use them in a 64 bit environment as to not limit you to the amount of ram you can utilize. On top of that, these things are rock solid. I've never had a crash with Waves plugins at all.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a great EQ, but I don't find myself using it as much as I do the overall E and G channels. However, the plugin sounds great. The few times I did use it, it sounded awesome. One really cool thing you can do is enable both the G channel and the G EQ. That'll give you some crazy extreme EQing that nobody could imagine back in the day. However, if you going to try these out, please don't pirate them. If people keep pirating Waves' stuff, they won't make any more plugins for us.

This is a plug-in version of an SSL EQ. It attempts to be a replica of a real SSL EQ and I must say it works extremely well. There weren't any compatibility issues with this one for me, I received it as part of a Waves bundle, and like all the other plug-ins in that bundle it worked fantastically well.
I haven't read the manual for this plug-in but it's simple and straightforward enough that it doesn't really require one at all. It's got a pretty basic setup, and installation is a breeze. The functions are really easy to use.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

This plug-in has a pretty great interface. It's simple to use and is preferable sometimes to using the entire SSL channel, as you only really need the EQ. It acts a little bit brighter than the normal SSL channel as it's the G series, which was known in its time as a brighter channel strip. It works perfectly for me.
The EQ is four-band (low, low mid, high mid, and high frequencies. There is a knob for gain, a knob for frequency, and a width knob for each band (although the low and high frequencies lack this last knob). This gives you control over how much to amplify each frequency, how wide or narrow the frequency that you are affecting is, as well as which frequencies to affect. It's versatile enough to work really well. Other features include a high pass filter, phase switch, and EQ bypass, which is useful if you just want to flip phase. There's also an analog switch, which gives the sound a more classic feel, and is sometimes useful.

OVERALL OPINION

I think this is a great sounding plug-in EQ. I like working it as it feels a lot more natural than some of the visual EQ plug-ins I have used, and has a tendency to narrow down the sweet spots more easily. Having used some SSL outboard gear, I know it doesn't work exactly the same way, as that's impossible, but I am surprised at how well it mimics the outboard gear it's based on. It's not that expensive as part of the bundle, and as their bundles are worth getting for almost all the plug-ins that come with them, I'd have to recommend it.

The Waves Ltd. SSL G-Equalizer is a plug-in that is part of the Waves SSL 4000 Collection. This is basically the same EQ that you'll find on the full SSL G-Channel plug-in. I first used this plug-in at a studio I used to work at, but have since picked up the full Waves Complete bundle that includes all of these SSL plug-ins. You install the whole bundle at once, and it shouldn't be much of a problem anyway. The EQ is just like that found on an SSL console, which is made up of four bands and a high pass filter. The two middle filter have parameters for gain, frequency, and band width, while the two outer bands have lack the band width setting. The plug-in also has an output leveling. If you know how to use a parametric EQ, you'll be fine with using this one even if you haven't used a real SSL EQ console. I haven't checked out a manual for this one, nor do I think most people will have a need.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I've used the Waves Ltd. SSL G-Equalizer on Pro Tools HD systems, but have most recently been using it on my home system which is Pro Tools LE based. I'm running it and Pro Tools on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I've got Pro Tools running with a Digi 002R audio interface or a Digidesign Micro Box if I'm not at home or at a studio. Obviously I can run more of these at once on a Pro Tools HD, but my home LE system is quite adequate to run it as well...

OVERALL OPINION

The Waves Ltd. SSL G-Equalizer is undoubtedly one of the cleanest sounding software EQ's that I've used to date. It's got a more than adequate amount of control here between all of the bands, but the super clean and pristine sound is really what makes this software EQ so valuable. In fact, the entire SSL 4000 Collection of plug-ins has this sort of precise and pristine sound to it, and if you want this one you're going to have to get the full bundle, so they're definitely all worth looking into. As far as getting precise with a software EQ, this is one of the best for the job, and it certainly doesn't hurt that it has the familiar SSL interface...