Barber Electronics forum.

I'm toying with the idea of adding an EQ-type pedal in front of my Dr. Z Carmen Ghia (volume & tone knobs—that's it) in order to tailor the tone a little bit. The Barb EQ looks like an attractive option, but they seem to be discontinued and don't come up often on eBay. My other option would be an aNaLoG.MaN-modded GE-7, which seems like a great alterntative in terms of quality & price.

My question is this—with proper tweaking, would the GE-7 be able to do (roughly) what the Barb EQ can do, minus the 3-way switching? Am I comparing apples to apples here, if all I want to do is add some tone-shaping ability to my amp? [Not interested in the budget and/or uber-boutique options, mainly just comparing the Barb EQ with the GE-7 right now.]

This is a generalized statement as I don't own a Barb EQ and haven't used a BOSS EQ in more than a decade...

The practical difference between a graphic EQ and more traditional "tone" controls is that the former is used correctively while the latter is used creatively.

The filters on a graphic EQ are narrower while tone EQ is wider. This means graphic EQ can be more precise with what frequencies you want to affect but, by nature, require many more filters in sequence to cover a good frequency range. The more filters added the greater the chance of distortion, phase drifitng, and general mucking with signal. Better graphic EQ designs minimize this but even the best designs can't avoid it completely.

A three or four filter EQ unit like the Barb EQ is a "purer" design than a seven filter EQ like the BOSS.

I try to avoid using graphic EQs, even for dealing with feedback in a live situation I prefer using parametric units and bypassing them when not in use

JP.