I'm by no means a pro, but I was mostly interested in this EQ because it's stereo and gives me faith that my stereo mix will be clean, but also because it has a gain knob so I can pump my compressor a bit more.

From my testing on my DAW and stereo visualizer, the unit I received passes clean and true stereo. That's a beautiful thing in itself.

The EQ works just fine but its just NO FUN to use. I've messed around with some basic EQs and there's really nothing special about the UVEQ. It's clean, it does what it's supposed to, but it won't make you smile. It won't make you experiment. This is simply a tool to clean things up. I barely boost frequencies with this thing. It has no voice. If only Trident made a true stereo EQ...I would buy that in a heartbeat. My A&H Mix Wizard has more fun EQs, with more personality, than this UVEQ.

This will do for me for now (especially at the price) but I know I'll be getting rid of this one day to upgrade. In the meantime, I really do appreciate it's useful features and it'll do me just fine :)

I bought the GBus 500 series and then saw this and watched some videos. I like the idea of having an eq to impart some magic at the end of my stereo bus and it does just that. Together with the GBuss it's night and day when they are bypassed.

Compared to the price this was when it originally came out this is worth it

Building my 10 slot chassis has been one of the more expensive projects in the studio, so when I saw a STEREO SSL EQ going for around six hundred bucks, I couldn't believe it. After using it extensively on a variety of material I can confidently say this module provides that definitive SSL sound.

In my experience, this module excels at both making precise cuts and pleasant wide boosts. Other reviews lead me to believe that this unit doesn't have a lot of "mojo" when boosting, but I found that to be false. Boosting a drum bus at 400hz with a wide Q sounds absolutely delicious, getting a nice and tight vocal group is ridiculously simple.

The LF and HF bands are exact copies of what is present on my Fusion processor, extremely powerful and easy to use. However, the two MF bands add a whole new layer of control when doing mix bus work. The boosts and cuts sound very full and natural and can easily add a lot of depth to an otherwise sterile mix

Overall, this EQ is very transparent with what it does. You will have a hard time making the unit sound bad for any application. The controls are exactly what you would expect from SSL, and the Focus mode is a very welcomed addition compared to some of the original E series EQ's. The only real downside to this unit is not being able to use it in mono, but that is far from a deal breaker. If you need THE SSL EQ for mix work, treat yourself and get the UV.

My new go to 2-bus eq!!
Very powerful!!

Pros:
- Unbelievable Price For What You Get
- Stereo EQ That Can Be Used On Tracks, Mix Bus, Or An Insert
- Multiple Frequency Bands To Tweak The Sound
- Focus Mode Is Nice To Help Find A Specific Frequency
- Trim Knob Is Nice To reduce or drive harder into a compressor after this

Cons:
- Only Low Cut & High Shelf Are Stepped, however recall is not bad given dotted markers
- Sounds Best When Cutting Frequencies, Unlike A Very High End EQ that sounds good boosting or cutting like a pultec or Maag EQ

Conclusion: I was very skeptical going into this, but decided to buy because of the price and I wanted a stereo eq for my mix bus to address specific mid frequencies and gently cutting out a bit of mud. I already have a SSL bus +, Gainlabs Empress, & Maag Mastering EQ. I figured I could use this on the SSL Bus + side chain insert if it didn't sound good, but I was pleasantly surprised. The person who said this is best for touching things up before all your other gear is correct. It doesn't have transformers or tubes, so it's not going to provide a lot of mojo, just super clean. It does not affect the stereo image. Helps clean up a mix slightly before it goes into the other analog gear. There are people online who rant about SSL products being made in China, but way I look at it is they are more affordable this way and I've never been disappointed in SSL. I appreciate them making things affordable for the average audio enthusiast or professional. My feeling is if anyone doesn't like this EQ it is because they wanted it to do extreme things like boosting a lot or adding mojo or they don't have great converters or monitors to hear it as all analog gear is highly dependent on that. Can't beat this for the price.

I'm using this tool with my SSL bus compressor and it's simply amazing, it's worth investing in this incredible equalizer

The EQ has it's place in my mix and mastering chain. Not a swiss army knife that would satisfy all your eq needs. You will need to try it on different source to get familiar with it's character. When you do figure it out, then it becomes a very useful and capable tool. It works well for EDM, Afro-beats and HHop masters and mixes... I would use a diff eq for acoustic guitars... I'm taking out 1 star because there is no true audio bypass, i.e even when you have the EQ in bypass mode, it still impact a sound to your source. This may be ok in some cases but when you do want a clean and complete bypass such as in mastering, you do not have that and therefore stuck with the sound, all be it subtle.

This eq is an incredible eq! Simply amazing! Please just buy it! I have a signal chain that includes this eq early. I use it just to tighten things up, the pultecs do the rest. This eq will definitely clean up your mix so that it's ready for the rest of your mojo! Go SSL!

I have WesAudio EQs, Maag EQs, the Neve 511s, and the JLM PEQ500s. These "SSL" EQs are trash. I'd rather have DBX 500 series EQs. They sound thin, brittle, harsh, and pointy in a bad way. Worse than half of my plugins. Honestly this was a joke of a product imo - no transformers, no real color, just a weird harsh, bad EQ.

At the sale price, this eq is very solid. It sounds good. It's not the best eq in the 500 series format. It's not even in the top ten. It's just a solid eq that works well for certain applications.

The focus mode can really take out a messy frequency. The SSL feel is there while being more modernized and tight, and almost digital and snappy. It's not super musical and fat like the UK-made SSL611EQs, but I think this would work better on an EDM or dance track with its snappiness and clarity. While it is at times digital sounding, it still has that hardware thing to it that plugins can't do. Its bands are fixed, so you can't get super surgical and dial out the exact problem frequency. This stinks if you plan on wanting this for subtractive and surgical purposes as an all-in-one. It does remove the problem frequencies nicely though.

As a whole, it can get the job done as a solid hardware eq in the 500 series format at a great price. Having hardware really changes things and makes you really feel for things in a mix in my opinion and you can absolutely do that with this. I did buy this unit for the absolutely cheap 1/3rd of the original cost sale price and while it is a bargain. I didn't keep it in my rack. It doesn't hold up to other units of the same caliber. It doesn't compare to Wes Audios Hyperion, it doesn't compare to Elysia Xfilter, it doesn't compare to the TK Audio TK-likzer, and in the higher range of things, a pair of API 550s or a pair of RND 551s. At a lower cost when it comes to budget-friendly gear. It didn't even compare to me to the new budget API Select (JDK Audio) EQs, and at times I even preferred a DBX 530 over it. It just depended on the application. Even in some cases mastering. Note: I would never ever master personally with a DBX530 but if it's all you had, it could hold its own to the SSL UVEQ.

I don't mean to bash SSL, but I do now at every chance I get because of their changes as a company. At the end of the day, as much as I want to scream at them to go back to 2010 and make hardware only and stay making some of the best eq's and dynamics ever. Their plugins are actually pretty solid. I've compared the SSL UVEQ to the plugin, and it's much fatter and wider than the plugin, but they're extremely similar to the point where if I was new to the audio game and didn't have trained ears yet, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You can't really tell the difference after a mixdown and master. Though there is absolutely a difference. Dark versus light. Smooth versus tight. It's not so clear on some sources. I still always opt for hardware, because I mix entirely outside the box.

This is my review, and it's unbiased and as real as it gets. Regardless if I'm made at SSL for moving to china and veering away from greatness. The old UK-made SSL611EQ is literally one of my favorite EQs ever made. It's a top eq for me. I think my only flaw with it, is how cheap it feels and how crappy the knobs are, which is still a thing. The sound was amazing, and it could fix almost anything. This tries to do its own thing, while sort of staying true to the 611EQ, but mostly misses the mark due to it being mainly marketed as a mastering eq with fixed bands and shelving.

TLDR: It's a Chinese-made eq, that sounds pretty solid for most things with exceptions. 3.5 stars at the sale price. 2 stars at the normal list price.

I didn't actually buy this at Sweetwater, but I'm a regular customer and figured I'd share my experience.

This Eq wasn't even on my radar, but the sale was so insane I figured I'd give it a shot and I am extremely impressed by it- I'm definitely keeping it.

I had a pretty difficult mix that just wasn't recorded very well and figured I might as well try out the new Eq and this EQ just basically fixed everything!
It sucked out all the horrible resonance frequencies around 500hz without making the mix sound too thin, which was what all my other eqs were doing. I just put it in focus mode, found the awful frequencies and ZAP! All better. Then I did the same with the harsh frequencies around 3K, brought out a little air with 20K and a little extra low end with 50hz shelf and all the sudden I had an amazing sounding mix on my hands.
Truly impressed and I've never been big on SSL, I'm more of a Neve guy, but now I might try out some more of their stuff!

The highs are very smooth and airy on this thing by the way, I saw someone on another forum saying that it's harsh and there is absolutely nothing harsh about this unit. Everything sounds really nice and smooth.

I would highly recommend at any price, but with this sale right now you should jump at this deal!

I absolutely love this EQ. It's total SSL sound in a stereo EQ. The best part is the ability to truly surgically remove things with the focus mode. Great product, especially for the price.

I have several EQ's in my rack (SSL, API, Pultec, Elysia) but after watching a few videos and exploring the Fusion processor a bit I landed on this EQ. Right now, I use it primarily on my vocal bus for mix work and I've been extremely impressed on the tonal options, the silkiness of the high's (the rest is great too!), the utility of it's trim knob, and of course the "glue" that SSL EQ's are known for. Also, the lack of phase shift preserves my stereo image and FX depth - we all know how important that is, especially on vocals.

I'm sure I've only scratched the surface on how useful this unit can be, but that being said, I'm extremely impressed by this EQ and SSL has knocked this new design out of the park! It's going to be real hard to find a stereo EQ with the same quality and feature set for the price. Great job SSL!

best 500 series EQ