Here comes the Rane again. Paul White takes a look at their two graphic equalisers.

Graphic equalisers are very useful bits of studio gear whether for matching your monitor system to the room acoustics or for creatively altering a sound. They have a distinct advantage over other forms of equaliser in that the slider positions show you just what the filters are doing, hence the name. As the bands are at fixed frequencies, it stands to reason that the more bands you have, the more precise will be your control over the sound. Though these two models both have 30 filter bands, one is mono whilst the other is in the form of a stereo 15-band equaliser. These units both come in attractively finished 1U rack cases and both employ the same basic type of circuitry though the mono ME30 version offers more resolution as the filters are spaced at ⅓ octave intervals; the ME15's uses ⅔ octave spacing.

Both models offer balanced inputs and outputs on stereo jacks and the filter range is switchable between ±6dB and ±12dB. Additionally there is an input level control to each filter bank and an overload LED to indicate that one or more of the filter sections is within 4dB of clipping. The power switches are mounted on the front panel and the handbook wittily describes their function as follows: Note, Power in this context refers to electrical power as opposed to political, financial (often related to the previous), psychic or supernatural.

One nice design point is that the sliders have centre detents and in this position, the slider is switched to ground to ensure a genuinely flat response. Additionally there is a bypass switch so that you can check quickly whether you have made things sound better or worse.

"I've never met a bad piece of Rane gear yet but then I've never met a cheap one either."

Conclusions

The circuitry employed in these equalisers is very conventional and is based around the gyrator circuit, a device used to simulate inductors without the use of coils. This system is employed with varying degrees of refinement by virtually all budget graphic equalisers and gives a good performance to cost ratio. Having balanced inputs and outputs is something that most of the cheaper models omit but the choice of stereo jacks rather than XLRs is a strange one. Jacks work well enough but are not as tough for on-the-road use.

One thing that you can't really expect from any graphic but the most sophisticated is to be able to cut all the bands by the same number of dBs and end up with a perfectly flat response; it just doesn't happen. It follows from this that you should start off with the sliders in their centre position and then cut or boost bands as appropriate. If you end up with all the bands boosted or all the bands cut, then you're doing something wrong.

These are very nicely built units but are slightly on the expensive side. Their performance, at least in subjective terms, is similar to that of most reputable equalisers having the same number of bands but the little refinements such as electronic balancing, overload LEDs and level control add to the overall flexibility as does the choice of cut/boost range.

I've never met a bad piece of Rane gear yet but then I've never met a cheap one either.

The Rane ME15 costs £339.25 and the ME30 £316.25. Both prices include VAT Further information can be obtained from: Music Labs, (Contact Details).