Description
Audioarts is part of Wheatsone Engineering, an American company specialising in equipment for broadcast. Back in the 1970s it produced hand-built equalisers and compressors for recording studios and music venues. AudioArts products are pretty rare, even in the USA. This is the only one I’ve seen in the UK
The Model 1500 is a cut-only equaliser with five bands. Each band has sweepable frequency, a frequency x10 switch and a cut control. There’s lots of overlap between bands so it’s possible to notch out problem frequencies or make a number of subtler cuts. If you’re a fan of subtractive equalisation, this is for you!
The Model 1500 is beautifully built with a single large PCB, power transformer outside the chassis (see photos) and high-quality knobs & switches. Everything is original. It predates surface-mount technology by quite a few years and uses through-hole components so will be repairable – and modifiable – for years to come
“Audio Arts made some nice boxes. Designed more for live…but the EQ can really sound great in a recording environment”
