When I think of British EQ, I tend to think of Trident.... well Trident and John Oram who claims to be "the father of british eq". whether thats true or not I am not entirely sure I think there is a big debate about it. From what I know british eq tends to be a bit more rock and roll in a sense that its not necessarily a very clean/transparent eq. Adds a bit of coloration.... or so I have noticed on my Trident 4T Celebration strip (I would definitely recommend it).
I have a soundtracs Solo MIDI board- british. Thus it has a british EQ- its noted (if its noted at all) for having a nice EQ and being fairly well built old stuff. Better than Mackies but more expensive
They do sound good. Kinda fat compared to a digital EQ or the EQ on a Tascam M520 that I have. Its not like you turn them on and go "Damn! There's that sweet british EQ sound!" Its subtle, but its also definitely not transparent. I like it quite a bit, but I also use digital EQ's (Pro Tools, mixed through one board or the other- I have my choice) when I don't want to color the sound or I want to do surgical stuff.
My Soundtracs Topaz Project 8 has a brittish EQ as did my Allen & Heath Saber before it. I associate them both with tight punchy bottom end and airy highs on the A&H...not as much on the sounctracs
agreed on the marketing term. i have a ghost and have had other soundcrafts and studiomasters....the only common thing about british eq is where it's made...really confusing marketing term for the novice.
whaddaya mean, marketing term?? I think they're spot on, as the consoles are made in... Britain!
Seriously though, It's marketing lingo. "British EQ" colors the sound slightly and affects frequencies differently than US EQs, but it's just the way they chose to design it, there's no British EQ specification or anything.
i think it came from neve having a wide bell as opposed to...well...i dunno...but really it means nothing at all now except something to put in the ads.
well...that's not really true. it does have meaning for me. whenever a studio owner tells me their board has 'fat british eq' that's a good red flag that tells me i'll need to go thru their set up before booking as they probably have a bunch of stuff set up funky. if a client asks if my board has it i know the 'what do you record vocals with' and 'do you have a neumann' questions are just around the corner.