U-He - Uhbik-Q

Uhbik‑Q is a three‑band equaliser with low‑ and high‑cut filters as well as an overall gain control. The first of the three bands is a low shelving EQ, with a choice of six corner frequencies and a boost/cut range of ±24dB. The remaining two bands can be switched between 'low shelf', 'wide bell', 'flex bell', 'narrow bell' and 'hi shelf' modes. 'Flex bell' is a variable‑Q system where the bandwidth of the cut or boost narrows progressively as the cut or boost is increased. The effect of this is to somewhat limit apparent overall volume changes when using extreme gain settings.

So far what we have is a pretty standard, albeit very flexible EQ, but the gain control offers something a little different. It can function as an overall output level control, but there are two other options: wide mids and centre bell. With either of these two options enabled the gain control becomes, in effect, an extra tone control, with the wide mids offering a very wide mid‑range cut/boost and the centre bell offering something similar to the flex bell settings on the other bands. I am not sure why this option wasn't offered as a separate band in its own right, but it is a valuable inclusion nonetheless.

Everybody has different tastes in EQ, but I think that this EQ would make a valuable addition to any collection. It can offer some very serious shelving cuts useful for isolating certain parts of sounds, but it also lets you make gentler, broad‑spectrum adjustments. For me, one of the nicest applications was when I put the EQ across the master bus and used the low‑frequency control, set at 90Hz, to boost the bottom end of a mix that I was working on. The result was warm and rounded without sounding overdone and digital. Trying a similar thing with a boost on the top end seemed a little more obvious and less controlled, but still usable with careful adjustment. I personally preferred the sound when it wasn't pushed too hard: for me, the mid and high boosts were just a little on the brittle side, though certainly no worse than many of the other EQs that I use regularly.