If you are as you say "cleaning up your demos" I would think the eq in the Finalizer would be fine. That's the perfect use for an all in one box.

There are plenty of EQ's out there. But is it worth it to you to spend a couple grand?

Hi Joe, thanks for your reply.

The "EQ" section of the Finalizer Express is really not an EQ but more of a boost control for the three bands in the compressor (I think its big brother has more of a conventional EQ). The EXP does perform some EQ function, but it will not do things like shelve, and it doesn't allow enough control that I can get a good low end in my masters. An EQ that is a couple grand is probably out of my league, though one in the $500-1000 range is pretty realistic. I realize that my concept of mastering is highly amateurish in light of what most on this forum do, but I am trying to learn, to slowly upgrade, without completely putting myself in hock.

In that price-range, I would check out the Speck ASC, a mono 4-band parametric. You can get 2 of them racked up from Mercenary Audio for just over a grand.

If that's still too high, look for a used Orban 642-B or 622-B. This is a stereo 4-band parametric, should run about $500 or less used...

best of luck,

If you want to go with a tube EQ or another analog EQ for a specific sound, you will definitely want to think seriously about getting a dedicated A/D and D/A converter. The converters in the finalizer are really grainy.