I'm really not as motivated to write about gear that "wows" me like I used to be, but these Chop Shops made me do it! I just came off of two weeks of sessions with a pair of these in a rack & were single handedly one of the most useful tools I had at my disposal. Its basically two really musical filters, a "tilt" style filter mode and a resonant peak filter all in one box. There's about 13845835034 different possibilities you can sweep through as you're searching for a sound and 13845835033 of them are really sweet sounding.

Personally, I'm a little biased as I'm already a huge fan of using high pass & lo pass filters but this thing really takes the cake. Having one is easily as good as having an EQ module, but with so many more creative possibilities. Particularly due to their FOCUS feature [which is similar to the "tilt" control on Tonelux modules] and the resonant peak mode, which works kind of like a Little Labs VOG.

These are really just super fun and SO cheap for what they contribute to a sound. Hope everyone gets to try them sooner or later.


{My rig for these sessions was an Apogee Symphony I/O system @ 48k/24. I used them a lot on vocals [u87, Wunder CM7], drums [M80 on Snr, D12 on kick, KM184 overheads] & guitar [M81 & 121]. Preamps were usually Electrodyne 501's or BAE 1073's.}


*I'd also like to add that the service Brad McGowan gave me was unreal. And these things are REALLY well assembled.*

I want 2!

They are certainly on my list for the next few months.

Nice review! These have been on my radar for a while now but I have to finish some diy projects before picking these up....

Very cool concept though!

I GOT two.


I want 4.



Or maybe 8.....



IMO, they are the perfect "addition" to a normal parametric without filters, making a parametric into a super EQ. Or....most of the time, I don't even touch normal parametric EQ when I've got the CS inline.

Like AntillesSound said, I use filters for the bulk of heavy lifting, and adding the "focus" (tilt) band to a great pair of filters is pretty much all I need. It's the prefect "I'm tracking fast and there's no time to fiddle" EQ. For really tweaky cuts or boosts, you're still going to need a parametric, but for everyday analog EQing duties, these do it for me almost every single time. Add to it that they are uber transparent, and they become an everyday tool....

Besides the Kush Electra, which 500 series EQs are a good match with the Chop Shop?