Turbulent Audio Big Business lets you move the EQ crossovers
Turbulent Audio's Big Business is a three-band shelving EQ pedal with two movable crossover points, a Gain control and a footswitched clean boost.
Where does the bass stop and the treble start? On the Big Business, you decide. Turbulent Audio, a one-person workshop, pairs the usual Low, Mid and High controls with two frequency knobs that set the crossover points between the bands, and adds a clean boost on its own footswitch.
Crossovers you can move
Going by the faceplate, Low, Mid and High each cut or boost by up to 12 dB. Lo Freq places the low-to-mid crossover anywhere from 42 Hz to 492 Hz, and Hi Freq moves the mid-to-high point between 596 Hz and 4.98 kHz.
Turbulent Audio says every band, the midrange included, has a flat response, so setting two neighbouring level knobs to the same position leaves the transition between them flat.
The maker's product page lays out the thinking and shows EQ examples drawn from measured frequency response. John, who runs the company, says he designed the pedal out of dissatisfaction with existing EQs: amp EQs can have controls that interact unpredictably, graphic EQs are stuck on fixed bands, and parametric EQs lack the broad, consistent response needed for sweeping adjustments. He presents Big Business as the answer to all three.
Gain, boost and headroom
On the faceplate, the Gain knob spans 12 dB either way and the Boost knob adds up to 12 dB. The boost has its own footswitch beside the On/Off switch and works independently of it, which Turbulent Audio calls a dedicated clean boost. Turbulent Audio describes 18V of internal headroom for driving the front of an amp or the next pedal in the chain. The faceplate calls for a 9 V centre-negative supply.
John designs and assembles every pedal in his room in northern New Jersey, and Big Business sits beside the NYQUIST bitcrusher in his shop. It is listed as in stock on Turbulent Audio's own site. Specifications are collected on our Big Business product page.
