Looking for a furman pq3 or pq4 alternative

  • Thread starter Thread starter Basementcat
  • Start date Start date
I just sold my entire Dime rig a few weeks ago, an 89 Randall RG100ES, Furman PQ3 . I do agreed the Furman does have a grainier upper mid attack to them but other Parametrics can get really good Dime tones as well.

I still have one 88 Randall RG100ES around and the Loft 401 gets a great Dime tone, it grinds as well as the Furman but it has a touch more clarity to it which I kinda like albeit it still has the punched mid qualities to it that the Furman has. I bought the Loft after PaulyC's recommendation and it wasn't a disappointment. There are things I like about the RanePE15 and the Loft 401 so they are about equal in my eyes at least running up front of a Randall RG100ES for Dime tone. I have enjoyed my Dime tone quest I am just getting away from it.

I had the Empress Para EQ before I found a Furman PQ3 and it worked and sounded pretty good and I liked the added DB boost footswitch but I liked the rack units like the Furman, Loft and Rane better but there was nothing wrong with the Empress IMHO. You probably won't find a any Furman's south of $500.00 but if you want 100% authentic it might be worth your while to get the Furman PQ3 or PQ4 but it you want something really good that gets 95-98% of the tone the Loft and Rane's do the job. Yes you are going to need a noise gate before the amp input even the Loft gets noisy pushing all that extra gain even though it is more quiet than the Furman.

I don't know how close these new Master Effect 3 band Parametrics sound to the rack units but the YT clips don't sound bad.
 
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harddriver said:
I just sold my entire Dime rig a few weeks ago, an 89 Randall RG100ES, Furman PQ3 . I do agreed the Furman does have a grainier upper mid attack to them but other Parametrics can get really good Dime tones as well.

I still have one 88 Randall RG100ES around and the Loft 401 gets a great Dime tone, it grinds as well as the Furman but it has a touch more clarity to it which I kinda like albeit it still has the punched mid qualities to it that the Furman has. I bought the Loft after PaulyC's recommendation and it wasn't a disappointment. There are things I like about the RanePE15 and the Loft 401 so they are about equal in my eyes at least running up front of a Randall RG100ES for Dime tone. I have enjoyed my Dime tone quest I am just getting away from it.

I had the Empress Para EQ before I found a Furman PQ3 and it worked and sounded pretty good and I liked the added DB boost but I liked the rack units like the Furman, Loft and Rane better but there was nothing wrong with the Empress IMHO. You probably won't find a any Furman's south of $500.00 but if you want 100% authentic it might be worth your while to get the Furman PQ3 or PQ4 but it you want something really good that gets 95-98% of the tone the Loft and Rane's do the job. Yes you are going to need a noise gate before the amp input even the Loft gets noisy pushing all that extra gain even though it is more quiet than the Furman.
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Wow should’ve kept mine a little longer. Sold my PQ3 about 8 months ago for $385
 
braintheory said:
Haven’t tried the Rane or Loft, but I’ve owned simultaneously the Furman PQ3, TC 1140 and Audioarts 4100. They can be dialed in “similarly” (depending how picky you are I guess), but they all had their own inherent qualities/colors and textures the notes regardless of how dialed in. Furman was very noisy, no argument there, but it was the warmest and juiciest of those 3 with the most pleasing mids of the 3. I’ve sold my Furman and don’t miss it all, so I’ve got no skin in the game, but definitely can’t say they sounded the same. Each of those brands has their own unique flavor. I’ve kept just the Audioarts and Intersound’s FWIW. IMO the differences were more pronounced than the usual differences I hear I with pre-tube swaps, but to each their own
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I pretty much agree with your assessment... They all have there own inherent colorings to them for sure but if you want build a good sounding Dime rig the Loft Rane and Empress will get you there as long as you have the MXR 6band, L500XL or even the new Seymour Duncan Jupiter pickup, I also think the Seymour Duncan Custom 14K and Sh-6n at 13K with their ceramic magnets get killer grind similar to the L500XL's either the BLUSA or the Bill and Becky Wilde models.
 
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Kapo_Polenton said:
Wow! Someone actually did this?? How was this not front page news around here for cock rockers and cork sniffers?! There was all this talk about Friedman considering something like this and someone finally took action.
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Holy Fuck. This sounds really good.
 
harddriver said:
I pretty much agree with your assessment... They all have there own inherent colorings to them for sure but if you want build a good sounding Dime rig the Loft Rane and Empress will get you there as long as you have the MXR 6band, L500XL or even the new Seymour Duncan Jupiter pickup, I also think the Seymour Duncan Custom 14K and Sh-6n at 13K with their ceramic magnets get killer grind similar to the L500XL's either the BLUSA or the Bill and Becky Wile models.
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I’ve not tried the Loft or Rane, so can’t say about those. Depending how particular you are, I agree the others will probably get close enough, although not the Empress imho (really didn’t like that one). For my purposes I’m never trying to copy anyone’s tone, but rather just dissect each ingredient I have (pedal, amp, tubes, pickups, speakers, etc) and just try to maximize each ingredient, but I do actually have coincidentally a vintage blue mxr 6band and used to have a 1986 Randall RG100ES. I did for fun try all that stuff with the Randall just to see
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Wow! Someone actually did this?? How was this not front page news around here for cock rockers and cork sniffers?! There was all this talk about Friedman considering something like this and someone finally took action.
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Redplated and I started threads on the Master Effects units a couple of weeks ago, you must have missed them.
 
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I've never used the Empress myself but a buddy of mine uses one in to a Mesa Roadster and his tone is fuckin devastating
 
harddriver said:
I just sold my entire Dime rig a few weeks ago, an 89 Randall RG100ES, Furman PQ3 . I do agreed the Furman does have a grainier upper mid attack to them but other Parametrics can get really good Dime tones as well.

I still have one 88 Randall RG100ES around and the Loft 401 gets a great Dime tone, it grinds as well as the Furman but it has a touch more clarity to it which I kinda like albeit it still has the punched mid qualities to it that the Furman has. I bought the Loft after PaulyC's recommendation and it wasn't a disappointment. There are things I like about the RanePE15 and the Loft 401 so they are about equal in my eyes at least running up front of a Randall RG100ES for Dime tone. I have enjoyed my Dime tone quest I am just getting away from it.

I had the Empress Para EQ before I found a Furman PQ3 and it worked and sounded pretty good and I liked the added DB boost footswitch but I liked the rack units like the Furman, Loft and Rane better but there was nothing wrong with the Empress IMHO. You probably won't find a any Furman's south of $500.00 but if you want 100% authentic it might be worth your while to get the Furman PQ3 or PQ4 but it you want something really good that gets 95-98% of the tone the Loft and Rane's do the job. Yes you are going to need a noise gate before the amp input even the Loft gets noisy pushing all that extra gain even though it is more quiet than the Furman.

I don't know how close these new Master Effect 3 band Parametrics sound to the rack units but the YT clips don't sound bad.
Click to expand...
I’m interested in your loft for sure. It fits my budget and I’m thinking with a few other tricks I have here I can get into the territory I’m thinking of. Not sure when I’ll be able to pm anyone as it seems to be blocked for me but id more than likely be a buyer if you wanted to sell my way. I’m not a bot or a scammer. I have a highly rated eBay account I can link if needed and have been an active member of a couple forums and done tons of selling and buying on Facebook along the way.
 
Basementcat said:
I’m interested in your loft for sure. It fits my budget and I’m thinking with a few other tricks I have here I can get into the territory I’m thinking of. Not sure when I’ll be able to pm anyone as it seems to be blocked for me but id more than likely be a buyer if you wanted to sell my way. I’m not a bot or a scammer. I have a highly rated eBay account I can link if needed and have been an active member of a couple forums and done tons of selling and buying on Facebook along the way.
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I'll PM you if you are interested in the Loft.
 
Basementcat said:
I’ll be using a rg50 112 which as far as I can tell from reading is the same circuit as a rg100 just 50 watts and a combo instead.
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As long as it is an vintage Randall it should get the tone 100%. Domicidal covers on Youtube uses an RG80ES and sounds as good as the RG100ES IMHO. I know alot of people say the Century 200's are the shit but my RG100ES's scratch that Dime itch just fine IMHO.
 
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