NAMM 26: BAX EQ In 500-Series Format

Dangerous Music has announced the release of the BAX500, a single-slot 500-series EQ that they say brings the legendary, ultra-musical sound of the acclaimed BAX EQ into a compact modular format. They tell us that, designed with zero compromise, BAX500 delivers wide, high-fidelity tone shaping that helps mixes feel finished--not EQ'd. Here's more details direct from the company...

Built for tracking, mixing, and mastering, BAX500 pairs broad shelving EQ with High Cut and Low Cut filters to control the frequency extremes that quietly steal headroom and cloud translation. Whether used on individual sources or as a matched pair across stereo buses, BAX500 delivers the unmistakable audiophilic BAX high-fidelity sweetening trusted by engineers worldwide.

"The BAX EQ has a pure fidelity--you won't realize it's on until it's bypassed and you miss it," said marek stycos, President of Dangerous Music. "With tenacious ingenuity we were able to faithfully pack all of the original circuitry and sonics into the smaller form factor of the BAX500."

A Familiar Concept, Taken Further
BAX500 reimagines the Baxandall EQ from a mastering engineer's pursuit of perfection perspective. Dangerous Music didn't bring BAX to the 500-series until it could be executed with the same purity of design, musicality, component quality, and long-term reliability as the rackmount BAX EQ.

Broad shelves shape several octaves at once, allowing small adjustments to unlock depth, sheen, and weight across a mix. Subtle moves bring elements into balance in a way that feels cohesive and musical, helping the sound come together without calling attention to the process. BAX500 is designed for making musical decisions--revealing what's already there rather than imposing a new character.

High Cut and Low Cut filters with smooth, natural slopes allow you to clean up the frequency extremes early in the signal path. Removing infrasonic rumble and ultrasonic content helps preserve headroom, maintain transient clarity, and improve translation, while keeping the sound open, controlled, and punchy.

Built the Dangerous Way
BAX500 follows the same core design principles as Dangerous Music's flagship hardware. The signal path is DC-coupled up to the Low Cut filter and features a relay-controlled hard-wired bypass that physically removes the circuit from the signal path for true A/B comparisons. Mastering-grade custom components are selected for both performance and sound, delivering stunning imaging, headroom, punch, and detail.

Each BAX500 is hand-assembled in the USA using Mogami point-to-point wiring and housed in a fully shielded steel enclosure with a laser-etched, paint-filled faceplate designed for decades of use.

Audio Integrity: Non-Negotiable
From our decades of custom black-box design work for the world's leading mastering houses--including Hit Factory, Masterdisk, and Sterling Sound--to golden-eared validation by world-class engineers, Dangerous Music has built its reputation on tools that preserve dynamic range, clarity, and emotion. BAX500 carries that legacy into the 500-series--without compromise.

Applications
BAX500 is designed for a wide range of professional studio applications, including:
    •    The ultimate velvet vocal tracking and mixing EQ
    •    Shaping guitars, bass, kick, synths, and instrumentation
    •    Mix bus and stem polishing and sweetening (in pairs)
    •    Mastering EQ (in pairs)
    •    Cleaning up infrasonic rumble before compression or DAW processing
    •    Reducing ultrasonic noise during tracking and mixing
    •    Adding air, sheen, and weight without harshness or glare

Specifications
    •    Mono 500-series equalizer module (single-slot)
    •    EQ design based on the Baxandall high- and low-shelving topology
    •    Broad, musical shelving EQ shaping multiple octaves
    •    ±5 dB boost and cut range on High and Low shelves
    •    High Cut and Low Cut filters for controlling frequency extremes
    •    12 dB/octave filter slopes
    •    Relay-controlled hard-wired bypass for full circuit and filter sections
    •    DC-coupled signal path up to the Low Cut filter
    •    Mastering-grade custom components throughout
    •    Hand assembled in the USA
    •    2-year manufacturer warranty

Pricing and Availability:
$1,299

More information:

• Dangerous Music BAX500

• Dangerous Music Launches BAX EQ Plugin 31-Jul-26
• Dangerous Music Debuts Its First Plugin 01-Dec-25
• New Dangerous Music Analog Summing Mixer 04-Jul-22
• Dangerous Music Reference DACs Ship 09-Jul-15
• Dangerous Music Unveils The 2-BUS+ 15-Jun-15