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Pultec EQP-1A plugins

Gear, technique, and general chit chat
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nobby
Posts: 644
Joined: July 17th, 2017, 5:58 pm

Pultec EQP-1A plugins

Post by nobby »

My last DAW upgrade, a few years ago came bundled with Nomad Factory Blue Tubes plugins. Included was a EQP-1A inspired EQ.

I was impressed because it could do what other EQs couldn't with cutting and boosting the "same frequency".

There was one glaring shortcoming: No bandwidth adjustment.

Nomad Factory makes an actual EQP-1A copy, but they want $129 for it.

Sweetwater has the Waves PuigTec on sale now for $49

What is out there? What do you use?


https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... gI_U_D_BwE
Cirrus
Posts: 27
Joined: March 8th, 2018, 6:47 pm

Post by Cirrus »

I've got the Nomad Pulsetec and the Waves Puigtec, used them both quite extensively.

To my ears, the Puigtec is better - bigger, softer, smoother and I like that. I find it easier to get a nice low end balance of boost and cut, and get some high end sparkle that stays smooth with the high cut control

The Pulsetec isn't bad at all, but starts sounding edgy when boosting the high end earlier, somehow sounds a bit smaller and the low boost sounds tighter - to my ears, it's got tighter filters than the waves, which might be preferable but if I want a tight boost I've got a couple of other EQs that have more control. The amplifier section is interesting, though, the clipper is quite fat sounding but I was never able to get a clear handle on how the plug reacts with different input gains. It was just a try it and see kind of thing.

Oh, and I got the Pulsetec for 9.99 through a sale on don't crack in 2014. It's $99 there at the moment.
weedywet
Posts: 167
Joined: July 22nd, 2017, 7:03 pm

Post by weedywet »

puigtec is well worth that price
nobby
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Joined: July 17th, 2017, 5:58 pm

Post by nobby »

Thanks for the input!
Bob Olhsson
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Joined: July 6th, 2017, 2:02 am
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Post by Bob Olhsson »

Most of the waves plug-ins are models of very specific units owned by the people named and not just generic.
Bob's room 615 562-4346
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nobby
Posts: 644
Joined: July 17th, 2017, 5:58 pm

Post by nobby »

I think Waves buys licenses or otherwise pays to get access to the original gear to model for their replica stuff. That was the case with their Abbey Road line.

A couple of other plugin makers do that also. Softube for example modeled their Trident A Range EQ after specific hardware.

Has anyone ever run 2 Trident A Range EQs in series?

That only just occurred to me as something to try. But if I have a problem with EQs now, it's having too many. I have the Slate everything bundle which has Neve British Class A and SSL EQ emulations also.
Cirrus
Posts: 27
Joined: March 8th, 2018, 6:47 pm

Post by Cirrus »

nobby wrote: April 17th, 2018, 9:18 pm But if I have a problem with EQs now, it's having too many.
I know your pain. Luckily, Harrison Mixbus has rendered most of mine obsolete, so now I just worry about the money I wasted.
nobby
Posts: 644
Joined: July 17th, 2017, 5:58 pm

Post by nobby »

What about the time you wasted?

Using fewer types of outboard or plugins should limit your choices and save time.

But there are some things that do what conventional EQ's don't/ can't.

An EQP-1A plugin (or the hardware) can do something -- it sounds like adding musical harmonics where none were recorded, to me, as opposed to adding gain to existing frequencies.

The DS2 on the Waves Scheps Omni Channel is another. Like a de-esser but 2 in series per channel, fully sweepable frequencies, choice of 4 filters -- high and low shelf and narrow and broad notch, plus you can "audition" the selected frequency range to ear exactly what is being effected, then adjust the threshold to taste. The best thing I've tried for nasty resonances.
unitymusic
Posts: 88
Joined: July 4th, 2017, 4:37 am

Post by unitymusic »

Cirrus wrote: April 17th, 2018, 9:40 pm
nobby wrote: April 17th, 2018, 9:18 pm But if I have a problem with EQs now, it's having too many.
I know your pain. Luckily, Harrison Mixbus has rendered most of mine obsolete, so now I just worry about the money I wasted.
I really like the EQ on the channel strips in Mixbus. The latest version I have is 2.5, so I don't know if/how it's changed since then, but the mixes I've done with the Harrison DAW have all come together rather quickly. I just like the editing and workflow in Pro Tools, so that's the only reason I haven't ditched that as my main DAW.

I've never really been a huge fan of any of the "Pultec" EQ plugins I've tried.
Cirrus
Posts: 27
Joined: March 8th, 2018, 6:47 pm

Post by Cirrus »

It gave me a bit of an existential crisis for a while - I imagined the EQ would be ok for utility stuff, but I would still use my discerning ear ( :uhoh: ) to choose between the various pseudomorphic plugs I know and love.

But, instead, the EQ was as good as anything else I had (I'm using 32c, I assume the other version's just as good), with the added benefit of every channel having *the same* eq, and it always being right there on the screen. It's what I reach for first. There are still cases to use other EQs (tight Qs for removing resonances, pultec for those particular curves, times I want to make an EQ-Compressor-EQ sandwich), but having a solid eq that's right there makes it much clearer when and why I want to put something else in the picture.
meloco_go
Posts: 141
Joined: July 17th, 2017, 2:08 pm

Post by meloco_go »

I have PSP NobleQ. I think is quite good, but I'm much more into the same approach as Cirrus, so I use pretty much the same EQ everywhere.

Also, if you really want the character and can tolerate CPU/memory hit and latency look onto Acoustica Purple P-1. Not everything they do works for me, especially compressors, but the EQs work nice.
meloco_go
Posts: 141
Joined: July 17th, 2017, 2:08 pm

Post by meloco_go »

Cirrus
Posts: 27
Joined: March 8th, 2018, 6:47 pm

Post by Cirrus »

I only have one Black Rooster plug, that being the Vpre-73, and I think that's pretty good sounding (particularly the high shelf). Lots of people say nice things about the LA-3a emu, enough that there's probably something in it, but I've never tried it.
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Toonman
Posts: 60
Joined: November 12th, 2017, 4:48 am

Post by Toonman »

I use iZotope Ozone's Vintage EQ. Does the job quite well for me! I also have UAudio's bundled plugin, which I've also used sometimes.
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