You have been convincing me about the difference in analogue products through your demonstrations with clear audio representing what's going on. Really not something you see often outside of long-winded mix sessions. I hope to see more! This EQ sounds great. Everything doesn't just sound boosted, it sounds focused
The hilarious thing about Pultec EQs and the "low end trick," IIRC, is that it was actually explicitly stated in the original manual from the 50s "DO NOT USE THE BOOST AND ATTENUATION FUNCTIONS AT THE SAME TIME!" The manual says not to, and audio engineers do it anyway and turn it into a staple function of the device. 😂
@@nickskywalker2568 Musicians and audio engineers have a weird history of blatantly ignoring what I suppose would be considered "common safety practices" in modern times. Both in terms of doing "this" can and will break your stuff and "Hey, if you touch the wrong thing in here, it can kill you."
Tube amplifier manufacturers used to warn about not turning the amp up past the point where it distorts. It became the basis of the entire genre of rock music and all that followed. Sometimes it's a good thing when musicians don't RTFM.
If White Sea likes, then that's good enough for me! It's SO great to see high-quality recording equipment coming out of European countries other than Germany, France, England, etc. Go Hungary!
That sounds as good as a passive EQ should! My guess is they went with the mirrored look because of copyright and trademark issues. Love your videos man! Saved me a bunch of money and time. I'm too old to be experimenting. That rabbit hole has taken enough of my time. Thanks for doing what you do brutha!
So does my Mic chain, my analog synths, my room thats a box has a sound also. Flavour is but a term like Glue. Something that adds to the music. So, I Guess , My music has a sound, a Signature.. So I dont need a 3k box. ;)
I enjoyed spelunking down in all the comments. I hadn't heard of any of the products mentioned here previously. I learned some interesting new foods: snoepwinkel panikooken stroopkoeken or stroopwafel's I learned about many other Pultec copies: Gainlab Audio Dictator Compressor Stam Audio EQP-1AS - Analog Tube Equalizer Audioscape EQP-A TUBE EQUALIZER (mentioned favorably several times) Tegeler Audio Manufaktur EQP-1 HCL OZ Elysia xfilter 500 Class A Discrete Stereo Parametric EQ IGS Audio RB500ME Rubber Bands Lindell Audio Lin76 was mentioned once. Folks seemed to not like both the Klark Teknik EQP-KT & Warm Audio. (several mentions) I think the Empress looks neat. It isn't an item I have on my radar for purchasing. It's nice to know about it. Thank you.
That little moment at 9:44 when you bypassed and the whole mix just went away was the moment I said “fuuuuuck” because I realised I now need some sort of Pultec clone
First of all thx for your honest work here on youtube! Just to share a feedback i really appreciate your "conclusion" camera frame setup with desk in background, i think it give you something more "professional looking" than your usual setup! P.s. Great unit, sound a bit more "clinical" than the vintage pultec i'm used of, but in a pleasant way.
Just one thing : the unit is not very quiet , i had one in test, the channel close to the powersupply is a bit noisy . Can t be heard when music is loud, but if you hear at the end of a piano note.....Apparently it s "normal " because the powersupply is not enough isolated. Anyway it s nice. I chosed the IGS tilt n bands eq; what a big thing for mastering , 6 tubes behind....baxendall curves, and noiseless
i tend to throw a random vid of yours on while i eat my lunch just to learn something while i'm on break and i am here to once again tell you how OBSESSED i am with that watermelon pink/green polish 🤩
The clarity this thing provides across these frequency bands is impressive. I'd love to see it feeding a spectrum analyzer to see what these sweeps all do
That Pultec thing!. They're so addicting!. You can over do it and still get a smooth and pleasant sound. The top end on this one is really sweet. The problem is that when you over do it, everything just sounds , more better 😁😉......BUT then when you bypass it, the mix you thought was done, sounds a bit shit....dull, lifeless 🤷♂ Really good analog gear will never be snake oil 😏
So glad you have done a review of this - I really liked the sound of the Dictator as well and am looking at getting some mastering hardware as it sounds so much better than software! - cheers and Merry Christmas! ☕(Dave, Plastic Tree Studios)
It sounds quite good! I was wondering if the mid band is based on the MEQ-5 curves. They're much narrower than an EQP-1A (which is very useful in the midrange). Would also be cool if it had the option of potentiometers instead of stepped controls. That's one thing i really like about the EQP-1A. It's very easy to quickly dial in just the right setting with the pots. I would be curious to hear it head to head with mine!
love your videos and the device sounds great! ☺ please consider keeping your obsession with autogain/ gainmatching for the analog gear as well otherwise a good comparison is hardly possible.
Damn. What's the price of one of these? Stereo buss heaven. Looked it up. Around $2,000 in the US. That's not an unreasonable cost for the benefit. If you're making enough to reinvest in your studio... Can get a lot of use out of one piece of gear.... if you have an outboard preamp or two, can use it in the front end during tracking..... As an outboard send for virtual instruments...... Then slap it on the master bus during midtown.... Also useful for mastering. Even without using it for any serious EQ moves.... It could be one hell of a saturator. Could use it on pretty much every track of you wanted. What a difference maker.
Wow, this is truely impressive, thanks to you i know already what will be my first Analog EQ, couldn't afford a pair of Pultec but this one sounds great for about fourth the price.
If you ever get your hands on a Tegeler Audio Classic Equalizer EQP-1, it's very similar in that it's a passive tube EQ at around the same price as the GainLab. It would a good comparison.
Perfect Afro beat tune for that kind of pulltech demo, very Nice clone more affordable than the lydkraft tube tech, i have the softube plug in but this gainlab empress realy help make a stereo bus shine !
It sounds very good. As do a lot of the plugin emulations; but this is a surefire way to get the benefits without any of the cramping and aliasing that can affect the plugins. Plus, it seems to sound better, as far as I can tell via CZcams!
Nice video and seems like a great unit. I just sold my two "Pultecs" from warm audio, to finance getting a Universal Audio Apollo soundcard and using their Pultecs (and other hardware clones) instead. Wytse, since you really liked universal audios 1176 plugins and hoped they would make similar for Pultec.. Have you checked out their unison/dsp Pultecs? Their "Legacy" versions of plugins seems about the same as hardware clones from other brands, but the more expensive unison versions really sounds better than any Pultec plugin I've tried. Just as the 1176 sounds better than the competition.
Wytse realtalk you should check out the tone boosters MBC, nobody talks about it or reviews it, and it's probably the best multi band compressor I ever used (yes, better than FabFilter IMO). You can expand+compress at the same time (if you want?!), got subtle saturation on each band + imaging. CLEAN interface, very precise and quick workflow. It's incredible
Been soul searching for a good analog sound for vocal recording I like the pultecs but very pricey this one here is well rounded and pleasant it’s groovy and in diggin the vibe 🔥
i dunno im crazy or what, but the boost sounds like literally boosting the sides much more so it gives so much room n separate frequencies over the inst
This video is perfect for a question I have had for a long time. When do we know we should stop at equalization? Because "always" you can take things a little "further". (I don't speak English, google translate)
I would guess that maybe the mirrored controls are meant to be adjusted with both hands at the same time, so you can sort of stereo link the controls manually.
Hmm dunno man. Seems like a smile eq and a few dbs of loudness is the "magic" here. If you matched the curve on Pro-Q and matched the gain in the DAW I would put money on there not being any substantial difference.
I wish it was either completely mirrored or not mirrored. I’m always trying to turn the knob on one channel the opposite direction when I’m turning both since the knobs are not mirrored.
At over $2000, that's still a bit hard to swallow for the average mortal. I'd like to see a video on the "Warm Audio" and "Klark Teknik" clones that are even more affordable. That being said, I understand they don't come with trial versions, so that may not be feasible. Thanks for all your great work!
@@LoveItDirtyOffroad I've found both the Klark and Warm Audio to be pretty worthless. They do a "thing", but it ain't the Pultec thing. Possibly with some heavy mods they could be great, but at that point you'd be spending as much as a decent pultec clone like this one.
@@bontempo1271 I've compared the Klark to the new Pultec reissue and my handmade Pultec. The Klark really doesn't hold up. Honestly, the UAD Pultec plugin sounds so close to the hardware (both reissue and handmade) that I would advise people to buy that plugin before buying the Klark.
@@slamcrank I think i might just be able to trust your take on that, because the UAD is very good. I do have the Klark and was planning to compare it to the Pultecs available via online services, but i'm inbetween a studio rebuild and a million other problems at the moment, so it will be some time yet. I did compare the Klark to the old UAD Pultec, and i felt the Klark had some hardware mojo advantage over the UAD. At some point i need to re-evaluate. I am trying to reduce my hardware as much as possible.
Can you make a video about the Lin2a and the Lin 76 by Lindell Audio. Need to know if we are in another Klark Teknik situation or if these are actually good for the price
I swear...I've never seen anyone have so much fun trying out a new piece of gear...that's awesome!
As a hungarian, happy that we made something good :)
You have been convincing me about the difference in analogue products through your demonstrations with clear audio representing what's going on. Really not something you see often outside of long-winded mix sessions. I hope to see more!
This EQ sounds great. Everything doesn't just sound boosted, it sounds focused
The hilarious thing about Pultec EQs and the "low end trick," IIRC, is that it was actually explicitly stated in the original manual from the 50s "DO NOT USE THE BOOST AND ATTENUATION FUNCTIONS AT THE SAME TIME!"
The manual says not to, and audio engineers do it anyway and turn it into a staple function of the device. 😂
I honestly think this is the most talked about eq trick ever so that's crazy, cool to know though
Probably discovered by the same maniac who first did the “all buttons” trick on the 1176
Is it also the same maniac guy that ran his electric guitar in the amplifier with too much power?
@@nickskywalker2568 Musicians and audio engineers have a weird history of blatantly ignoring what I suppose would be considered "common safety practices" in modern times. Both in terms of doing "this" can and will break your stuff and "Hey, if you touch the wrong thing in here, it can kill you."
Tube amplifier manufacturers used to warn about not turning the amp up past the point where it distorts. It became the basis of the entire genre of rock music and all that followed. Sometimes it's a good thing when musicians don't RTFM.
Finally someone made a stereo pultec that actually sounds like a pultec. Gonna have to scoop this.
Am buying it this week I love it
Sounds wonderful. Even on my Tablet 👍
Damn! That sounds good. Songs are killing too!
Thanks man for this ! I have been owning this beast since a couple of months and it is stellar.
If White Sea likes, then that's good enough for me!
It's SO great to see high-quality recording equipment coming out of European countries other than Germany, France, England, etc. Go Hungary!
That sounds as good as a passive EQ should! My guess is they went with the mirrored look because of copyright and trademark issues. Love your videos man! Saved me a bunch of money and time. I'm too old to be experimenting. That rabbit hole has taken enough of my time. Thanks for doing what you do brutha!
This isn’t active tho no? This is tube based
Every box has a sound. And this one's signature is very nice indeed.
So does my Mic chain, my analog synths, my room thats a box has a sound also.
Flavour is but a term like Glue.
Something that adds to the music.
So, I Guess , My music has a sound, a Signature.. So I dont need a 3k box.
;)
@@Rhythmattica what?
@@eduardwilliams1245 Just saying.. Theres a lot of good "Signatures" Out there .
That sounds nice even through CZcams's codec.
I’m extremely happy with the JLM PEQ500s I built from kits!
That was a very good test! And the unit sounds wonderful.
I think this is the happiest i ever saw you :) Sounds great!
That tube boost does it for me. Daaaaamn
I enjoyed spelunking down in all the comments. I hadn't heard of any of the products mentioned here previously.
I learned some interesting new foods:
snoepwinkel
panikooken
stroopkoeken or stroopwafel's
I learned about many other Pultec copies:
Gainlab Audio Dictator Compressor
Stam Audio EQP-1AS - Analog Tube Equalizer
Audioscape EQP-A TUBE EQUALIZER (mentioned favorably several times)
Tegeler Audio Manufaktur EQP-1
HCL OZ
Elysia xfilter 500 Class A Discrete Stereo Parametric EQ
IGS Audio RB500ME Rubber Bands
Lindell Audio Lin76 was mentioned once.
Folks seemed to not like both the Klark Teknik EQP-KT & Warm Audio. (several mentions)
I think the Empress looks neat. It isn't an item I have on my radar for purchasing. It's nice to know about it. Thank you.
I have one, and it is Awesome.
Also, You are Right on with the "Tube Boost" it does not work on every mix.
That little moment at 9:44 when you bypassed and the whole mix just went away was the moment I said “fuuuuuck” because I realised I now need some sort of Pultec clone
What a lovely xmas pressie to yourself. 🎁🎁🎁
First of all thx for your honest work here on youtube! Just to share a feedback i really appreciate your "conclusion" camera frame setup with desk in background, i think it give you something more "professional looking" than your usual setup! P.s. Great unit, sound a bit more "clinical" than the vintage pultec i'm used of, but in a pleasant way.
Just one thing : the unit is not very quiet , i had one in test, the channel close to the powersupply is a bit noisy . Can t be heard when music is loud, but if you hear at the end of a piano note.....Apparently it s "normal " because the powersupply is not enough isolated. Anyway it s nice. I chosed the IGS tilt n bands eq; what a big thing for mastering , 6 tubes behind....baxendall curves, and noiseless
i tend to throw a random vid of yours on while i eat my lunch just to learn something while i'm on break and i am here to once again tell you how OBSESSED i am with that watermelon pink/green polish 🤩
That thing sounds amazing. There is definitely magic in that box. Can't justify the purchase price right now, but it is a good value for sure.
That’s really musical. Would make a great secondary eq beside a bax style eq
Sweet sounding box!!
The clarity this thing provides across these frequency bands is impressive. I'd love to see it feeding a spectrum analyzer to see what these sweeps all do
so much fun to see you smiling (-: and yes it sounds amazing........uhhhhhh i want one
That Pultec thing!. They're so addicting!. You can over do it and still get a smooth and pleasant sound. The top end on this one is really sweet. The problem is that when you over do it, everything just sounds , more better 😁😉......BUT then when you bypass it, the mix you thought was done, sounds a bit shit....dull, lifeless 🤷♂
Really good analog gear will never be snake oil 😏
So glad you have done a review of this - I really liked the sound of the Dictator as well and am looking at getting some mastering hardware as it sounds so much better than software! - cheers and Merry Christmas! ☕(Dave, Plastic Tree Studios)
Man this EQ sounds fantastic!! Awesome vid!
The first I like a song that’s been used in a demo. That eq is special, wow!
I'm in a stroopkroken and stroopwaffels parade now! Great video!
It had my panikooken in a flutter!
Only one word wow and it is amazing to see how happy you are. Great sound. I used highend headphones.
Mirrored is good for using both hands I think that's the intention? I like it.
I’ve had my eyes on the Tegeler EQP-1 but haven’t heard or seen enough good demos yet.
It sounds quite good! I was wondering if the mid band is based on the MEQ-5 curves. They're much narrower than an EQP-1A (which is very useful in the midrange). Would also be cool if it had the option of potentiometers instead of stepped controls. That's one thing i really like about the EQP-1A. It's very easy to quickly dial in just the right setting with the pots. I would be curious to hear it head to head with mine!
love your videos and the device sounds great! ☺ please consider keeping your obsession with autogain/ gainmatching for the analog gear as well otherwise a good comparison is hardly possible.
How about do an honest compare with a good pultec plugin with the analogue one. That would be cool
Damn. What's the price of one of these? Stereo buss heaven. Looked it up. Around $2,000 in the US. That's not an unreasonable cost for the benefit. If you're making enough to reinvest in your studio... Can get a lot of use out of one piece of gear.... if you have an outboard preamp or two, can use it in the front end during tracking..... As an outboard send for virtual instruments...... Then slap it on the master bus during midtown.... Also useful for mastering. Even without using it for any serious EQ moves.... It could be one hell of a saturator. Could use it on pretty much every track of you wanted. What a difference maker.
Wow, this is truely impressive, thanks to you i know already what will be my first Analog EQ, couldn't afford a pair of Pultec but this one sounds great for about fourth the price.
I guess "affordable" is a relative term. Still wayyyy cheaper than 2 Pultecs and sounds good with a bit more versatility. Thanks.
If you ever get your hands on a Tegeler Audio Classic Equalizer EQP-1, it's very similar in that it's a passive tube EQ at around the same price as the GainLab. It would a good comparison.
Perfect Afro beat tune for that kind of pulltech demo, very Nice clone more affordable than the lydkraft tube tech, i have the softube plug in but this gainlab empress realy help make a stereo bus shine !
Absolutely wonderful. You got me inspired, time to finish up my Gyraf Pultec clone. Mmmmm I can smell that delicious RMA flux already. Cheers!
Wow! Smooth and musical! Nice.
The mid range sounds amazing!
It sounds very good. As do a lot of the plugin emulations; but this is a surefire way to get the benefits without any of the cramping and aliasing that can affect the plugins. Plus, it seems to sound better, as far as I can tell via CZcams!
Need to work on my definition of the word affordable :) Sounds great and clear presentation!
This is way out of my budget but really cool, thanks !
yea it does the thing
It sounded really good. But what do the NS-10 folks say? This thing almost exclusively works in the frequency regions they can't monitor :D
They will have to wait for the mk2 version, which includes ns10 on/off button.
@@DubFreakuencies :D
Can you rewiev the Tegeler’s Pultec?
It’s even more affordable. I have it and I love but it’d be cool to see your review of it
Nice video and seems like a great unit.
I just sold my two "Pultecs" from warm audio, to finance getting a Universal Audio Apollo soundcard and using their Pultecs (and other hardware clones) instead.
Wytse, since you really liked universal audios 1176 plugins and hoped they would make similar for Pultec.. Have you checked out their unison/dsp Pultecs?
Their "Legacy" versions of plugins seems about the same as hardware clones from other brands, but the more expensive unison versions really sounds better than any Pultec plugin I've tried.
Just as the 1176 sounds better than the competition.
Great seeing you review hardware!
Wytse realtalk you should check out the tone boosters MBC, nobody talks about it or reviews it, and it's probably the best multi band compressor I ever used (yes, better than FabFilter IMO). You can expand+compress at the same time (if you want?!), got subtle saturation on each band + imaging. CLEAN interface, very precise and quick workflow. It's incredible
that first song is fire
Best video you have ever done! Great job
Been soul searching for a good analog sound for vocal recording I like the pultecs but very pricey this one here is well rounded and pleasant it’s groovy and in diggin the vibe 🔥
On the low end 60hz is the magic number for the pulltec style magic
i dunno im crazy or what, but the boost sounds like literally boosting the sides much more so it gives so much room n separate frequencies over the inst
I love how this dude will look at a user manual for a hardware product, but not software. Comedy gold!
This video is perfect for a question I have had for a long time.
When do we know we should stop at equalization?
Because "always" you can take things a little "further".
(I don't speak English, google translate)
Compare it to a mix you like the sound of
Level match to compare :)
I’m really interested in Stam Audio EQP-1AS. What do you think about it?
I love your Pultec face, said it all really.
Merry Christmas 🎅
dämn! Now this is one smooth sounding piece of kit.
I would guess that maybe the mirrored controls are meant to be adjusted with both hands at the same time, so you can sort of stereo link the controls manually.
I don’t know man, overdoing it sounded awesome!
this sounds so good! Have you manage to try the warm audio "pultec" ?
Hey try IGS mastering eq for 500 series... is soon good
Hmm dunno man. Seems like a smile eq and a few dbs of loudness is the "magic" here. If you matched the curve on Pro-Q and matched the gain in the DAW I would put money on there not being any substantial difference.
Challenge accepted
@@Whiteseastudio This makes me incredibly happy.
affordable @ $2000 😩
Instant magic out of a box. Someday I will have some of those units. I just need to play lotto and dream... on.
Mannnnnn, I want that track!
I will never not smile and softly chuckle to myself at the inevitable “Sandstorm” by Darude meme in every video
Love it. I’m a big Pultec fan and that sounds terrific!
great video. what's (actual) the song?
A stepped pultec with "upgrades", for $1,000 per channel (US in December 2022) is an outstanding price.
you should try he warm audio version
im about to buy
Harray for mid control!!
I’ve noticed that the midrange punch diminishes when engaged
I wish it was either completely mirrored or not mirrored. I’m always trying to turn the knob on one channel the opposite direction when I’m turning both since the knobs are not mirrored.
Yeap, my complaint as well 😅
Cranked it sound killer for drum toms.
please test the Klarkteknik pultec
At over $2000, that's still a bit hard to swallow for the average mortal. I'd like to see a video on the "Warm Audio" and "Klark Teknik" clones that are even more affordable. That being said, I understand they don't come with trial versions, so that may not be feasible. Thanks for all your great work!
Ive heard many times the Klarks are pretty worthless
@@LoveItDirtyOffroad I've found both the Klark and Warm Audio to be pretty worthless. They do a "thing", but it ain't the Pultec thing. Possibly with some heavy mods they could be great, but at that point you'd be spending as much as a decent pultec clone like this one.
@@slamcrank Have you been able to compare the Klark to a Pultec ? I've heard comparisons online and it comes pretty close.
@@bontempo1271 I've compared the Klark to the new Pultec reissue and my handmade Pultec. The Klark really doesn't hold up. Honestly, the UAD Pultec plugin sounds so close to the hardware (both reissue and handmade) that I would advise people to buy that plugin before buying the Klark.
@@slamcrank I think i might just be able to trust your take on that, because the UAD is very good. I do have the Klark and was planning to compare it to the Pultecs available via online services, but i'm inbetween a studio rebuild and a million other problems at the moment, so it will be some time yet. I did compare the Klark to the old UAD Pultec, and i felt the Klark had some hardware mojo advantage over the UAD. At some point i need to re-evaluate. I am trying to reduce my hardware as much as possible.
Lazer things?
Sandstorm sounded a lot like fela kuti this time great demo!! Hope you use more versions of sandstorm like this!!!
What about the HCL Oz, or Audio-scape or Stam Audio? Other affordable options, even with tubes.
I would love to check those as well...
I have a plugin that suonds just like that ;) LOL this EQ is just beautiful.
Darude gets better and better. That song sounded like fela kuti at his best. (:
Ah mate, now I gotta buy one. 😃
One thing you didn’t mention about this empress is the thing runs so hot you could cook your breakfast on it, eggs and Bacon 🥓 anyone 😂
The 1st song is all that!!! Who is it???
So, Gainlab Empress or Elysia X-filter (mastering)? If you had to choose one.?.?..
Have one. Love it.
Can you make a video about the Lin2a and the Lin 76 by Lindell Audio. Need to know if we are in another Klark Teknik situation or if these are actually good for the price
Did you end up keeping this one? What kind of Pultec are you currently using?
nice zoomshot
Not bad .... Not bad at all!