Pultec legacy, Operational overview, Eqp-1a insertion boost – Universal Audio UAD Plug-Ins ver.7.5 User Manual

Page 387: Frequency conventions

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UAD Powered Plug-Ins Manual

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Chapter 39: Pultec Passive EQ Collection

Pultec Legacy

The Pultec EQP-1A Legacy and Pultec-Pro Legacy plug-ins (

Figure 117 on

page 385

) are the original versions of our Pultec emulations that run on both

UAD-1 and UAD-2 devices. They still have a great sound and are very usable,
especially when there are not enough DSP resources to use the second-
generation versions in the newer Pultec Passive EQ Collection.

To accommodate the limited DSP resources of the original UAD-1, the trans-
former and I/O distortion characteristics were not modeled in these plug-ins.
This makes these legacy versions especially useful in situations where less dis-
tortion, and less DSP usage, is desirable.

Operational Overview

The Pultec EQP-1A/MEQ-5 combination is still standard fare in recording stu-
dios and was once widely used in mastering sessions. Whether used inde-
pendently or together, mono or stereo, the Pultec Collection provides a com-
plete vintage EQ palette for individual sources such as bass or kick drums,
subgroups such rhythm, horn or string sections, or on the master bus. The
EQP-1A’s 16 KCS high frequency setting is famous for adding “air” to master
sources.

Although unintended by its designers, the Pultec EQP-1A is coveted for its
unique ability to boost and cut the same low frequency simultaneously, creat-
ing a tightening effect as a naturally interactive resonant dip near the selected
frequency. This has the sonic effect of simultaneously tightening and boosting
bass frequencies. Select the bass frequency then adjust the balance of Boost
and Cut to tune the effect.

EQP-1A

Insertion Boost

The original EQP-1A hardware unit has an inherent level boost of approxi-
mately 1.13 dB when it is in the signal path. This inherent boost is present in
the EQP-1A plug-in models as well.

Frequency

Conventions

The original Pultec hardware used frequency unit names that were conven-
tional before the frequency unit of “Hertz” was widely adopted. The UAD
Pultec plug-ins adopt the original frequency unit name conventions.

“CPS” is an acronym for Cycles Per Second, which is now more commonly re-
ferred to as Hertz and abbreviated as Hz. KCS is an acronym for KiloCycles
per Second, which is now more commonly referred to as KiloHertz and ab-
breviated as kHz.

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