I swear...I've never seen anyone have so much fun trying out a new piece of gear...that's awesome!

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

As a hungarian, happy that we made something good :)

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. 😂

That was a very good test! And the unit sounds wonderful.

Thanks man for this ! I have been owning this beast since a couple of months and it is stellar.

Finally someone made a stereo pultec that actually sounds like a pultec. Gonna have to scoop this.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Man this EQ sounds fantastic!! Awesome vid!

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!

Only one word wow and it is amazing to see how happy you are. Great sound. I used highend headphones.

I think this is the happiest i ever saw you :) Sounds great!

Damn! That sounds good. Songs are killing too!

so much fun to see you smiling (-: and yes it sounds amazing........uhhhhhh i want one

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.

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!

Love it. I’m a big Pultec fan and that sounds terrific!

Sweet sounding box!!

The first I like a song that’s been used in a demo. That eq is special, wow!

Absolutely wonderful. You got me inspired, time to finish up my Gyraf Pultec clone. Mmmmm I can smell that delicious RMA flux already. Cheers!

I’m really interested in Stam Audio EQP-1AS. What do you think about it?

I have one, and it is Awesome. Also, You are Right on with the "Tube Boost" it does not work on every mix.

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 KZfaq!

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 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 🤩

Great seeing you review hardware!

this sounds so good! Have you manage to try the warm audio "pultec" ?

Am buying it this week I love it

Sounds wonderful. Even on my Tablet 👍

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.

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

Wow! Smooth and musical! Nice.

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

I’m extremely happy with the JLM PEQ500s I built from kits!

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

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've been having a listen to many videos and reviews about the empress I do reeally like its sound but It does something with the transients that loose definition. LIke those get smeared, did you get this feeling when trying it ? thank you in advance !

That tube boost does it for me. Daaaaamn

The mid range sounds amazing!

That sounds nice even through KZfaq's codec.

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

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

Best video you have ever done! Great job

Every box has a sound. And this one's signature is very nice indeed.

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.

Could you do a test of the UAD Pultec vs this unit or a real one? Is it any good?

That’s really musical. Would make a great secondary eq beside a bax style eq

So, Gainlab Empress or Elysia X-filter (mastering)? If you had to choose one.?.?..

Do you think the Acustica Audio Lava Mics are any good Could you maybe review its plug in for us

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 😏

Did you end up keeping this one? What kind of Pultec are you currently using?

id be very interested in hearing your thoughts on the Wes Audio Promethius.

Have one. Love it.

I’ve had my eyes on the Tegeler EQP-1 but haven’t heard or seen enough good demos yet.

Whats about the headroom of this tool. Its working for +24db ?

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

Thank you very much for the video, looking at your smile I can see that you like the Empress. I see the Dictator in your rack. How do you like it ? I have the Dictator and the Empress and though I'm not a pro engineer, I have a lot of pleasure with these machines. My only complaint about the Dictator is that when you drive the input harder to get the tubes to work, there is no way that I know to reduce the output gain to compare with the dry signal. Do you have a way to do that ? Thank you and cheers from Brussels 😄

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)

great video. what's (actual) the song?

Quick question: the audio that Wytse uses, is it considered unfinalized, or are they final mixes? I'm just curious if that makes a difference when testing things like mastering limiters and such. Thanks!

What a lovely xmas pressie to yourself. 🎁🎁🎁

Can you test the puryfied audio 4 in 1 compressor?

Merry Christmas 🎅

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 !

Instant magic out of a box. Someday I will have some of those units. I just need to play lotto and dream... on.

dämn! Now this is one smooth sounding piece of kit.

On the subject of EQ's that seem like they should cost more, what are your collective thought on the SSL Ultraviolet EQ at the current sale price of $500? Looking to start a 500 series rack and am considering pulling the trigger on the SSL but I am concerned about how versatile it is on different sources compared to a Pultec clone or another good 500 series eq. I primarily work in the box and am planning on using a Craneborne 500r8 to help with analog integration in DAW but if I were to buy into the ecosystem I would want to know that my hardware does something or sound different/better than what I could get out of Pro-Q. I don't have much spare cash for audio gear set aside so I'm really focused on bang for buck instead of having the absolute best. Anyone have any advice?

What about the HCL Oz, or Audio-scape or Stam Audio? Other affordable options, even with tubes.

Need to work on my definition of the word affordable :) Sounds great and clear presentation!

I’ve noticed that the midrange punch diminishes when engaged

Wonderful!

How about do an honest compare with a good pultec plugin with the analogue one. That would be cool

Mirrored is good for using both hands I think that's the intention? I like it.

That's a really nice sound! Which audio interface are you using to connect all your outboard gear?

Sandstorm sounded a lot like fela kuti this time great demo!! Hope you use more versions of sandstorm like this!!!

WHAT ABOUT THE PULTEC EQ IN THE TEGLER CREME????

I love your Pultec face, said it all really.

have you tried the kniff soma?

What is the Tune you're testing with there? It's great! Can't afford the Empress but it sounds amazing

This is way out of my budget but really cool, thanks !

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.

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

I love how this dude will look at a user manual for a hardware product, but not software. Comedy gold!

It has a Pentode not a Triode or am i wrong?

Hey try IGS mastering eq for 500 series... is soon good

Cranked it sound killer for drum toms.

I have a plugin that suonds just like that ;) LOL this EQ is just beautiful.

yea it does the thing

Mannnnnn, I want that track!

On the low end 60hz is the magic number for the pulltec style magic

guys what do u think sounds better.. a cheap analog pulteq style eq like from warm audio .. or the emulation from ua for example? should i invest in cheap analog hardware or stay with plugin?

what's the first song instrumental not sandstorm...

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

How would you take out a vox-voice that it's causing harshness in the left side of stereo. (This voice pans from left to right and back to left again every bar in a 4/4). The harshness is on the left side. I have access to Reaper DAW and CakeWalk. I have a ton of plugins from Hornet, Waves Audio, Native Instruments (Komplete Ultimate 8). I thought about getting Reso from Mastering the Mix, but all your videos explain not to get it. You did a piece on Total EQ from HorNet plugins that supposedly better than iZotope? I've tried HorNet Analog plug-in... I used the High Bypass filter which helped some, but didn't completely solve the issue. What tool would you use on getting harshness out?

I'm in a stroopkroken and stroopwaffels parade now! Great video!

how are you sending the mix through a single channel eq?