Seems everywhere I go the name Pultech inevitable pops up. I've been watching vids and trying to understand this style of EQ and I've KIND of got it but without seeing graphic visualizations of what's going on there is still a little bit of mysticism there. I was thinking of trying this out instead of the LP eq to sweeten up my "master" (very lightly) to see what happens.
 
Just wondering what you guys think about this version we got with X3 and looking for any further explanations, resources or things to do/not do with this.
 
Hope you are all having a great weekend. Cheers.

I like them on kick drums and bass.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Post-Favorite-Plugin-and-Tips-m2799852.aspx#2801056
 

Hi Beeps,
I use Pultec-style EQ VST's all the time...usually the UAD stuff, but others as well. If you're looking for a resource to see how others use them, Fab over at Puremix uses them a bunch in his demos. If you're looking for some specific ideas for two-bus, obviously material matters, but for a classic "smile curve", take the highest band and boost 12K, and the lowest band at around 60. If you're using an emulation that has the mid-range controls you'd probably boost a little bit at around 5k as well, but I think the BT plug doesn't have that. Once you've done that you can try the "Pultec Low End Trick" (same thing that Jeff M refers to above), where you turn up the attenuation knob on the low frequency while leaving the boost knob where it is. This produces kind of a resonant notch that can be a good effect.
Graph here:
http://www.gearslutz.com/...ec-dual-knob-idea.html
 
Good luck
Dean

Cool. I had forgotten about the whole "resonance curve" stuff and even though not being able to see a visual graph of the freqs while tweaking I figure it might be easier to achieve with this plug. Seems there is something special about the pultec curve too otherwise such a seemingly basic EQ wouldn't be so touted.
 
Also when I first say the Blue Tubes bundle listed for X3 I kind of figured I didn't need any of that because of the already rather healthy effects kits in X1/2, and perhaps I don't REALLY need it but the more I look at these things the more I think I could really get into them. Lots of stuff that aren't the same brand as things I've seen in lots of tuts but seem to be modeled after the same older gear. If anything else it might help me understand that type of equipment better.
 
And that graph is very helpful. I saw I guy awkwardly trying to mimic the curves using a linear EQ but it was youtube and I wasn't sure how seriously I could take it. That confirms where my understanding was heading. The explanations of "it cuts AND boosts at the same time!!" makes it sound weird... as if it's happening at the same freq which doesn't really make sense. The boost then a little dip does. What I'm not quite sure of is how that would look when you turn the boost way DOWN then fiddle with the atten knob.
 
I'm wondering if this is the type of thing that can be shown with white noise or pink noise or whatever gives a flat freq line (I forget which does what) then viewing it through a freq analyst.
 
Anyway... cool stuff and some very interesting toys to get tossed into the package.

Beepster
What I'm not quite sure of is how that would look when you turn the boost way DOWN then fiddle with the atten knob.

Hi Beeps,
Classic Pultec emulations don't really work that way. There isn't a method to turn the boost down per se...the lowest the boost goes is 0, which is just no boost at all. At that point then the attenuation knob just lowers at the specified frequency.
 
The resonant dip (which I'm pretty sure isn't actually a thing but is a useful term for this explanation) you get when using both boost and attenuation at the same time is a byproduct of the original hardware design. IIRC, using boost and attenuate at the same time was supposed to cancel each other out, but the attenuation actually happened at a slightly higher frequency than the boost so it caused a little dip right after the selected frequency.
 
Re: pink noise, I've never tried it but I have to think it'd work. You could also probably see the "tube harmonics" that are introduced by the tube software emulation.
 
Hm...all this talk about Pultec style EQ's makes me want to get a HW unit. You got about $5K you wanna send me? Actually, better make it 10K...I'm gonna need a stereo pair. 
 
Dean

hmmm... that makes me even more curious. So if you turn the Atten knob down it'll end up creating the shelf and the boost creates a spike after? Well... okay that's probably wrong and I should just play with the thing but I guess that's what I get for only being exposed to all this digital graphical nonsense... and I guess a lot of guys back in the day didn't even know what the curves looked like. They just used their ears. Just makes me think and wonder.
 
As far as the $10k... if you can figure out a way to send polar bears to me VIA fedex* you got a deal. Stereo pair of course... because you can never have enough polar bears... and polar bears are better in stereo ;-p
 
*more plausible than me having 10 grand

Speaking of obscene amounts of money, vintage hardware and Pultecs... as I was perusing youtube vids about Pultecs I came across this tour of Steve Vai's home studio...
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5D0FfQkDWg
 
which reminded me of how ugly a beast envy is. :-/
 

This will be about the least scientific answer you will get.  There are guys here like bitflipper or Jeff Evans that will break down why they work the way you do..and i will likely read what they say because it's awesome information.  With that said, I tend to use it on kicks and bass too, AFTER I have done just about everything else with quadcurve or other EQ. I won't apply it to any sound that actually has a problem. I pretty much throw it on my kick buss and start twisting knobs and sometimes it sounds amazing.  It's like adding a dash of cinnamon in my chili for me.  Not sure the exact technical reason, but it sometimes just tastes better.  The same can be said for the baxter type EQ. Looks simple, but I don't get the same sound when i attempt to do what would seem like equivelant functionality with other EQs

Yeah, dub. That's kind of the impression I'm getting from a lot of this stuff and why all that older gear is so sought after. It's just "turn this knob for awesome juice".
 
Kind of like magnets... no one will ever understand how they work. ;-p

If you want to see for yourself what is going on, load up the MeldaProduction Free bundle and use the MNoiseGenerator to send pink noise through the PEQ-2B and see what happens using the MAnalyzer. You may need to run the average length and smoothness setting up a bit to keep the display from jumping around too much.