Hi Beeps well the Pultec EQ is a bit if a beast and it is not your average EQ in terms of how you use it. Not sure about the one included in X3, I am referring to the Nomad Pulstec EQ though. The full version that is. Not sure how that helps you but there may be some stuff here that is relevant.
I highly recommend that you first setup a source of pink noise. Insert the EQ and after that put in Voxengo Span. Set Span for a slope of 3dB to start with so the pink noise curve ends up totally horizontal. I also found that filling in the display below is also a good choice too.
A few things. Even with everything set flat and Input/Output level controls at 0 the EQ will introduce a few dB of gain. No biggie but worth noting. Watch what happens around 20K as well when it is switched in. It only has a response up to about 17Khz as well and then it drops off pretty quickly.
Start playing with all the controls one by one and observe what is happening on Span. The top section is all about the Mid Range. 'Peak' controls boost at the selected frequencies while 'Dip' controls obviously pull those freqs down. The bell curve is fixed here and is pretty relaxed.
There are two peak controls in the top section on the left and right. On the left the range of freqs is from 200 to 1K in steps on the right the peak controls continue on from 1.5K to 5K in steps. In the middle is the DIP control covering the range from 200Hz to 7Khz in steps and as you can see a pretty wide range there.
The Middle Section covers the ends of the spectrum with both peak and dip controls. The Lo Freq control covers 20, 30, 60 100Hz. Peak or dip. The High Freq controls are a little different though. The ATT control only works in conjunction with the ATT Select switch over on the very right. So you can only atten at 5K,10K and 20K. These are very gentle curves but quite noticeable however. The pink noise and span will really show what they are doing. The Boost control only works with that KCS switch and you can boost at 3,4,5,8,10,12 and 16 KHz. That bandwidth control is pretty fierce and had a major effect especially on the Span as you will see.
Now you can do things like ATT at say 10Khz but also boost at 8Khz at the same time and as you would expect you will get a sharper peak at say 8Khz but then a sudden drop at 10Khz. Do not be afraid to use the boost and att controls at the same time.
All the controls interact eg you could boost on the middle panel at say 5 Khz and also on the top panel using the peak control at 5Khz to get more action at 5Khz. But the top panel has a smoother bell while the bottom one can be a sharper peak with that bandwidth control set completely anticlockwise.
I love it on almost everything and it is a great mastering EQ as well. One of my faves is to set the DIP control around 300Hz and just dip an entire mix there
(slightly) and hear all that upper lows or lower mid mud just disappear. Ultimately you just have to use it on either tracks, buses or a mix and just listen to what it is doing with your ears. Try not to move too many things at once, try single things at a time first to get an idea. Also when you use the boost controls at first it may seem not much is happening but listen carefully and you will realise a lot is happening. I can hear even the peak control at say 1k and a setting of 1 or 2 has a major impact on a mix. You wont hear it at first but after a while you start to really notice it.
I don't like the clipper control at all. I switch that off. It is not that nice. Also watch those Input/Output controls and VU's too. Switch that switch to INPUT and make sure your input levels are nice and switch over to OUTPUT to see what the levels are like leaving it as well. And yes you can drive the input hard and turn the output down for a more driven sound or back the input levels off and turn the output levels up for a cleaner sound.
Those Vintage switches are meant to remove I think the input transformers and things that give it an even more retro sound. With high quality masters that are pristine in sound I tend to switch the Vintage switches OFF to stop it from putting too much transformer sound in. But on the other hand on a track or a buss the vintage controls will push the sound of the transformers a bit more. But overall they are very subtle effects
(Vintage switches that is) Hope that helps. It does make things sound better even when nothing is being boosted or cut! The more you use it the better you will get.