As channel strips chosen for deliberate effect, Waves TG12345 and REDD running into their J37 tape sim. Instant time travel to any period from the 1930s to the 1980s. It can be an interesting creative and learning exercise to choose to pretend you're in a studio in, say the early 60s, and work only with the tools that were available then, or at least emulations of them.
As a "usual starting point" when I'm not looking for a "period" sound I mostly tend to combine the Pro Channel EQ with an 1176 emulator, Bozdigital's +10dB compressor or Cakewalk's CA-2A. Other eqs might get used depending on whether I think they'd be useful - especially Pultec sims, SSL channel eq emulators and Boz's +10dB channel strip.
For console emulation I tend to prefer Wave's NLS to Cakewalk's, but it's a very close thing. I often don't use a console emulator in any case, on smaller track/bus count projects it doesn't really make much difference. On higher track counts where there's loads of console emulators doing their thing the result is more noticable, but whether it's desirable depends on the material. Neve, SSL and other console builders aim for their products to distort or otherwise change the audio signal as little as possible, after all.