From the folks at URS comes this cool plug-in that takes all of the Pultec EQ's ever made-EQP-1A, EQH-2, and midrange MEQ-5-and combines them into one plug- in with all of the parameters of all three EQ's available simultaneously. This is a bit of a departure from the normal vintage modeling approach as it creates a vintage piece of gear that never actually got made!
For the purpose of this review, Robert and I compared the Fulltec to both our hardware Pultec EQH-2 as well as Bomb Factory's popular Pultec plug-ins that we favorably discussed in Tape Op #41 (see UAD-1 review). If you've used a real Pultec, you'll know that just running signal through it when bypassed has an effect on the bottom end that sounds great. Neither plug-in really nailed this but both were in the ballpark. Neither emulation completely nailed the top-end boost of our real Pultec either, although both sounded good and came close, with the Fulltec coming the closest to the real thing. Another common Pultec trick is to both cut and boost a frequency at the same time, and on this comparison, only the Bomb Factory really nailed this effect. Where the Fulltec most closely matched the real Pultec was on the bottom end boost, here it was very close to the real thing, closer than the Bomb Factory plug-in.
The key thing about this plug-in is that it's very close to the Pultec sound, and the combo of all three Pultec models in one plug-in is totally unique and versatile, making this plug-in both super useful and a good value. It's also important to keep in mind that every Pultec sounds different, and no two sound alike, so comparisons like these are almost unfair. My only minor complaint is that the user interface could have been made to more closely resemble the old Pultec EQ's. I can only imagine how cool this behemoth EQ would look. But, this is a minor quibble. (TDM $499.99 direct, Native $299.99; www.ursplugins.com)
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