UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection
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The Bill Putnam-designed tube compressors that changed recording.
Introduced in the early 1960s, Universal Audio's 175B™ and 176™ compressors were the first audio compressors purpose-built for studio recording and mixing music. Often cited among the crowning achievements of audio pioneer and UA founder Bill Putnam Sr., the 175B and 176 are prized for their rich tube gain reduction character, fast attack, and sonic flexibility.
With only roughly 1,000 units made, vintage 175B and 176s easily command well over $5,000 on the vintage market today, and they can be found in the racks of some of the world's finest studios. Now, you can track and mix with the only authentic plug-in emulation of the original UA 175B and 176 compressors — exclusively for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces.Now You Can:
Track and mix with the only authentic emulations of Bill Putnam Sr.'s most coveted compressor designs
Add vintage tube gain reduction character and detail to vocals, drums, guitars, and more
Spice up any source with harmonically rich tube amplifier and transformer emulation
Creatively control or enhance the dynamics of your most important sources with 2:1, 4:1, 8:1 and 12:1 ratio controls
Harness plug-in-only features like Dry/Wet Mix parallel processing and Headroom for user‑customizable operating level
Mix with artist presets from Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits), Carl Glanville (U2, Bruce Springsteen), Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, Beck), and more
Take a Listen
A Pioneering Limiter
With its breakthrough fast attack time and independently variable Attack and Release controls, the UA 175B and 176 went far beyond all previously available broadcast limiters. They were quickly installed in the early 1960's at both United/Western and legendary Sunset Sound studios, where a rack of 176s still reside today. As an all-tube predecessor to the famed 1176, the 175B and 176 compressors have lent warmth and character to thousands of seminal recordings — from the Rolling Stones and Elton John, to Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Aretha Franklin, and Miles Davis.
Emulating a Masterpiece
Based on a pair of UA's 1960s golden units, the UA 175B and 176 Tube Compressor Collection plug-ins expertly capture Putnam’s tube-based gain reduction designs, as well as the tube amplifier's ultra-musical harmonics and rich, low-frequency transformer saturation. Putnam’s feedback compression circuit is key to the 175B/176 mojo, yielding softer compression at lower input levels and harder, nearly brickwall limiting at higher levels.
All-Around Champ
Sonically, the 175B and 176 compressors are often compared favorably to a Fairchild compressor, albeit with more versatile controls. As such, they're perfect for vocals, drums, guitars, and more. The UA 175B and 176 Tube Compressor Collection plug-ins give you all the character and juice of the originals — indistinguishable from the target hardware in blind listening tests.
In Action
Delicate when you need subtle control, but colorful when slammed, these plug-ins can add depth to room mics or a drum bus, give your guitars definition, park a bass in a mix, and inject vocals with energy. You can even turn off the compression completely and use the 175B/176 plug-ins as a "tone box," lending rich tube amplifier and transformer textures galore.
“You can count on the UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection to shine the right light on almost any source. It puts motion in a track that I want to dance with the pulse of the mix.”
– Joel Hamilton (Pretty Lights, Sparklehorse, Rival Schools)
“The 175B and 176 compressors sit in a magical place in between the LA-2A and 1176, creating something unique while revealing new layers of sonic opportunity.”
– Carl Glanville (U2, Billy Joel, Counting Crows)
“I’m into gear that was used to create music in the ‘60s and ’70s, and the UA 175B and 176 were a big part of it. Now with the UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection, I'm able to have both pieces with as many instances as I can handle!”
– David Isaac (Marcus Miller, Luther Vandross, Eric Clapton)
“Once you load a preset in the UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection, you're instantly rewarded with a smooth sonic richness — the signature sound of these rare hardware units.”
– Steve Levine (Culture Club, Beach Boys, Ziggy Marley)
“The UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection will thicken and warm up harsh vocals, and just like the hardware, the plug-in versions overdrive in a very pleasing way.”
– Peter Mokran (Christina Aguilera, The Flaming Lips)Customer Reviews
K. Kelley
September 15, 2020
Does the Trick!
Sounds great on everything I throw at it! Tons of character and easy to use. Money well spent.
Read MoreJ. López Uribe
September 14, 2020
Lots of colour and glue
It adds beautiful warmth to bass and drums. Great compressors
Read MoreA. Lawson
September 13, 2020
Big Yezza
Love these things, from old school grit to silky goo..
Read MoreD. Louisin
September 9, 2020
Essential !!! Exellent !!! Effective !!!
My rating, triple E, for essential, excellent and efficient! I took the 176 mix in parrallel processing on the drum bus and "boom" the big slap in the face! on vocals, guitars,...
Read MoreP. Hoier
September 7, 2020
Colorful fast and punchy compression
Well it is really evident, as they say, that the UA 175B/176 collection captures the essense of more 'modern' 1176 compression in a more colorful Fairchild-like rendition. It's got the...
Read MoreE. Koch
September 5, 2020
serious Wow!!!...no compressor collection should be without..
i patched these up on a mic > 175B > 176 > vertigo just runing minimal transient shaping brick >ZOH-MAUG-DUDE, speechless really.....the infinitely variable A/R times,...
Read More -
Key Features
Painstaking circuit emulation of Bill Putnam Sr.'s rare and iconic 175B and 176 tube compressors
Models the entire circuit path and control set of the original hardware units
UA 175B features a fixed 12:1 Ratio, 176 features four selectable Ratios: 2:1, 4:1, 8:1 and 12:1
Exclusive plug-in features include Sidechain Link, Dry/Wet Mix parallel processing and Headroom for user-customizable operating level
Includes artist presets from Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits), Carl Glanville (U2, Bruce Springsteen), Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, Beck), and more
Requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator or UA Audio Interface, available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection
K. Kelley
Does the Trick!
Sounds great on everything I throw at it! Tons of character and easy to use. Money well spent.
J. López Uribe
Lots of colour and glue
It adds beautiful warmth to bass and drums. Great compressors
A. Lawson
Big Yezza
Love these things, from old school grit to silky goo..
D. Louisin
Essential !!! Exellent !!! Effective !!!
My rating, triple E, for essential, excellent and efficient! I took the 176 mix in parrallel processing on the drum bus and "boom" the big slap in the face! on vocals, guitars, keyboards we enjoy !! Congratulations to the whole team !! tools now essential for working in the box
D. Louisin produce in the box.frP. Hoier
Colorful fast and punchy compression
Well it is really evident, as they say, that the UA 175B/176 collection captures the essense of more 'modern' 1176 compression in a more colorful Fairchild-like rendition. It's got the right amount of punch and smack, with loads of faithful warmth and grit. An interesting aspect by it self, as these qualities seems so well integrated into the overall sound outcome. On an electronic drum-bus it almost feels like modern dancemusic is taken back to the tubey sound of the 50's.
Needless to say, these compressors are done so perfectly right in the wellknown UA manner, that it almost doesn't surprise anymore!E. Koch
serious Wow!!!...no compressor collection should be without..
i patched these up on a mic > 175B > 176 > vertigo just runing minimal transient shaping brick >ZOH-MAUG-DUDE, speechless really.....the infinitely variable A/R times, combined with the way they react to and so on the sound...and then you can even tweak the texture beyond that.... can also be very subtle tube/trans richness that is very clean and punchy, but so flexible beyond that.
J. Hart
My go to plugin
The 175B is a phenomenal limiter
J. Hart
My go to plugin
The 175B is a phenomenal limiter
J. Neves
Fantastic!!!
These are absolutely awesome! It's what 1176s should really sound like lol. Only joking, they simply sound like a million dollars!
S. May
GooooooD
Been at home using it lots trying it on pretty much everything
F. St-Gelais
Haven't used a 1176 since
How are THOSE not as legendary as the 1176? They sound better in almost every way! They were probably more expensive to produce so the law of commerce crowned an inferior product just like it did with Beta vs VHS tapes in the 80's. Oh well, who cares now that we have THOSE plugins to play with! Thanks you, UAD!!!!!!!
N. Butler
Nobody told me the 1176 was an inferior, solid state version of this!
I purchased the 175B/176 recently, and WOW does it have an incredible sound - and it imparts such a lovely heft and grandness to nearly everything - I've had a love affair with the 1176 for a couple decades, but for some reason never really understood the connection to the 176. I know this is the honeymoon phase, and it's not for everything, but the 175B/176 will definitely be a staple in the majority of my mixes going forward.
A. Eisele
Thick, Gluey Compression
What I especially like is that the compression does not very obvious compression artifacts; somehow it is transparent in its compression while adding that tube-driven thick tone. I've been using the UA 176 on instrument busses to glue channels together with thick but subtle compression. Highly recommended for vintage tones with dimensionality and depth.
E. Koch
better than the fairchild for most things ( coming back for these later )
compression is so financially painful because there is no one thing with it..
the fairchild was an expensive unit because it had so many stages in trying to be a tube "brick wall limiter" with an expansive knee control...
but if your just dressing up a take, and what to leave a good portion of the dynamics intact, introducing some, but not too much too much, THD convolution, then these are going to be the go to......or if your planning on using the fairchild as your mastering compressor, then you don't want it on individual takes ( the only exception being drums, and volume pot wielded single channel guitar amps )M. Mchangani
Dope!
Played around vocals and compared it to a chain of 1176 and la 2a...from that point I knew I had to buy this bundle. I just purchased it after trying it for 4 minutes! No regrets!
m. engin
Great!
Fat Sound!
J. ALMANZA
UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection
The word to define this plugin sound is warmth. Very similar to 1176 but no so heavy.
I. Sisko
Just Rocks
They work great on almost everything. Still getting used to it, but I love the sound.
Z. Swartz
Awesome
I really made friends with the 176. To me it has the aggressiveness of an 1176, only creamier and warmer. So far I've used it on vocals, bass and snares and it really does it for me. Highly recommend!
Š. Kominko
Absolute top.
This compressor adds character and warmth. It's a gem in my sound arsenal. Top work for Universal Audio. Well thank you.
