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
I. Sisko
June 22, 2020
Just Rocks
They work great on almost everything. Still getting used to it, but I love the sound.
Read MoreZ. Swartz
June 18, 2020
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...
Read MoreŠ. Kominko
June 13, 2020
Absolute top.
This compressor adds character and warmth. It's a gem in my sound arsenal. Top work for Universal Audio. Well thank you.
Read Morej. mckinley
June 12, 2020
Compressor
This compressor is great on bass , kick ,snare and vocals . Nice GUI and controls content excellent
Read MoreK. Armstrong
June 12, 2020
My new favorite compressors.
Kind of like a combo of the ballistics of an 1176 with the tone of an LA-2 or LA-3. They have sounded sick on all guitars, bass and vocals so far. It would be great if the two models were...
Read MoreR. Daniel
June 6, 2020
A must have!!!
I’ve been wanting one of these in hardware unit for for years... Thank you UAudio for doing a great job.
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
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.
j. mckinley
Compressor
This compressor is great on bass , kick ,snare and vocals .
Nice GUI and controls content excellentK. Armstrong
My new favorite compressors.
Kind of like a combo of the ballistics of an 1176 with the tone of an LA-2 or LA-3. They have sounded sick on all guitars, bass and vocals so far. It would be great if the two models were on a toggle like the CLA-76 Bluey/Blacky thing.
R. Daniel
A must have!!!
I’ve been wanting one of these in hardware unit for for years... Thank you UAudio for doing a great job.
R. Marant
CALIDEZ Y CUERPO.!!
No había probado estos compresores, porque pensaba que ya tengo bastantes; pero los utilicé para ver qué tal quedaban en la grabación de una voz y una guitarra acústica y me quedé sorprendido de lo bien que sonaba.
Cada vez estoy más sorprendido con los plugins de UAD.
Genial!!!A. Levy
My Favorite Compressor
This blows me away every time I try it on anything. I just love it! It makes me happy :D
B. Young
Sublime Compressors Especially For Lead Vox
I was and still am a big fan of UA’s TubeTech CL1B MKII compressor for lead vocals but for my latest single there was some warmth and character missing from the lead vox and I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I had been receiving UA ads and updates about the 176’s but just thought ‘oh yeah just another compressor, I have so many of them already’ but I decided to demo them and was instantly blown away. They seemed to combine the best of the LA2A and the Manley Variable Mu - loads of taming ability with loads of tube warmth. It was exactly what my lead vox needed. It’s no exaggeration to say that the UA 176 (the black one is the one I ended up using - both are amazing though) helped make my latest track what it is. You can really control the tone of whatever instrument it is you’re compressing. I happen to think they’re ideal for vocals. I tracked them in LUNA using UA Neve 1073’s / Unison and had the 176 on an insert so I could adjust the comp after tracking. This combo was dynamite. Try it!
智. 竹内
One of my favorite
Smooth, Warm, and Fat Sound!!!!!!
S. Whitfield
Love it!
Sounds killer!!
B. Senter
Great!
Sounds great on various instruments!
A. Reverberi
Pleasantly Surprised
I never used the Hardware version of these and I was not expecting much beside another 1176 type of compressor, but no they do have their own character, and i do use em white a bit.
p. albert
UA 175B ET 176 Tube Compresseur
Compresseur très efficace obtenue avec l'achat d'un satellite DSP .
O. Daniel
WARMTH
This works well for me, esp on the 2bus. Just glad to have it.
B. Horvat
Great plugins
I hate those plugins. I use to know my way around, when it came to mixing, but with these two units... They're fantastic. Why do I hate them...? Because I'm spending too much time applying them (both versions) to pretty much every track in my mix and spending hours enjoying in what they do, instead of getting my work done. But really, these are my new go to plugins for almost any track. Great character easy to use and they feel like home on my 2bus as well. Good job UAD.
M. Hall
Nice
Nice
J. Eddington
Soo Warm
Love the 175B on vocals and keys, and just about everything else.
C. Davies
175b and 176
Gives a really warm vibe to the sound of the strat
digging these pluginsJ. Barillaro
Classics
Can't go wrong once you get it set.
