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Compression with attitude for guitars, vocals, and drums.

The Teletronix LA‑3A compressor is an iconic "secret weapon" limiter, famous for pushing sounds right to the front of your speakers with a unique, aggressive character.

Modeled from a unit in UA’s vintage collection, the Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler plug-in gives you all the tone and pugnacious dynamics control of the rare hardware.

Included Versions

UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.

Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.

UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.

  • Get the unique tone of the definitive solid-state optical compressor
  • Add energy and harmonics to vocals and acoustic guitars
  • Inject grit and texture to bass guitar and soft synths
  • Punch up your drums using the HF Emphasis sidechain filter and parallel Dry/Wet Mix

Want to Try It?

Use this plug-in free for 14 days and find out if it's right for you.

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TAKE A LISTEN

Get In-Your-Face Optical Compression Tones

Get In-Your-Face Optical Compression Tones

By giving you faster limiting than the tube-driven smooth operator Teletronix LA‑2A with the clarity of the iconic solid‑state 1176, the Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in offers bold, mid‑forward compression, guaranteed to make your sounds pop.

Easily Get Pro Limiting on Drums

Easily Get Pro Limiting on Drums

Use the HF Emphasis sidechain filter to punch up your drum bus with legendary LA‑3A tone, without triggering the threshold of the compressor with the kick drum. Plus, the Dry/Wet Mix control gives you quick parallel compression on a synth or piano track, seasoning your productions with legendary Teletronix LA‑3A attitude.

Key Features

Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included

Get the unique tone of the definitive solid-state optical compressor

Add energy and harmonics to vocals and acoustic guitars

Inject grit and texture to bass guitar and soft synths

Punch up your drums using the HF Emphasis sidechain filter and parallel Dry/Wet Mix

Customer Reviews

Teletronix® LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler

Overall Rating

R. Vargas

May 18, 2023

tried to avoid it

i wanted to not like this since i already have an army of comps but this just has a great tone. doesn’t crumble when pushed. a must.

I. Radic

May 13, 2023

A beast

It was love at first sight,i'm using it in every recording session,it adds direction to the instrument wrapped in a subtle saturation.

P. Garcia

May 1, 2023

Far away from the hardware

Far away from the hardware, unfortunately.
I love and use almost all UAD plugins, but this one needs some work.
The attack is so fast, it does not give you the punch nor the harmonics you'd expect from an La-3a. If universal audio were still selling the hardware I would understand this plugin not being very accurate....

M. Schulz

April 18, 2023

Best LA-3A plugin

Absolutely fantastic

M. Serrano

April 11, 2023

Best option for Vocals

Even if the vocals don't need compression at all, I will put it on the chain to add the rich color that the LA-3A gives.

F. jordan

April 4, 2023

Great on guitar

My go-to plugin for electric or acoustic guitar. It adds to the attack to make it sound like they are strumming harder while bringing up the subtle between-note sounds.

J. Srilaam

March 29, 2023

Every good

I love Uad

J. Tillman

March 17, 2023

My new favorite!

I love the sound of a good LA-3A and this plugin doesn’t disappoint! Another really great tool to have in my arsenal. Give it a shot on your drum bus, it’s got a unique flavor!

S. Sykes

March 10, 2023

Feels Like The Hardware

After years of using LA3As in different studios I was amazed to find that this plugin really felt like the hardware ones I've used.

A. Lee

March 8, 2023

Love it

great for bass, acoustic Gtr, strings

E. ARRUDA

February 28, 2023

Great plugin


Excellent processor, especially on bass and drums.

M. Alexandru-George

February 16, 2023

Very good comp

Nice audio leveler <3

V. Ruzicic

February 13, 2023

Classic!

This was go to for me...for some situations

J. Tornay

January 21, 2023

Secret weapon

I always insert LA-3A in my bass tracks. Makes it sit in the mix perfectly.

J. Zapata

January 17, 2023

very very good

i like this olugin

M. Willert

January 9, 2023

Instant magic...

... on drums and guitar - love it!

A. Sanchez

January 6, 2023

Great on acoustic guitars and lead vocals

Smooth on acoustic guitars and brings lead vocal to the front of your mix.

Z. Abresch

December 28, 2022

Smooth, clean, & accurate

From what I know of the original hardware unit, this plugin is pretty dang true to form. Gets that classic LA compression & limiting with a clean and clear, FET sound. Great for leveling out vocals or limiting a bass track to sit in the mix and is capable of everything from crushing compression to subtle peak reduction.

c. toop

December 18, 2022

Brilliant

Only thing better then the uad plugin is the real thing.

P. Ribeiro

December 15, 2022

excelente!!!

estou usando muito e plenamente satisfeito com essa aquisição!