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Compressor

UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection

Universal Audio

The UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection is a pair of meticulous plug-in emulations of Universal Audio's legendary tube compressors from the 1960s, prized for their rich gain reduction character and sonic flexibility. The 175-B features a fixed 12:1 compression ratio optimized for limiting, while the 176 offers four selectable ratios (2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 12:1) for versatile dynamic control. Both models authentically emulate the original hardware's feedback compression circuit, tube amplifier saturation, and transformer coloration, enabling use as standalone tone boxes or full dynamic processors.

Key Features

01Fixed 12:1 ratio (175-B) and four selectable ratios: 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 12:1 (176)
02Attack times continuously adjustable from 100 to 1000 microseconds
03Release times continuously adjustable from 27 to 527 milliseconds
04Stepped or continuous Input/Output control via Vernier switch
05Dry/Wet Mix parallel compression blending
06Headroom control with 7 preset values (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 dB)
07Stereo Sidechain Link for unified or independent L/R gain reduction
08Attack OFF mode for tone-box operation without compression

Things to Try

  • 01Turn Attack and Release knobs to their fastest settings (fully clockwise) to add compression distortion and grit, particularly effective on bass and screaming lead vocals
  • 02Set Attack to OFF position to use the plug-in as a tone box, leveraging the tube amplifier and transformer saturation without any dynamics processing
  • 03Use the Mix control to blend compressed and dry signals for parallel compression on drum bus or mix bus applications
  • 04Adjust Headroom counter-clockwise to lower dB values to reduce compression amount and tone coloration, or rotate clockwise to push the plug-in into gain reduction more easily
Formats
VSTVST3AUAAX
User Manual↗

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UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection by Universal Audio | Plugin Library