Pultec low-end
> The Pultec card recreates the famous EQP-1A and MEQ-5 "boost-and-cut trick" — boost and cut at the same frequency, with a slight Q offset, and you get a low-end curve that no parametric EQ can produ
The Pultec card recreates the famous EQP-1A and MEQ-5 "boost-and-cut trick" — boost and cut at the same frequency, with a slight Q offset, and you get a low-end curve that no parametric EQ can produce by itself.
How it works
A Pultec-style EQ has two passive shelves that overlap at the same frequency. When you boost (say, at 100 Hz) and cut at the same frequency, the resonant interaction between the two shelves produces a curve with a bump just above the boost frequency and a slight dip just below — the legendary "tight and thick" low end.
Outboard-EQ implements this trick on any LowShelf or HighShelf band, with a couple of extra knobs to push it past the original Pultec capability.
Controls
Pultec Type
- Off — no Pultec processing, the band is a clean shelf.
- Low — classic EQP-1A bass-boost trick. Boost + flanking cut above.
- High — mirrored for high-shelf bands. Boost + flanking cut below.
- Mid — MEQ-5 style. Two interacting bells at the band frequency for a midrange thickening effect.
Q-Style
- Soft — gentle Q-offset between boost and cut shelf. Smooth, broad lift.
- Med (default) — original Pultec Q-offset. Bit-identical to EQP-1A on shelf bands.
- Sharp — exaggerated Q-offset. More obvious bump and dip; pushes the trick further than the original hardware ever did.
Amount
0 to 1. Crossfade between pure shelf (0) and full Pultec (1). At 1 the counter-shelf is fully engaged; at 0.5 you get half the trick.
Pultec On (master gate)
The card has a master power switch. With it off, every band's Pultec stays inactive regardless of per-band settings — handy for A/B-ing the Pultec section in one click.
Pultec card vs PultecShelf filter type
These are two different things:
- The PultecShelf filter type (right-click band → Type → PultecShelf) replaces the band's filter shape with the EQP-1A curve. It's the shape.
- The Pultec card (this page) adds the Pultec trick on top of any LowShelf or HighShelf band, regardless of type. It's the behaviour.
You can combine them — a PultecShelf-typed band with the Pultec card engaged stacks both effects, useful for very pronounced vintage low-end moves.
Tips
- For mastering bus, start with a LowShelf at 60 Hz, +2 dB, Pultec Low + Med Q-style + Amount 1.0. The result is a tighter, more present sub without a measurable bump on the spectrum.
- For an extreme low-end thickening, set the band to LowShelf at 30 Hz, +5 dB, Pultec Low + Sharp Q-style + Amount 1.0. The bump moves above 50 Hz and the slight dip below 30 Hz tightens the very bottom.
- Pultec Mid with Amount around 0.5 acts like a vintage clavinet/clavinova thickener at 500 Hz–1 kHz — a great trick on bass guitar and electric piano.
See also
- Filter types for the PultecShelf shape.
- Hardware character (Op-Amp & Tape)
- Band controls
Hardware character — Op-Amp and Tape
> Every band has its own Op-Amp and Tape stage. Switch on the Hardware Character master gate in the stage drawer, pick a flavour per band, and the EQ stops sounding clean — it starts sounding like con
Density stage
> The Density stage adds harmonic saturation to each band, with control over where in the chain it sits — before the EQ filter (so the EQ shapes the harmonics) or after (so the EQ shapes the source, t