Finding the Best Pultec-Style EQ Plugin for Your Mixes

If you’ve been mixing for more than five minutes, you’ve heard the name “Pultec.” The original EQP-1A hardware is a certified legend, famous for its smooth, musical curves and a unique trick that seems to defy logic. In the plugin world, there are dozens of emulations, all promising to deliver that same analog magic to your DAW.

But let's be straight up: is a Pultec plugin some magic wand that will instantly fix your mixes? Of course not. What really matters are your skills—knowing when to reach for a specific tool and why. A Pultec-style EQ is a character piece. It’s not for surgical cuts like FabFilter Pro-Q 3. It’s for broad, musical strokes that can add weight, air, and vibe to your tracks.

So, instead of just A/B-ing ten different plugins, let’s talk about what makes a Pultec special, where to use it in a metal mix, and which plugins get the job done right.

What Makes a Pultec EQ So Powerful?

Unlike a standard parametric EQ, the original Pultec hardware used a passive filter circuit for the EQ section, followed by a tube amplifier to make up for the signal loss. This combination is the key to its sound. The passive filters have incredibly wide, gentle curves, and the tube amp adds a touch of harmonic saturation and color, even when you’re not boosting or cutting.

This design is what makes it so musical—you can slap it on a track, twist a couple of knobs, and it almost always sounds good.

The Famous “Low-End Trick”

The most talked-about feature of the EQP-1A is the ability to boost and attenuate the same low frequency simultaneously. On paper, it seems like they should cancel each other out. But they don't.

Because the boost and attenuate curves are slightly different shapes and affect slightly different surrounding frequencies, you get a really cool effect. A common application is on a kick drum. If you set the low frequency to 60Hz and boost and cut by the same amount, you get a boost right at 60Hz (the "thump") and a gentle dip just above it (the "mud").

The result is a kick that sounds tighter, punchier, and more powerful, without adding boomy, uncontrolled sub-bass. It’s a game-changer for getting modern metal kick drums to hit hard without cluttering the low end.

Our Top Picks for Pultec-Style EQ Plugins

While there are tons of options out there, these are a few of the most trusted and widely used Pultec emulations that you’ll see in pro sessions.

Waves PuigTec EQP-1A & MEQ-5

Link to Waves PuigTec EQP-1A

The Waves PuigTec bundle is a stone-cold classic in the digital world. It’s been used on countless records and is a go-to for its straightforward interface and reliable sound. It models both the EQP-1A for broad strokes and the MEQ-5 midrange EQ, which is killer for shaping guitars and vocals.

What Makes It Great

It’s an industry standard for a reason. It’s clean, effective, and captures the core behavior of the hardware without trying to add too much extra grit or noise (unless you want it to). The CPU hit is also very low, so you can sprinkle them across your mix without bringing your machine to its knees.

Metal Mixing Applications

• Kick Drum: Use the low-end trick at 30Hz or 60Hz to add weight and focus. Use the high-frequency boost at 5kHz or 8kHz to bring out the beater click.
• Snare Drum: A boost at 100Hz can add body, while a sharp boost at 8kHz can add that aggressive crack.
• Bass Guitar: Apply the low-end trick at 60Hz or 100Hz to add massive weight while keeping it tight. A high-frequency boost around 3-5kHz can help the bass cut through on smaller speakers.

UAD Pultec Passive EQ Collection

Link to UAD Pultec Passive EQ Collection

If you’re looking for the most faithful recreation available, many top engineers would point you to the Universal Audio versions. The UAD collection is a meticulous emulation of three classic units and is often considered the benchmark for Pultec plugins.

What Makes It Great

UAD is known for its obsessive attention to detail. This collection models the entire circuit path, including the transformers and tube amplifiers, capturing the non-linearities that make the hardware sound so three-dimensional. It feels and responds like the real thing.

Metal Mixing Applications

• Mix Bus: This is a fantastic mix bus EQ. Try a 1dB boost at 30Hz or 60Hz to add weight to the entire mix, and a 1dB boost at 12kHz or 16kHz on the "broad" setting to add a beautiful, open air to the top end without harshness.
• Vocals: Use the high-frequency boost to add presence and "air" to a heavy vocal, making it sit on top of the mix without sounding shrill.
• Guitars: While you usually need surgical EQ for guitars, a broad cut on the MEQ-5 model around 300-500Hz can clear out mud from a whole guitar bus super effectively. For more advanced techniques, our hub page on EQing metal guitars has you covered.

Kiive Audio Warmy EP1A

Link to Kiive Audio Warmy EP1A

For those looking for a modern take with a more accessible price tag, the Warmy EP1A has become incredibly popular. It nails the classic Pultec workflow but also includes a "Tube" drive circuit for adding extra harmonic saturation.

What Makes It Great

It’s affordable, sounds fantastic, and the added saturation control makes it more versatile than a straight emulation. You can keep it clean or drive it hard for some extra tube grit. It also comes in a bundle with their MEQ-5 style EQ, the Warmy WM-1.

Metal Mixing Applications

• Parallel Drum Bus: This is where the drive knob shines. Put it on a parallel drum bus, use the low-end trick to add huge low-end, and then crank the “Tube” knob to get some gnarly, aggressive saturation. Blend that in under your main drum bus for incredible weight and power. This is a common move in metal, often paired with heavy parallel compression.
• Toms: Give your toms that classic rock "boom" by boosting the low end and adding a little saturation to help them cut through the mix.

Does the Specific Pultec Plugin Really Matter?

Okay, so we’ve listed a few great options. But do you need the UAD version to get a pro sound? Absolutely not.

This is where plugin acquisition syndrome can kick in. The truth is, the differences between high-quality emulations are subtle. Pros like the instructors you’ll find on Nail The Mix might be able to hear that last 1% of difference, but your mix isn’t going to live or die based on whether you used the Waves or the IK Multimedia version.

What’s more important is finding one that feels good to you. If the GUI is intuitive and it lets you dial in the sound you hear in your head quickly, that’s the best one for you. The real magic isn’t in the plugin itself—it’s in your decisions.

Putting It All Into Practice

A Pultec-style EQ is a phenomenal tool. It’s perfect for adding musical weight to kicks and bass, bringing out beautiful, non-harsh "air" on vocals and cymbals, and gluing a mix together on the master bus.

But knowing when to use it versus a different EQ is a skill that comes with practice and experience. There’s no substitute for seeing how seasoned pros apply these tools in real-world sessions.

Watching a producer like Jens Bogren or Will Putney use a Pultec to shape a killer drum sound is a totally different experience than just reading about it. You get to see their workflow, hear the before-and-after in context, and understand the why behind every knob turn.

If you’re ready to see how these tools are used to create the biggest albums in metal, check out our massive catalog of NTM sessions. You get the real multi-tracks and get to watch the original producer mix the song from scratch, explaining every step along the way.