I own two of these now. I run them on my master channel. Wow. They are smooth if you want or you can push them (kinda like all the warm stuff) and get some mega saturation. My pair are within less than a db of each other on output. With the addition of the gain adjustment on the back of warm has knocked it out of the park. I've owned several clones of the pultec. The warm audio are my faves to date. I'm worried about splitting hairs. They sound excellent and are very similar to the piece they pay tribute too.

I picked up a pair of these almost two years ago while on a trip through Texas, but I have been reluctant to record through them when I hadn't learned them. Seventy-year-old technology doesn't always make sense today. I've done some experimenting and messing around to try to understand these unique things, but in the last few days I think they proved their worth.
I have some difficult drum tracks from a project I recorded under pressure of time and the band members' potentially fatal medical problems. The album is mixed and released, but for my own satisfaction I have been trying to craft a better version of it.
Today I put a semi-finished stereo drum track through a pair of EQP-WA. I played with the controls until I got something I liked, and then did a level-matched comparison to the original stereo tracks.
At the exact same peak level I absolutely got more of everything I like and less of everything I didn't. Kick and toms with more apparent heft and less bloat. Cymbals with clearer attack but no excessive extreme top. Snare that sounds more natural and sits where it should. No hint of distortion, and the noise floor is almost exactly where it was without the EQP-WA. The simple controls on this thing are capable of much more than I expected possible.
Looking forward to using these a lot!
(I did slap on my own helper labels as you will see in the pictures.)

I just love Warm Audio gear and the way they run their business. Such well built gear that sounds as smooth as butter.
I'm a huge fan of the quality and value.

Having used the real deal and also the solid state 500 series eq by Pultec, I can say that this unit holds its own. I happen to love analog eq - I adds a weight and dimension to tracks that plug ins can't really offer. Sort of like analog synths versus virtual plug ins. Once you understand how the controls work it becomes east to use. Can you make great vocals without it? Sure! But to my ears tools like this make my life easier, a lot quicker to get polished finished tracks. I really can't justify spending $ on the real deal, so I'm very happy with mine. Recommended!

Love using a pair of these for stereo bus work. They really help accentuate the juicy elements of the mix, and bring a three dimensional life to anything they touch.

The biggest difference between these and the classic Pultec's, is the way the apply saturation at low gain. Pultec's apply saturation right off the bat and color very quickly. The Warm's are lighter on the color at first, but it gets introduced quickly as you boost. Not a negative or a pro, more so just behavioral difference.

If you want that fun airy sound, get a pair!

The EQP-WA is a fascinating piece of hardware. It doesn't do surgical EQ, but it is surprisingly adaptable to massaging a number of common problems with individual tracks or stems. I have found it helpful in dialing in some heft on bass and kick tracks without making those tracks much louder or way too bloated in the sub-bass region. Likewise it can fine-tune mid-to-top tracks. It also has a subtle and usually pleasing effect as a tube and transformer device without turning the EQ knobs at all.

For a home studio this piece of gear is a great investment once you have quality mics, pre-amp, and compressor already. The tube saturation you get with this helps a vocal or acoustic guitar sit perfectly in the mix. Adding or cutting booming lows and highs for clarity are simple, this EQ is also very powerful so a little goes a long way. If you're like me and have a home studio set up and just can't quite get that "sound" you're looking for try this out. It will definitely add life to your tracks and help your final mix sound more full and professional. I run vocals, acoustic guitar, and bass through it and all have been enhanced greatly.

I've recently started purchasing external hardware processors for my home studio. VST Plugins and emulations are great, but I wanted to experience true analog and tactile control over the recording process rather than using a mouse and presets, etc. I bought the Warm Audio WA76, WA2A and EQP-WA units and they are fantastic. Great quality, great build and fantastic sonically. You just can't go wrong with this units. Highly recommended!!

As always, thanks to my account rep, Evan Mehre, for years of great service and support.

This is my first hardware EQ, and it blew my socks off. I've been producing music for over a decade in the box and finally decided to invest in some nice outboard gear.

Sure, you can get a similar sound with a Pultec plugin emulation, but the experience of twisting the EQP-WA's big knobs is a ton of fun. I've noticed that the tactile nature of using this EQ makes me more inclined to experiment with unusual EQ settings, often leading to unique and unexpected results.

My current hardware vocal chain consists of a Warm Audio WA73-EQ > EQP-WA > WA76 > WA-2A. Depending on the performer, I'll patch units in/out of this chain, but I have all my vocal processing bases covered with this gear. Tone shaping my recordings, prior to running them through my compressors, is where the EQP-WA really excels.

Warm Audio's EQP-WA is an excellent choice for outboard eq's!! I purchased a pair of these for use on my mix buss return and my incoming guitar record chain. A really cool feature is the eq bypass switch that allows for the addition of tube warmth into whatever track(s) you're recording. I purchased cap covers for the on/off and eq bypass switches to add some vintage flavor. I've been working with these eq's for a month now, and I'm loving them!

This is my favorite piece of gear! It's crazy how this thing just makes everything sound better even when bypassed. I rarely bypass it though. The Eq works great on anything including vocals but it does something to bass guitar that I haven't been able to achieve without it.
It just really fattens up a bass and I tried the thing where you boost and cut the same frequency in the lower frequencies and it's hard to describe what it does but it just makes it really solid and it tickles the ears when you get it dialed in just just right. You are going to have to try it to understand what I'm talking about.

I have two of these units now on my master bus great equalizer. I also use it one my vocal chain, sweet .

Our guitarist bought this unit as a Xmas gift for the band and we tried it out tonight for the first time.
When I say that I wish I had bought the moment it cane out is an understatement! I used one WA-47 into a True Systems P-Solo into the EQP-WA into a Sound Devices Mix-Pre10M and took MAYBE 5 minutes to set the knobs to something I thought might sound cool for a one mic in the middle of the room with an amped Jazzmaster and full kit and WOW!!!! JUST WOW! Didn't even have it racked up yet and it blew us all away. We played back that quick recording and it sounded like we spent all night mic-ing, recording and mixing those drums and that guitar! I mean, if you are AT ALL on the fence about this product, and take my advice and then decide you don't like it- SELL OT TO ME! I would buy 7 more of these if I could afford to! Hahaha

This is my second Warm Audio product I get. I am a Sweetwater client and my sales rep Roq Martin has always been great. This time I wasn't able to purchase from Sweetwater and went through my local dealer in Guatemala City. So bear in mind I am not reviewing Sweetwater's service which has been incredible even when I've had to order big items that were delivered through a third party international courier.

So today I got the EQPWA. Beautifully packed in its nice box with its manual and everything. I took it out of the box for a spin and hooked it up to a mono output on my clarett 8 pre usb. Sent some mono tracks I had been working on for a clients session.

Immediately I remembered why analog gear is great. Every change I made was so obvious, very big and warm. Definitely not harsh, it was easy to hear the change in every frequency band I selected. I proceeded to make sure everything was working when I noticed that the high frequency boost control on the 3 and 4K position wasn't doing anything. At first I thought it was my ears but when I selected 5k the change was really easy to hear.

I played with the bandwidth control to see if there was any change and got nothing for the 3 and 4K frequencies.

So I pulled my Izotope Ozone equalizer and checked visually with a noise generator. Again, the changes where easy to spot for every frequency but the 3 and 4K.

So I immediately messaged my local dealer and scheduled a meeting to return the unit. I concluded that that boost control for the bands mentioned above or the high frequency selector switch were busted. (The high boost control worked on every other band available tho, so probably the switch).

I made up my mind to wait until Monday to return the unit but couldn't wait till then. I proceeded to carefully open the unit (please don't do this if you don't know what your doing, it's dangerous, and understand you can void your warranty) and realized that everything was perfect inside. Well soldered, excellent components and materials. Nothing out of place. So I used a multimeter to check the switch and noticed it was a bad contact. I sprayed contact cleaner on the inside of the witch and voila! The boost control started working for the 3 and 4K frequency bands. I noticed that the electronic board had the manufactured date, it was made in 2015, so an older unit.

In conclusion, contact cleaner can do a lot. It is probably best to return a unit like this or get another one but bear in mind everything takes longer, harder to get, or more expensive in Latin America.

Apart from this, love it. For sure try it if you can.

Ok ok. Everyone says analog gear adds warmth, weight, etc etc. Well this thing really does.

I started using it conservatively on the mix bus (which this review is completely geared towards, haven't used it on anything else yet). +2db at 60hz, +3db at 8khz with an 8 bandwidth. A little goes a long ways with this guy. Your plugin emulation settings will most likely NOT translate to this box. The low-end is subtle, but very weighty. Flipping it on and off is great. It's not gonna make or break your mixes, but it definitely adds some heft to the low-end. I opted not to use the low cut. Seemed to affect the mids too much. The curve of the low-cut must extend pretty far up and seems to scoop the mids too much for my tastes. The high end is a little less forgiving. More than 3db+ and it got a bit too grainy. 3db seemed to be the max to give the mix a little bit of invisible lift, take the blanket off the speakers, without completely changing the mix and getting harsh.

Honestly, was it worth the money to replace the Waves Puigtec plugin I was using for mix bus? Maybe. The low end weight and thickness is great. I was hoping to be able to push the highs a little more, but it doesn't sound as transparent as the plugin, but it also sounds less restricted if that makes sense. Like +2db on the Warm sounds like +4db on the waves. Just gotta find the sweet spot where things open up without getting harsh. I had to use a really clean iZotope EQ to push the highs another 1db transparently, after the Warm. If you have some cash and want an upgrade, it'll be a good investment for you. But again, it's not gonna be a game changer that fixes all your ITB problems. It's an extra spice if your mixes are already good and you want that extra 5-10% boost.

Excited to try it during tracking. I'm fairly certain it will be able to add some weight and sheen to everything I record.

Great piece, I couldn't be happier with this one!! Love the old school knobs they feel great. Sounds crystal clean to me I have no complaints at all on this one! Can't wait to get another one.
Thanks Aaron.

Just came today. Completed my rack for my vocal chain. I also run hardware through the chain. AMAZING. It's so much less on the mixing end. Everything sounds so fat and warm. Sits right in the mix.

I purchased two of these from Sweetwater earlier this week and have been playing around with them for a few days and oh what a difference they make. Quiet as a mouse, and the flexibility in the low/high end is is absolutely stunning. I feel like I can get any type of sound I want without any of the negatives. I am not a recording engineer so I won't try to dazzle you with my knowledge, but all I can say is if you've been thinking about bring your sound up a few notches this is the way to go. WARM EQ has instantly become a major player in my recording arsenal. A special thanks to Dustin for his invaluable help.

SOUNDS GREAT really adds a little something to a vocal

I naively bought this in hopes of decreasing my harsh male vocals and realized too late that it doesn't even have any frequency control in the primary range of the "harsh" male voice, specifically, 2.5 khz. I assumed it could cut my 2.5 harshness but it can't because the 2.5 khz detent is simply missing. The low-frequency knob stops at 800 hz and then there is a big gap until it hits 3 khz and higher. Why didn't they "modernize" this all the way to cover ALL the frequencies? I know WARM added a few more frequency detents to make it more modern but would it have been too disrespectable to Pultec to make this actually usable for vocals as well as a sweetener? Like most home recording guys, I had never even heard of Pultec but I've heard harsh vocals and still do. But I finally fixed the harshness with a Drawmer MX60 that can dial in any frequency and smoothly cut out the harshness. Maybe I can send this to WARM and they can add a 2.5 khz detent for me, lol. Anyway, it's nice looking and works OK for the limited range of frequencies it covers but don't get it for vocals or any similar vocal frequency instruments like guitars, pianos, horns, violins, etc., the list goes on and on...

I BOUGHT 2 OF THESE. I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED ONE UNIT IN PARTICULAR. THE "HIGH CUT" CONTROL WAS JAMMED AND DIDN'T STOP SPINNING WHEN I CUT IT LOOSE (YIKERS!)......IN OTHER WORDS IT WAS CRAP. THE SOUND QUALITY WAS AMAZING...IT SOUNDED BEAUTIFUL. I LOVED WHAT I HEARD....HOWEVER...WITHOUT POTENTIOMETERS ....WHAT'S LEFT? IT'S LIKE A CAR WITHOUT A STEERING WHEEL LIKE BUYING A "PULTEC STYLE" EQ FROM FINGERHUT! I'M RELATIVELY POOR LIKE ALL MUSICIANS...BUT I ALWAYS SPEND MY MONEY ONCE. BUYING THE BEST WHENEVER POSSIBLE IS A LESSON WELL LEARNED.
SO...THAT BEING SAID WITHOUT RAINING ON EVERYBODY'S PARADE....BUY ONE IF YOU ARE AN ELECTRICAL GENIUS...AND MODIFY IT.....AND YOU MIGHT STRIKE GOLD...OR.... YOU MIGHT STRIKE A HIDDEN POWER LINE IN YOUR FRONT LAWN AND EXPERIENCE A BAD ENDING....GOOD LUCK!

I bought 2 of these a few years ago.... I now have 4. I've worked on the originals and these absolutely have that sound. I have a pair that live on the stereo bus insert of my SSL console, and another two I use for tracking and as inserts for mixdown as well, be it on individual channels but more often than not as a pair on a stereo stem. It needs to be understood that these are not surgical EQs. Another review was saying that they are sweeteners in an almost derogatory sense,, however I don't think they understand that's exactly what they are... big fat bottom end, silky top end. This is an EQ that can simultaniously boost and cut on the bottom end, only boost in the mids/highs, and cut on the top. It isn't a surgical tool, though it isn't meant to be. A pair of these is the way to go, after all they are "program equalizers" meaning they are intended to sit on a stereo bus. Whenever I switch on my stereo bus insert with these my mix instantly leaps out of the speakers with a big bottom end and extended mids and top end. I highly recommend buying 2 of them to use on your stereo bus. If only buying one, its phenomenal on kick, snare, electric guitar and bass. They take an audio source and take it from dull to fat and exciting and leaping out of your speakers. This unit is an absolute home run, however to truly experience their magic you should buy 2 as that's what they are intended for.

Im a musician and recording hobbyist and have been several years now and use a Tascam 388 as well as Reaper and a Marantz 4-track. So having said that, I can't compare it to any other pieces of gear (ie Pultec) but I love this thing! I can take a track that I think sounds good, run it through the EQP and it just adds some air and dimension to it and makes it sound more like a record to me. I wouldn't say its all the EQ I need but its at least 90%. What I mean by that is that I tend to use an EQ in Reaper to get a HPF to clean up say below 30-60 Hz but thats pretty much it. I will say its taken me some time to feel competent with it having not used a lot of outboard EQs but I love the tactile aspect of interacting with tracks and finding what works for a specific instrument or voice. I specifically love what it does to a kick drum and bass, like I said it just adds some air and makes everything sound more 3D

I like outboard gear. But I only want to cross my converters if the gear will make it worth it. This EQ is definitely worth it. Now I even use it in my tracking signal chain with the EQ flat.

I purchased the EQP a year ago and have found it to be a great addition. I was looking for an eq that I could use for tracking when necessary and found this pultec style eq to do the job very well. I run this with a Heritage Audio 73 which has two channels. After A/Bing, with one channel with the eq (in bypass and the second without), I found the channel with the eq to just have more character. Of course once you start using the eq features you will truly reap the benefits. I use it primarily on vocals and bass, Heritage 73>WA76>EQP. Just read in Mix magazine that this is the same chain Aerosmith used to track vocals and bass for Walk This Way. Only regret is not waiting longer for the newer units which have an attenuation feature but haven't had a problem without one.

Really cool to have .... I have a warm chain of tb12 w76 and now the eq . I prefer to have a tube in my signal path so it completes the sound for me . Just adds something .... Judicious use reveals sonic qualities of sources . I can't imagine spending over 3 grand on a pultec , but I guess studios have to compete , and it gives an edge .... But I think for serious recording . Can't wait to use on kick drum , albeit an Alesis sr 18!!! Warm is great with support, so you can buy with confidence . Sweetwater is definitely the best music company . And my sales engineer , who I have failed to mention yet in reviews - Clint Bransteter - is really kind and helpful and has always been patient and superb in his service for me ! Kudos to him and everyone at sweetwater for their dedication . And alas, I have been a jerk and impatient in the past so I apologize , just was frustrated . But sweetwater has been exemplary in customer service . No other company compares! And warm audio rocks !!! And thanks to clients associates for being super helpful as well . ...keep rocking to all !!!!

I was a little put off by the low price, when I first seen this unit. So I read reviews and compared different models in this price range with 500 series included and listened to all the examples that I could. So what the hey, I bought one! Now I wish I,d got two for stereo uses. I,ve got matched sets of NOS preamp tubes I could roll in, but the Tung Sol,s sound good enough to me. And, my plugins can,t touch this on tone, this has more clarity and 3D depth/weight. So do yourself a favor and get these before the price increases, I know I am! Now if they,d just make the mid range model? Excellent for the money.

There's a good reason Pultec style eq's are all the rage right now- they're definitely not like any other eq. Since I've never worked on an original I can only say that the WA version adds a sweetness in the top end and can dial up girth on the bottom. The cut/boost design is surprisingly powerful. I find the extra frequencies the WA has are must-haves for me. 800hz is a great punch for clean strats and some in-your-face presence for j-bass.
Build quality is very good considering the price. i picked up their 1176 and LA2A versions also, and I'm equally impressed with those. I'm old school and have yet to find a plug in that has all the magic of a good piece of hardware.

This is basically the exact same review that I gave the WA76, but I found my experiences with each item to be very similar.

This review is directed towards the new guys/gals looking to buy one of their first outboard eqs. Get something surgical. Look elsewhere. $700 is too much for something that acts as a sweetener. My Daking Pre/eq doesn't make one say "Hmmm, I wonder if this is doing much to the sound?". My Kemper, dbx160s, and lexicon PCM80 and 90 have a profound impact on a signal. They are all tools. They work. I say "I need more of this, less of that" and the tools perform the operation. Also, you probably need to buy two EQP-WAs in order to get their full effect.

Perhaps for those who can afford to spend $700 on a sweetener find these to be great, but I could not justify keeping it in my rig. A single quality Eq plug-in, such as FabFilter, is ten times more helpful for half of the cost. I imagine that the hype for this unit is less about how exciting it should be for the new guy that this style of gear has come available at such a great price point, but instead how the old guys now have a much cheaper way to achieve an effect they could only previously accomplish with gear that is stupid expensive. Granted, I have also been working predominantly in the live sound world where I just need $h!t to work 5 seconds ago.

I also have two of their Tone Beasts as well. They are great.

Hide you kids, hide your wife, cause there is EQ taking over!!!!!

Having tracked with real ones, I know much easier your job becomes with the real thing. This thing is scary close, while somehow adding a touch of modern tone. Forgiving is the word I'd use for it. Smoothes out harsh signals, fattens and gives a girth to things while not making them too 'pillowy'. Also helps give clarity as well as bring things forward easily as well. Basically, if we were to use a scale from 1-10, with 1 being unpleasant and 10 being very pleasing to listen to and you had a source that was, say, at a 6...this thing would easily add a few notches, making it at least a 7 or 8 on the pleasant scale. Highly recommended. I want another for stereo use for sure.

I bought 2 of these. For Pultec-like EQ at this cost, it's a really a great deal. But, these units NEED an output/gain knob to achieve unity. They will increase your volume, even when bypassed.

I've gained a bit of a reputation for myself around town recently. I own a studio in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and I recently discovered I'm being fondly referred to as the "Warm Audio Guy". No, I don't work for them, but I'll wear that badge proudly.

Interestingly, I own all of their products, multiple units of some (2 pairs of WA76's, a pair of EQP-WA's, a pair of WA12's, and a TB12.

I also even own some of the Warm Audio unit's inspirations 1176's, API312's, Pultec EQP-1A/MEQ's and so on. See my reviews on the other WA products. I'm not bashful about my fondness for them.

The EQP-1A is no exception. Virtually indistinguishable from my original 1A's other than a noticeably quieter signal to noise ratio, and they seem to run a bit cooler.

So if you're a purist, sure - go ahead and spring $6k+ for a pair of original 1A's - OR if you're beyond name plate snobbery - Buy 8 of the formidable EQP-WA's for the same price. Better yet, grab a pair of the WA's and invest the savings somewhere that matters... seems like 75% of local studios leave something to be desired in the way of their converters, just saying...

I don't care what you have to do, open a credit card, ask your sugar-momma/daddy, cash your kid's college fund, blackmail your boss or even rob a bank (well, maybe not the last two...)

...but for the love of God, man: Buy a pair while you still can.

This box adds shimmer without harshness, low-end punch without mud, warmth (and other analog tropes, etc)… it's the real deal. Having sat on the fence about outboard processing for quite some time, I'm glad I dove in. My mixes are coming alive as they never have before; this EQ sounds great even on BYPASS (tube/transformer goodness). Paired with Warm Audio's WA76 and you have an outboard processing dream-team! Highly recommended.

Ok, So I've never used the real one, only plugins of this. ALL OF THEM. I got this unit for my front end. Mic is going to a Daking Mic Pre One, to this. On bypass it sound AMAZING. What it does to the vocals is incredible. Take it out of bypass and the thing just keeps on giving. Awesome unit. Totally worth more than the asking price.

I've had this unit for a week or so. It's racked along with my other two units of outboard gear, the WA 1176 and the Manley Core. I have the UAD version of the EQP-1a so I definitely have a very well reputed plugin to compare against. Using the hardware, granted it isn't literally a Pultec, I finally heard, felt, experienced the extra whatever it is that I doubt will ever be truly captured by algorithms in a plugin. it just has that something that's hard to explain, a euphonic quality that just isn't quite capture by a plug in. Glad I bought this. the WA1176 seems to be a touch harder to distinguish from the software, but the might be a matter of locking in better settings for my applications. The manley core is amazing as well. Makes the mic's I have sound so much better than they ever did prior.

I bought a pair of the EQP by Warm Audio. The reviews in trade magazines were so over-the-top glowing and the price SO LOW I had to give them a shot. W O W is an understatement. I have a large Bose PA with eight 802 and subs, for fun we patched the EQP on the stereo outs and the results were amazing, it was like the soul of the bottom-end was awakened but never got mushy or blurry. I ran a 414 through an API 312 into the EQP and love the silky high frequency capabilities, it can get that "hooky" sound in the upper mids that only an inductor-capacitor based circuit can possibly achieve, sounds amazing on our female singer. In the studio I patched the EQP to my Neve 8816/8804 mixer stereo bus and the results were fantastic. I'm an old-old school recordist, definitely out of the box type, I'm gonna need several more of the EQP to run as inserts during mix down. Sweetwater made this even sweeter, great delivery, I get stuff faster than when I was in California :-)

I have the warm audio EQP-WA in a rack with the originals. Really hard for me to tell the difference other than less noise. I would say buy as many as you can before the price jumps.

We got a pair of these and are completely blown away! These EQs are perfect on everything! I did a vocal last night through a UA610 to Warm Audio 1176 to this EQ and it was vocal heaven!

Soooooooo goooood!
Thank you for making these!!! WOW!!!!!! For the last 3 weeks since my pair arrived, I hear myself saying over and over, "how the hell did I ever work without the eqp-wa?"

Definitely recommend.. one of the best in market with its price.

I owned 2 vintage EQP1-A, I own 1 new Pultec EQP1S3 and 1 new Pultec MEQ5... I'm telling you.. buy this unit .. you won't regret it !!! Very very near to the originals for a fraction of the price. Build quality is also great.. and on the low end it's pretty spot on w/originals!