Pultec EQP recreations (not plugins)?

Anyone with experience or A-B thoughts on the various models out there? Manley, Pulse, Cartecs, etc. any practical wisdom? **please no plugin reviews. I'm looking for hardware reviews if possible...

I think I may ahve emntioned to you that I am a huge Massive Passive fan. Not exactly a pultec, but much loved by yours truy on the mix bus or drum group when I can get my hands on one. I have used a Cartec, it sounded VERY good and looked like a real pultec. As the handful of old Pultecs I've sued vary so hugely based on parts drift and the amount of service they've ahd I'm not sure if I would say it sounds just like a real pultec. Given my choice I prefer the massive passive.

Yup, we definitely have talked about the Massive Passive. I have been digging fairly hard into reviews on all of the different updated makes...and like most things on the Internet everything is super stratified. There is even a large & dedicated "Manley SUCKS" crowd. Like all of it. I've only used the Vari Mu & really liked it, tho I'd like to have had more time with it. So I figured I would try to solicit more opinions as it is super expensive and difficult to try out some / all of the options.

I still am really curious about the Massive Passive- how do you think it compares? I ask because it seems a bit more surgical then a Pultec in concept. Not saying that it's a problem but my experience using a Pultec was I could get great results & they could be reached quickly. Massive Passive appears more versatile but there is a certain elegant simplicity using a Pultec. Thoughts?

The Manley "improved" Pultec got panned hard as well. Hard to sort out the credible voices from the din of less measured opinions out there.

Only one make seemed to get wide praise-The Pulse & I have never used one and if anyone I know has I am unaware of it. If anyone knows anything about it I'd love to hear your thoughts.

**I should clarify that having used different Pultecs over the years and having just about every one sound a bit different I'm more looking for the "essence". If you've used one you know what im talkin' about.

Oh yeah, if you have any notes on the Cartec I'd love to hear 'em. Better price point for sure-

the cartec is very pultecish but as all the pultecs I've used sounded different to me with similar settings all ic an say is its clsoer than the massive passive but tis limited like a real pultec. Like it or lump it sorta thing. You can twist those knobs all you want but if its not hitting the right spot then no comination of boost and atten is going to get you where you wanna go. The massive passive is a bit more versatile but with a really similar vibe to my ear. It has that inductor thing we love from a putlec or Neve and its got very good sounding input and output circuitry. If you want a really vintage sound then go cartec, the passive is more hifi sounding circuitry. It might all depend on your application. As a program EQ which is the itnended use of the original I think the manley is king. I've sued the tube and solid state versions and liked both although the tube version is more pultechy to me, yes I said pultechy. I foudn teh massive passive to be plenty fast and intuitive but with teh option to further fine tune at the end of the mix process. I used one the first time to blanket the master on a record with some 'glue' and subtle shaping that you could do with a pultech, made up a recall sheet (the units I've used were detented, not sure if they all are?) and then at the end of each mix I would tweak it to fit the song with the other engineers input, we'd print and finally recall the neutral settings we mixed through. A lot of times little to no additional tweking was needed but soemtimes I fucked with the lwoer midrange a little and added some detail/air to the whole mix on top of what was already there. The other times I sued one I did it more on drum bus but with a simialr approach.

Have you considered building one. i know there used to be a very authentic pultech kit.

All this said, the cartech is right in the pultech ballpark, damned close, same phase shift that seems to enhance depth of field... it just maybe lacks some of the magic sheen on top... or not, I never actually had them side by side and I may have been experiencing some rosey memories of the real deal. Its so hard to judge these things. The manley has a different sheen that i happen to like just as much. Ic an be really categorical with the manley. Its soemwhat different but it fulfills the same role really, really well. Thinking it over, try a cartech, they have good resale if you don't like it. its ahrd though ebcause you're comparing two really great units and both sound really good on any music that needs this kinda tilt EQ

Have youb considered building one. i know there used to be a very authentic pultech kit.

I'd fuckin' love to try! I'll have to google around on those kits.

All in all thanks for sharing your experience with both units. I really appreciate it. I decided that I was going to head down this road because while I still do large sessions with lots of mics, they make up about 20- 30% of the work I do- the other 70% is one or two channels at a time tracking & a whole ton of mixing.

If anyone else has any thoughts or if anything else comes to your mind Jim I'd love to hear it. I am hoping to at least narrow it down to two options and then talk to Vintage King about trying out those 2 & go further if it feels nessesary.

I'll of course share my thoughts/post reviews of how all those models perform for me.

I'd also love to know of the kits that people have been happy with. If one comes to mind definitely drop a link I'd love to have a look at it!

I know you can get approprate inductors even though lore is that you can't...

as ar as inductor-based EQs go I also really enjoyed the Chandler Germanium Tone control, though i can't iamgine using it on more than a handful of tracks. Its a steep buy in for whats in there, but I think you're paying for the circuit. if I recall its a mutt of a pultec's high pass and low shelf with an active germanium-fueled abbey road type EQ that's still inductor based but more towards the neve camp (but I haven't used one sicne they were new and on loan to studio I was working at)... I just remember it being really musical and really fast to set up. Literally kicking ass in 5 minutes. Although I'm not slow with EQ unless the recording is fucked up. If its just a question of making space or helping some tracks pop I spend like 15 minutes tops refining that shit. Usually more like 2 minutes. Doesn't matter what tools I have around. I think usually the first thing that soudns right IS right, especially if you are working on stuff in an intelligent order.