Century Tube Channel Strip™
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Capture "first take" magic with easy-to-use preamp, EQ, and compression.
With a vintage-inspired tube mic preamp, transparent dynamics control, and intuitively voiced EQ, the Century Tube Preamp plug‑in lets you stay in the creative zone while you record and mix, helping you capture inspiration with stunning results.
Included Versions
UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.
- Enhance and simplify your recording workflow with a first-pass tool designed for tracking vocals, guitars, synths and more
- Stay in the creative zone and confidently record performances with a broad stroke, "do‑no‑harm," tube channel strip
- Easily flatter your tracks with a vintage-style tube mic preamp, simple three-band EQ, and optical compressor
- Control Apollo interface mic preamp gain staging and impedance directly from the Century Tube Channel Strip plug-in via Unison™ technology
TAKE A LISTEN
The Perfect Tube Mic Pre for your Vocals
The Century Tube Channel Strip's mic preamp will give your vocals the warmth and detail that only a tube mic pre can provide. The stunning range of tones, from subtle to saturated, will coax inspiring performances no matter the genre. Use the Low/High gain switch to match the Century's Tube Preamp to your microphone, with the Low setting complementing more modern condensers, while the High position excels with dynamic and ribbon microphones.
Unison Technology for Apollo
Century Tube Channel Strip blurs the lines between analog and digital, giving you all of the important impedance, gain staging “sweet spots,” and circuit behaviors of a vintage tube preamp, thanks to UA's groundbreaking Unison technology. The secret is Unison’s bi‑directional control and communication from the Century Tube Channel Strip plug‑in to the digitally controlled mic preamps in Apollo.
Easy EQ Seasoning for Vocals, Guitar, and More
With its intuitive, musically voiced, three-band EQ, the Century Tube Channel Strip is perfect for quickly bringing out the details in a breathy vocal, adding some punch to an overdriven electric guitar, or giving an acoustic rhythm guitar propulsive sizzle and shine.
Get Optimal Compression Quickly
Featuring a classic optical leveler, the Century Tube Channel Strip’s dynamics section takes the guesswork out of compression settings with a single knob. Quickly tame a dynamic vocal or bass performance, and add energy and harmonics to acoustic guitars or piano — all with a twist of a knob. The Century’s leveler can also compress as effect, adding grit and texture to keys and soft synths with character and vibe to spare.
Add Character and Color to your Mixes
Of course, the Century Tube Channel Strip plug‑in isn’t just for realtime recording with Apollo. You can also run it natively in your DAW and give your vocals, guitars, and synths, vintage‑inspired tone and character, without ever leaving the box.
UAD Quick Tips
Learn how to quickly turn your recordings into album-ready tracks with Century Tube Channel Strip.
“The Century Tube Channel Strip is a simple to use starting point for just about anyone — offering tube sound in a straight forward signal path.”
– John Paterno (Robbie Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, Bonnie Raitt)
“The Century Tube Channel Strip makes it effortless to get awesome, warm, vintage sounds from sterile sounding digital tracks.”
– Ian Boxill (Lenny White, Prince, 2Pac)
“The Century Tube Channel Strip powerfully combines the best of vintage and modern. On vocals and dialog, it imparts forwardness, sheen and body — remarkably simple, but versatile and effective.”
– Richard Chycki (Rush, Aerosmith, Dream Theater)Customer Reviews
V. Silva
January 26, 2024
Perfeito!
Muito bom . Uso em praticamente tudo : guitarra , voz, vocal, violão ... Perfeito !!!!
Read MoreV. Silva
January 26, 2024
Perfeito!
Muito bom . Uso em praticamente tudo : guitarra , voz, vocal, violão ... Perfeito !!!!
Read Morem. candotti
December 22, 2023
anima analogica
da la sensazione di operare in regime analogico, è molto facile da usare e da risultati tridimensionali di una bellezza unica.
Read MoreA. Frusto
December 11, 2023
Preamp is the deal here
Preamp is really good, so good that my 4 stars goes all by that way because personally never use the rest of the chain, the compressor is not so good if you're expeting that and kinda same...
Read MoreE. Cutillas
November 27, 2023
Tasteful strip
Punchy and tasty on drums, for electronic music genre
Read More -
Key Features
Vintage-inspired channel strip made for UA Audio Interface tracking, always easy to dial and musically flattering
Console-inspired tube preamp with bold and musical hardware sound
Three-band EQ with simple high and low shelf tone control and sweepable midrange
Performance-inspiring single knob optical dynamics control with firm yet transparent response
Physical input impedance and front panel control of gain staging and other preamp parameters with Unison Mic Preamp Technology
Requires a UAD DSP Accelerator or UA Audio Interface available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
Century Tube Channel Strip
V. Silva
Perfeito!
Muito bom . Uso em praticamente tudo : guitarra , voz, vocal, violão ... Perfeito !!!!
V. Silva
Perfeito!
Muito bom . Uso em praticamente tudo : guitarra , voz, vocal, violão ... Perfeito !!!!
A. Ogarev
Century Tube Channel Strip
super++
D. Nacrur
easy to use, limited features and reasonable sound
Century is one of those plugins that UAD created based on the knowledge acquired from modeling classic tube preamps. It is not based on a particular model. The idea is interesting. The result is satisfactory but not one of my favorites. It is interesting because it uses relatively little dsp and in addition to emulating the sound of a tube pre, it also has a compressor and equalizer (although very limited). Don't think about doing heavy compression. Only moderate adjustment provides a reasonable result. The equalizer, also used sparingly, offers additional color. In any case, adjusting these parameters moderately, in addition to the pre emulation, will undoubtedly obtain a better sound than the native Apollo pre. I recommend it for those who have little DSP and/or those who are just starting out, due to its ease of use. However, for those looking for a great pre-tube modeled tone, there are better options. One last observation: the output volume is low, even when properly adjusting the signal. This is a project problem, which UAD can easily resolve, and make the updated and corrected plugin available to users.
Century is one of those plugins that UAD created based on the knowledge acquired from modeling classic tube preamps. It is not based on a particular model. The idea is interesting. The result is satisfactory but not one of my favorites. It is interesting because it uses relatively little dsp and in addition to emulating the sound of a tube pre, it also has a compressor and equalizer (although very limited). Don't think about doing heavy compression. Only moderate adjustment provides a reasonable result. The equalizer, also used sparingly, offers additional color. In any case, adjusting these parameters moderately, in addition to the pre emulation, will undoubtedly obtain a better sound than the native Apollo pre. I recommend it for those who have little DSP and/or those who are just starting out, due to its ease of use. However, for those looking for a great pre-tube modeled tone, there are better options. One last observation: the output volume is low, even when properly adjusting the signal. This is a project problem, which UAD can easily resolve, and make the updated and corrected plugin available to users.
m. candotti
anima analogica
da la sensazione di operare in regime analogico, è molto facile da usare e da risultati tridimensionali di una bellezza unica.
A. Frusto
Preamp is the deal here
Preamp is really good, so good that my 4 stars goes all by that way because personally never use the rest of the chain, the compressor is not so good if you're expeting that and kinda same for the eq. All the energy here is at the pre.
E. Cutillas
Tasteful strip
Punchy and tasty on drums, for electronic music genre
J. SANMARTI
Great!
Simply the best channel strip I have ever had!
A. Rosell
One of the coolest and hot tube channel strip
If you want an easy to use channel strip with a lot of tube sound this is the one you should get. Works on most tracks, especially bass and vocals!
J. Frýbert
Amazing
My favorite channel strip, I use it on all sources and it has never let me down.
K. Lambert
Creamy Silk!
Very nice sound! Only reason not 5 stars because it can be a bit too much silkyness
K. Lambert
Creamy Silk!
Very nice sound! Only reason not 5 stars because it can be a bit too much silkyness
R. Alicea
Love it
Great, Love it
A. STIVACTIS
Absolutely Awesome .
I Record acoustic resonators guitars, Using ribbon mics. This plugin works untill the limits of sound pressure.... Thanks !!!!!
V. Bill
Voice
Super Klang
M. Dellit
Butter on toast
Used this with my Sphere mic. Outboard gear is so yesterday, this is where it’s at
E. Hayden
New to this, but wow!
Just bought a Volt 2 and this came bundled with it. Wow! I’ve been working with semi pro music gear all my life (Mix Wizards, etc) and this is just sounds like money, a big step up! Very impressed!
f. fallahi
Fast, useful, great, album ready
you can use it on everything and it wont let you down
C. Heschl
OMG Awesome!!
Analog goodness! A far step into sweet plugin goodness! Such a GREAT sounding plug.
O. Kudin
I personally did not like(
The preamp is good, everything else is not so good.
I don't understand why this plugin is being praised.
The optical compressor is very bad, ruins the sound a lot and sounds like LMC from SSL.
The equalizer section is the most ordinary and there is no surprising sound there.
