NAMM 2026: Just weeks after their festive giveaway, Universal Audio is offering music-makers another software title to add to their collections free of charge: the UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection.
The collection is made up of two plugins modelled on Universal Audio preamp and EQ channel strip – the vintage UA 610-A and the modern UA 610-B – "end-to-end" software emulations that model the tube amplifiers, transformers and EQ circuits found in the original hardware.
Both plugins in the collection were previously only available for Apollo interface users but have now been made available natively for the first time, so you're able to run these in your DAW without any UA hardware, and you get the Apollo DSP versions too.
610-A recreates the original preamp from the 610 modular console, designed by Universal Audio founder Bill Putnam Sr. and introduced in 1960, that has featured on recordings from Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys and many more. 610-B is based on a contemporary Universal Audio preamp design found in the 2-610 Dual Channel Tube Preamplifier.
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The 610 plugins are designed to recreate the colourful, rich tube saturation produced by UA preamps, with input and output circuits each equipped with an independent tube-driven gain-stage. Both plugins also offer broad-strokes tone-shaping, with the 610-B providing more precise control over frequency ranges.
UA promises that the 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection will deliver "the same warmth and vintage sound that shapes generations of classic records", helping guitars, keyboards and drums "come alive" through saturation and introducing presence and warmth to vocal recordings.
“The 610 was designed when tone wasn’t something you added later; it was built in from the start,” UA Senior Product Designer Will Shanks says in a press release. “You don’t have to fight it — you just turn it up and it sounds right. It brings your entire plug-in chain to life.”
Head over to the Universal Audio website to download UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection.
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