Heritage Audio unveils the TUBESTRIP, an all‑valve channel strip combining a morphable preamp, a Type 69‑inspired inductor EQ and two distinct compressors: vari‑mu and optical with de‑esser. At around €3,499, the Madrid‑based brand signs off on its most ambitious piece of outboard yet.
Heritage Audio built its reputation on razor‑sharp reissues of British and American 1970s preamps and equalisers. With the TUBESTRIP, the Spanish company shifts up a gear: instead of a 500‑series module or a standalone preamp, it offers a complete channel strip, fully valve‑driven from the very first input stage right through to the output transformer. Four processors, one 3U chassis, and a promise: track a source and mix it without ever leaving the tube domain.
A 100% valve signal path, from mic to output
The heart of the TUBESTRIP is a transformer‑coupled preamp that accepts mic, line and instrument levels, with a generous gain range quoted up to 60 dB. Its party trick is a MORPH control that switches the gain stage between three behaviours: the warmth of triode operation, the bite of pentode mode, and a more neutral ultralinear response. You get a preamp that runs from velvet‑smooth to controlled aggression without adding any transistor stages into the path — a very deliberate design choice.
Next comes an inductor‑based equaliser, designed in the spirit of the Olympic Studios Type 69, that Helios EQ section which became legendary on late‑sixties London recordings. Using inductors rather than active filter cells gives that musical bell‑shaped rise that flatters most sources and defined the sound of so many records from that era.
Two compressors, two personalities
Where most channel strips make do with a single dynamics section, the TUBESTRIP offers two, complementary and chainable. The first is a vari‑mu derived from the Lang P.Lane circuit, in the Altec lineage, known for staying intelligible even when you really squash the signal. The second is a single‑knob optical compressor, in the tradition of valve opto designs, with a frequency control that lets it act as a de‑esser on sibilance.
A studio‑friendly detail: the order of the sections is reconfigurable. You can place the EQ before or after compression, insert one dynamics stage ahead of the other, and adapt the chain to the source rather than suffer a fixed routing. It’s the kind of flexibility you’d expect from a patch‑cabled outboard rack, here built in from the outset.
| Section | Topology | Heritage | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preamp | Valve, transformer‑coupled, MORPH control (triode / pentode / ultralinear) | British transformer‑based school | Front‑end colour, up to 60 dB of gain |
| Equaliser | Inductors (chokes) | Type 69 / Helios, Olympic Studios | Musical tone‑shaping |
| Compressor 1 | Valve vari‑mu | Lang P.Lane, Altec lineage | Glue, density, transparency under heavy gain reduction |
| Compressor 2 | Valve optical, frequency control | Opto in the LA / CL style | Smoothing, de‑essing |
Under the bonnet, Heritage Audio specifies four valves — carefully selected NOS for the preamp and vari‑mu, JJ for the output stage — and four in‑house transformers on the inputs, output and vari‑mu stage. All housed in a 3U rack format that fully embraces its role as a control‑room centrepiece.
A Spanish Voxbox? Not quite
Comparison with the Manley Voxbox is inevitable — preamp, EQ and two dynamics stages in a single valve‑based box, the conceptual resemblance is obvious. But Heritage Audio is keen to stress that each section has its own flavour and that the technical approach differs. At around €3,499 (£ pricing will vary) or $3,599, the TUBESTRIP goes up against far more expensive benchmarks, in a now‑familiar strategy for the brand: delivering classic high‑end sound at a price which, while not mass‑market, is at least within reach for a serious studio.
This launch is part of a broader trend: the comeback of the all‑in‑one channel strip, after years of plug‑in dominance. We’ve seen it recently with designs like the elysia channex on the ultra‑transparent solid‑state side, or with the arrival of interfaces with character preamps such as the SSL 18. The TUBESTRIP occupies the opposite end of the spectrum: unapologetic colour, valves everywhere, the kind of texture you print on the way in rather than simulate at mixdown.
My take
When I was heading up the technical side of a studio, the question was never “analogue or digital?” — I’ve worked entirely in the box without any qualms since the early days of computer‑based recording. The question was: does this hardware link add something audible that no ITB processing gives me as simply? A genuine transformer‑coupled valve preamp, with a mode that goes from triode to pentode, fits that category exactly: it’s not about nostalgia, it’s about an imprint you lay down at the recording stage that you can’t truly recreate later. The real decider, which no spec sheet can settle, remains the sound once you actually plug a source in. At €3,499, with four valves and four transformers inside, the TUBESTRIP at least has all the right design arguments to earn a proper listen.
The TUBESTRIP is now available to order; full details are on the Heritage Audio product page. The next step is to see how the promise holds up on the test bench — and, for a channel strip at this price, to weigh it against a good preamp feeding a quality converter, as we’ve done with console‑inspired solutions such as Harrison Mixbus 12.
