British Class A

Classic British sound, unbuttoned.

The British Console Sound is famous. You can hear its sweet and musical quality on hit records spanning more than five decades from artists such as Queen, Nirvana, David Bowie, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. When mix engineers need this unmistakable body, depth, and silky sweet top-end on individual tracks and busses, the British Class A channel strip is the one to grab.

• Authentic, unmistakable British console character
• A precisely emulated channel strip with added flexibility
• Four versions included: British Class A plug-in, British Class A for Console 1, British Class A for Amp Room, and British Class A for Modular

Softube modeled Gate, Compressor, EQ, Filters, and Drive on some of the most sought-after and costly console modules in existence using Softube's renowned emulation methodology. The result is the authentic tone and character of the classic British consoles with superb sound quality and four flexible formats: native plug-in, Console 1 channel strip, and Amp Room- and Modular modules. Jammy you.

Designed by Experts, Built on Legacy

Softube has a long history of emulating professional audio gear. After nearly two decades collaborating with premium brands like Weiss Engineering, Tube-Tech, Solid State Logic, Chandler Limited®, and Trident, their track record of recreating classics in software form that sound exactly like their hardware counterparts is rock solid.

British Class A is built on this legacy. With Softube's meticulous approach to modeling, British Class A captures the sweet, musical character of some of the most valuable and coveted British console modules in history. All in stunning Softube sound quality. Nothing less.

From Britain with Love: Authentic and Versatile

Featuring pristine replicas of expensive and highly sought-after console modules from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, British Class A makes it easy to tune in the soulful character of the classic British consoles. The Low Shelf/Low Cut low-end technique couples with the satiny High Shelf and Drive/preamp to give that acclaimed tone that makes everything sound incredible.

Inside Job: Use it in Amp Room and Modular

With British Class A for Amp Room and Modular, the perfectly emulated Compressor, Filter, Equalizer, and Drive modules bring the distinguished character of the British Console Sound to your guitar and bass or synth. Mix and match them to conveniently create as much color as you crave—from the inside out.

Sleight of Hand: Use it in Console 1

The smooth workflow and hands-on control of the Console 1 system make British Class A for Console 1 a no-brainer. British Class A effortlessly captures the authentic sound of classic British consoles of the 1960s and ‘70s. Console 1 helps capture the feeling. It’s the British Console Sound—and feel—in the modern DAW-based studio.

This Product Supports Extended Features

Softube love VU meters, Bakelite knobs, and analog quirks. But Softube want modern precision and workflow. The answer? Softube Extended Features. Easy-access panels with the innovations you need close at hand.

The Anatomy of the British Class A Channel Strip

• Shape Section: Modeled on a rare yet classic piece of transformer-based, class-A-designed British hardware, the gate does a great job of keeping tracks tight and clean. You can employ it to rid a snare drum track of unwanted bleed or to soften the sound of a kick drum. Using the sidechain input makes the gate super useful for ultra-musical keying purposes.
• Equalizer Section: The EQ is essential to the classic British console sound, and the equalizer in British Class A is component-modeled to absolute perfection after one of the most highly sought-after EQs of its era. With stepped frequency controls, you can tweak the color of your sound and—no matter what you do—always come out with true British console character.
• Compressor & Limiter Section: Assignable compressors grace many of the classic consoles that comprise the British Console Sound. Softube emulated an early specimen that features a fat, round sound for British Class A's Compressor section. They also uncoupled the hybrid compressor/limiter of the original hardware, making separate Compressor and Limiter sections. Separate, but each uniquely sweet.
• Drive Section: Take your sound from dark and stormy to blue skies. Drive simulates running the console channel hot with the saturation, distortion, and tone that occur when doing so. Go from a darker sound with less distortion in the mid-range to bright and clear distortion in the highs.

What's included?

British Class A plug-in

The British Class A channel strip makes everything sound better with its fat and deep bottom-end, silky-smooth top-end, and depth-and-width-creating saturation. Loads of musical British console color lets you lock into the tone heard on hit records from Queen, to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

British Class A for Console 1

British Class A for Console 1 is just like mixing on the real thing. The layout makes your workflow faster and, by using it on every channel, it delivers the unmistakable tone of the British Console Sound. With the one-to-one tactile control of Console 1, the big console feel is bang on.

British Class A for Amp Room

British Class A for Amp Room offers four sections of the channel strip to help you capture the distinct character of the classic British consoles within the pro audio guitar and bass platform. The modules—Compressor, Filter, Equalizer, and Drive—can be mixed and matched to lay it on as thick as you fancy.

British Class A for Modular

British Class A for Modular boasts four modules to achieve the British Console Sound from within the Eurorack platform: Compressor, Filter, Equalizer, and Drive. The Compressor module even has an extra input jack so you can patch your bloody heart out.

Features

• The true color and character of the famous large-format British consoles of the ‘60s and ‘70s
• A channel strip with carefully modeled Gate, Compressor, Filters, EQ, and Drive
• Includes four multi-platform versions: British Class A plug-in, British Class A for Console 1, British Class A for Amp Room (4 Modules), and British Class A for Modular (4 Modules)
• Featuring the famous 3-band equalizer with two silky smooth shelving filters and a peaking mid-band with high and low Q settings
• Slightly resonant filters that bring a unique character, added edge, and work perfectly with the EQ to recreate the famous curves this gear is known for
• Easily dial in the settings used to record and mix countless hit albums and songs
• Softube-quality emulation and sound

System Requirements

• macOS Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13
• Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 11
• Softube account
• iLok account
• Computer with AU, VST, VST3, and/or AAX-compatible DAW host software
• Internet access (for downloading installers and managing licenses)

Supported CPU Families 

• Apple macOS computers with Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or Apple silicon (M1 or newer) CPU. Apple silicon is supported natively. 
• Windows computers with quad-core Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or AMD quad-core processors with SSE 4.2 support.
• Other Intel processors (Celeron, Pentium, and Xeon) are compatible if they support SSE 4.2 instructions. 

Supported Host Software (DAW)  

Any 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, or AAX (Pro Tools 11.0.2 or higher) compatible host application should work. However, due to plug-in host differences between DAWs—and our rigorous standards—Softube only officially test their plug-ins and instruments in the most recent versions of Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One, and Reaper. Softube plug-ins are not tested regularly in non-listed systems. They will likely work if the system requirements are met. However, the manufacturer cannot guarantee a solution for issues in unsupported systems. 
  
Softube strongly recommend using VST3, as some of their plug-ins have features that are not present in the older VST format. Supported sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192 kHz, in both mono and stereo. The most recent maintenance release of your DAW application is recommended. AAX DSP is not currently in active development. TDM/VENUE/RTAS are no longer supported. See Legacy Installers.

Important Note: Make sure that you always use the latest iLok License Manager. It is not included in the Softube installer but can be downloaded from www.ilok.com​