19 Best Preamp VST Plugins 2023

There’s just something about classic analog consoles, isn’t there? The reason I bring it up is because of the preamps. These babies give you that toasty analog warmth that can greatly enhance otherwise dull sounding digital recordings.

Analog emulation isn’t always perfect, but it has come a long way, and there are some excellent options available. So, in this guide, we’ll be looking at the best preamp VST plugins.

Pre 1973 by Arturia – Best Overall

Looking to take stale, boring sounds to new levels? Try exciting them with Arturia’s Pre 1973, a preamp VST with a highly recognizable signature 70s British tone. This baby takes after the 1073 preamp, originally created by none other than Rupert Neve.

Here, Arturia does what they do best, utilizing their proprietary TAE technology to bring another classic to life and offer it to producers everywhere, in digital form, for a very moderate price.

Preamps are known to endow tracks with an extra bit of “magic,” but it’s no surprise why the Pre 1973 works so well, because it includes a three-band equalizer, input gain for controlling how much of the signal is being directed through the circuit, a high pass filter, and output trim for transparent volume control.

In total, Pre 1973 also comes with presets, 60 dB virtual continuous input gain, two output transformer types, +/- 24 dB output trim level, switchable EQ section, high shelf filter, midrange bell filter, low shelf filter, high pass filter, three stereo modes, and an output analog VU meter.

This is our best overall selection, but there are some other Arturia entries coming up that are on equal footing with this one. It's well worth checking out the alternatives if you’re after a different sound.

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Empirical Labs Mike-E Comp by Softube – Best Premium Option

Softube’s Empirical Labs Mike-E Comp was based on the hardware equivalent, with a unique saturation / compression effect that takes after the ELI Distressor. Multi-stage distortion is available thanks to the preamp and three emphasis modes (as well as NUKE!), features that let you take your distortion over the edge.

The CompSat circuitry is at the heart of the unit, based on one of the most loved compressors available (the previously mentioned ELI Distressor). With an array of controls, longer than usual attack time, and a multi-stage soft-clipping circuit saturator, this baby puts the power in your hands.

The preamp was modelled after the input section of the original. It comes with a stepped gain control, with the ability to put the distortion before the CompSat.

Altogether, you get a preamp with up to +18 dB of gain, hi-pass and phase, vintage style 18 dB / octave at 80 Hz, multi-stage soft-clipping saturator with drive and Toasty / Warm meter, three emphasis modes (HF, HF2, LF), compressor, NUKE mode, ratio presets, external sidechain, and dry / wet mix.

The Empirical Labs Mike-E Comp is our best premium option and we do think it’s well worth a look.

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Pre X7 by Audiority – Best Budget Option

Based on a classic tube preamp for bass guitar, Audiority’s Pre X7 was tweaked so that it could be used on a variety of audio material.

The real-time calculations of 12AX7 tube models (input and output) allow for non-linear performance. The interface also includes a high-pass filter, tone control, and brickwall clipper / limiter.

Pre X7 also includes four steps low cut (pre or post input tube), input / output linking, Baxandall tone control, brickwall clipping limiter, as well as boost, pad, and phase switches.

For a low-cost preamp, you’ll probably be hard pressed to do any better. This thing sounds great! And that makes it a shoo-in for our best budget option too.

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Pre TridA by Arturia

The Trident A Range console is known to have contributed to the sound of The Beatles, David Bowie, Genesis, Elton John, Peter Gabriel, Queen, and many, many others. Most of all, it became known for its musical EQ and rich tone. Only 13 units were ever made!

Arturia comes to the rescue with Pre TridA, emulated using their proprietary TAE technology so that anyone can take advantage of this legendary channel strip.

The Pre TridA features a four-band twin-channel EQ, low pass filter, input gain, high pass filter, mid / side mode, and output trim controls.

With a 40 dB virtual continuous input gain and +/- 24 dB output trim control, Pre TridA also features a switchable EQ section, three switchable low pass filters, high shelf filter, high midrange bell filter, low midrange bell filter, low shelf filter, high pass filter, three stereo modes, and output analog VU meter.

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Pre V76 by Arturia

Arturia’s Pre V76 was modeled after the much-coveted preamp included in the REDD mixing consoles, responsible for the sound of 60s pop music. Two words – White Album.

Not surprisingly, the V76 is in rare supply, and quite expensive besides. Arturia steps in again to model the sound of classic gear using their TAE tech. Of course, V76 is the meeting place of classic gear with modern augmentations.

The Pre V76 comes with a modified V612 two-band EQ, V76 input gain, multi-mode high-pass filter, output trim, and mid / side mode.

Altogether, the plugin features a virtual recreation of a classic German valve preamp, Germanium EQ and filter section, high tone filter, low tone filter, high pass filter, three stereo modes, and a vintage glowing output meter.

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Front DAW by United Plugins

Created in collaboration with English producer and remixer Greg Brimson, Front DAW was designed to grace sterile digital tracks with analog warmth.

Front DAW takes advantage of United’s own Variable Analogue Random Modeling (VARM) technology, developed to duplicate the erratic behavior of analog equipment. This randomness is exactly what made vintage equipment so sought after.

Front DAW comes with three types of saturation, which you can control using the BR (classic fat British), US (punchy American), and GE (vintage German tube) buttons. Use the Mojo knob to control saturation amount (it’s relatively subtle given that the plugin was designed to be used many tracks at the same time).

This plugin also features a great realistic looking GUI, 64-bit audio quality at any sampling rate, and smart bypass.

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STA Preamp 2 by Audified

Audified’s STA Preamp 2 gets its name from the Summing Tube Amplifier (STA) emulation technology. This technology utilizes two signal paths, one unprocessed, and one processed by spectral change or modulation. The two signals are blended using a vacuum tube.

The result is a very distinctive sound, regardless of effect (and there are several other STA effects in the same line of products).

STA Preamp is just as much a saturator as it is a preamp. The tonal color changes based on the Mode you’ve selected.

The five circuit modes are Presence (with added mid-high frequencies), Vintage (with smoothed out highs and more harmonic content), Brown (light high frequency roll off and harmonic punch), White (boosted high frequencies and balanced even and odd harmonics), and LoFi (with reduced low and high frequencies).

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UniChannel by United Plugins

For those who like the idea of not just having a preamp but a complete channel strip, there are a few worthy options for you to consider.

One such entry is United Plugins’ UniChannel. This plugin’s aim is to grace your tracks with the warmth of analog gear. Where vintage gear may be unreliable, and often cannot be used on multiple channels, you can use and abuse UniChannel on as many channels as you see fit.

With three preamp types, three EQ types, and three compressors, you get 27 total possible combinations, with the option of bypassing the EQ or compressor.

The VARM II technology ensures that your tracks are infused with the chaos and randomness analog gear is known for.

The German channel is perfect for the drums buss and vocals, and it’s especially sweet on jazzy music. The American channel was tailor made for toms and guitar with an 80s style EQ, and the 50s style tube compressor is exceptional at fattening vocals. Finally, the Classic British channel is ideally suited to kick drum, bass, and all things rock. It has a 70s style transformer preamp, EQ, and diode bridge compressor.

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FilkChannel Strip by Kiive Audio

The Kiive Audio FilkChannel Strip features three modules – preamp, EQ, and compression. The essentials! The channel strip was based on 70s Danner cassette modules. From light touches of analog warmth to aggressive, driven tones, FilkChannel Strip allows for an array of tonal colors for vocals, acoustic guitars, heavy electric guitars, drums, bass, and more.

The PRE70 is the preamp section and is where you can tweak the desired level of saturation. There is also a trim knob for attenuating added gain from the input. The dry / wet knob can be used to blend the distortion.

Then comes the EQ7D, which is the EQ section, as you probably guessed. This is a three-band parametric EQ with high pass and low pass filters from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. There’s also shelf buttons if you want to change the curve.

Finally, there’s the COMP2R module, which is the compressor section. Use the compressor to add punch and attack to your tracks, adjust the amount with the in and out knobs, and set the ratio with the variable-ratio knob.

You can further alter the amount of compression with the dry / wet mix knob, and there’s a sidechain filter, as well as a mode selection switch (normal and bus modes).

FilkChannel Strip also comes with a resizable GUI.

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bx_console SSL 4000 E by Brainworx

The classic 72 channel E series desk is now available as a virtual channel strip in the form of the bx_console SSL 4000 E. Officially approved by SSL, the plugin takes after the very channel strip that was tailor made for mixing pop and rock music.

Brainworx says this is the most faithful recreation of the original hardware available. It comes with all the features, including a preamp, filter and dynamics sections, as well as EQ.

Overall, the bx_console SSL 4000 E features 72 TMT Channel emulations, switchable EQ modes (brown knob, black knob), dynamics section with E and G modes, continuously variable THD and Virtual Gain controls, scalable UI, and various presets.

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Dials by AudioThing

AudioThing’s Dials takes after 1950s electronic music hardware. This Hainbach style channel strip combines an American bandpass filter with a German vacuum tube radio broadcast device. Whether on vocals, drums, or other instruments, its signature tone shines. It’s even great for voiceover work!

It was discovered by analog specialist Wojcek Czern that the unique radio broadcast device mentioned earlier could be used as a mic preamp rivaling the V72 and V76. Composer and YouTuber Hainbach uses this as his preamp for vocals, mono acoustic recordings, as well as synth processing. This unit also adds a pleasant compression, which is now controllable.

The filter is based on Allison Labs filters, found in early electronic music studios as well as science labs. The beauty of the filter is the very fact that it’s very imprecise but offers a wonderful vocal quality.

Further additions were made to Dials, with an 808-style drum machine and two filter banks (A and B).

Overall, you get an analog preamp emulation with analog modelled filters (high pass and low pass), compressor, trip modulation, resizable window, and a preset system featuring a randomizer.

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Redoptor 2 by D16 Group

D16 Group’s Redoptor 2 is a dynamically responsive vintage tube distortion. For this entry, D16 modelled vacuum tubes being pushed to the extreme, along with their behavior.

Redoptor 2 also features an adjustable preamp, four-band parametric EQ, independent stereo channel processing, and a pre-gain compressor with a master output limiter.

Redoptor 2 behaves much like a hot-rodded tube guitar amplifier, which makes it great for guitar. But that’s not all. It’s well worth trying on drum loops, arpeggiated synths, bass lines, and more, depending on what you’d like to accomplish with your tracks.

Altogether, Redoptor 2 comes with filters, output limiter, parametric EQ, tag-based preset browser, two GUI sizes, and MIDI learn functionality.

Whether as a lo-fi effect, saturation, or distortion, Redoptor 2 is a versatile effect for a moderate cost.

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Make Me Scream by W. A. Production

To be exact, W. A. Production’s Make Me Scream is more of a saturation VST than a preamp VST, but they did add an adjustable preamp tube at the start of the signal chain, so I guess you could say it’s a two-in-one.

We love its humorous name. Make Me Scream is a two-stager with four distortion types as well as four timbre modes. The two-stage design allows for far more sizzle than you might get with either a preamp or a saturation plugin alone. You get the best of both worlds.

To top it all off, W. A. Production added plenty of presets for a variety of applications – drums, bass, vocals, full mixes, and even guitar.

The four distortion types are analog tube saturation, soft clipping saturation, regular distortion, and folded sinus distortion, each with a different character and different amounts of drive.

The four timbre modes include Fuzz (balanced), Wall (muted tone with richer bass), Cliff (midrange boost), and Make Me Scream (for bringing out the highs in a track).

The Preamp Tube slider gives you control over analog tube saturation, which you can control using the Boost dial.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s a smart filter control for shaping your distortions, with high, low, and bandpass filter modes. You can further tweak the filter cutoff depending on the effect you want to achieve.

The envelope follower can add some movement and rhythm to your tracks while giving them an auto-wah style feel.

From adding presence to exciting tracks, Make Me Scream is low cost, and it comes in handy in a variety of scenarios.

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Lifeline Console by Excite Audio

Excite Audio’s Lifeline Console is one of our favorite (if not our favorite) low-cost lo-fi channel strips. And yes, it does come with a preamp section that will add a nice saturation to your tracks while warming up and enhancing the signal. You can even customize the frequency response.

Beyond that, you get the EQ section for spectral shaping and analog circuitry options, compressor with auto makeup, modulation with tape speed variations and warped records, as well as wear for noise, artifacts, and the erratic behavior of tape, cassette, and vinyl.

The five modules can be arranged any way you see fit, and there’s also 15 algorithms with 243 combinations, left / right or mid / side processing, and 350 presets.

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S-Quick Strip by Kiive Audio

Kiive Audio’s S-Quick Strip was designed to be simple. It can be used on any track as a convenient channel strip, complete with saturation, EQ, transient manipulation, and compression functionality.

It comes with some handy tools like a polarity flip button, two saturation circuits, two-band EQ and bell options, high pass filter, one-knob compressor with auto makeup gain, saturation with wet / dry controls, transient designer, and compressor sidechain.

You will find multiple presets to choose from, created by the likes of Alberto De Lcaza, Zac Tissen, Sam Guiana, Jesse Ray Ernster, and Sam Sherbin.

As with the Tonelux Tilt seen elsewhere in this guide, S-Quick Strip could prove a valuable tool for getting your tracks to sit in the mix.

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Klirrton Grindstein by Audiority

As you can probably tell from its appearance, Audiority’s Klirrton Grindstein is for guitar. This plugin, specifically, is a death metal preamp featuring a Fleisch equalizer and Schnauze noise gate. Perfect for dialing all kinds of classic and modern death model tones – yes, it’s quite versatile!

Based on the original hardware, in total, Klirrton Grindstein features two mixable channels (Bottomshaker with a two-band EQ and Chainsaw with a three-band EQ), phase switch, Lichtbringer boost, Schnauze noise gate, five-band Fleisch EQ, as well as a cab simulator with seven speaker types.

Popular YouTuber Ola Englund calls Klirrton Grindstein the “instant Pantera” button.

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EFEKTOR BASS DRIVER by Kuassa

You can probably tell from its name that Kuassa’s EFEKTOR BASS DRIVER was designed as a bass guitar preamp. Its appearance shares quite a bit in common with Sansamp gear, and not surprisingly, the plugin was based on that exact thing.

The great thing about the DI was how it was so versatile. From vintage tube tones all the way over to glowing slaps, you could do just about anything with it.

Kuassa, not surprisingly, developed this unit to offer a variety of distorted tones while retaining the original character of your bass signal.

All in all, EFEKTOR BASS DRIVER comes with a resizable window, updated interface, and up to 8x oversampling with dry/wet knob. This entry is quite affordable, and it sounds good too.

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Tonelux Tilt And Tilt Live by Softube

Tonelux Tilt is the perfect EQ for gluing tracks together. And not surprisingly, Tilt Live is perfect for adapting your sound in live situations.

Tonelux Tilt works best as the first effect in your processing chain, and it works on everything. It works for quick and dirty adjustments, and at times, it may be all you need to dial in your tracks.

The controls couldn’t get much simpler, and they do exactly what you’d expect they do. Turn the tilt control to one direction and it will boost highs while cutting lows. Go the other way, and the opposite occurs. The Loud switch takes the effect to new heights.

Then you’ve got the high and low pass filters, as well as a gain knob and polarity reversal switch.

Tonelux Tilt includes a modeling of the Tonelux MP1a mic preamp transformer. Great for a little bit of saturation.

For those looking for a plugin that lets you dial in their sound fast, Tonelux Tilt could be exactly what you need.

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Chorus Ensembler by Audiority

Audiority’s Chorus Ensembler is clearly a chorus effect, but it just so happens to have preamp only / effect operative modes, thus its inclusion here. I understand this is a rather loose connection though.

The chorus itself was based on the infamous 70s BBD chorus and vibrato effect, Boss CE-1.

This analog style chorus gives you control over intensity, vibrato rate, depth, input impedance, classic or full stereo modes, stereo spread, pre and post effect gain, and mix. Chorus Ensembler also comes with tempo sync and a resizable interface.

As the original product Roland remarketed as Boss, the Chorus Ensembler is a natural fit for guitar, but I could see it working very nicely with synthesizers, keyboards and even vocals as well.

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What Should I Look For In A Preamp VST Plugin?

You came here looking for a preamp. Now you’re starting to consider channel strips.

Hey, we know how it is. There are some very versatile, powerful VST plugins out there that not only bestow your tracks with analog warmth, but allow for sound shaping and sculpting in other ways too.

Now, if you came here looking for a preamp, your best option is to leave here with a preamp, because you probably have a good reason for singling out a preamp to begin with.

But if you’re feeling a little lost, have no worries. We’re here to clear things up for you.

When shopping for a preamp VST plugin, there are a few key criteria to consider. They are as follows:

• Sound quality
• Functionality
• Budget

Let’s talk about each.

Sound Quality

One thing you should be very curious of when it comes to preamps is how they enhance your sound. As noted earlier, analog emulations are sometimes little more than snake oil. So we want to make sure that the plugins we’re buying are doing something.

Once we know that the preamp is doing something, we went to ensure that it’s producing a sound we want. Just because it’s supposed to add analog warmth doesn’t necessarily mean it will always make something sound better.

Of course, in most scenarios where your tracks and mixes are sounding a little dull, some processing is par for the course. A preamp, though, is just one of numerous tools that can add cohesion and interest to a mix. Saturation, compression, and EQs can do this too.

We’re getting a little off course, but a boring sounding mix can also be enhanced by synth pads, granular effects or synths, percussion, or even sending all the reverb to the left or right channel.

All that to say, make sure that a preamp is what you’re looking for.

Once that’s been established, go, and listen to everything you can find. Videos. Sound clips. All of it. Compare the products you’re thinking about buying. Notice how they sound different. See if you can tell what it happening to the tracks as the effect is being applied.

You want to choose a plugin that’s going to work for you, so this is a “necessary evil” as it were. You will need to do a bit of homework.

Functionality

Is there a huge difference between a preamp and a channel strip? Well, it depends on the product, but not necessarily.

For instance, Arturia’s Pre 1973 comes with a three-band EQ, input gain, high pass filter, and an output trim. It’s relatively simple, yes, but it comes awfully close to being a channel strip if you ask me.

Look at United Plugins’ UniChannel. It features a preamp, EQ, and compressor.

So, the two are remarkably similar. And if you think the difference is a compressor, look at Audiority’s Pre X7. It comes with a brickwall clipper / limiter, which is effectively a superpowered compressor.

It may not seem like it matters much, but there are two ways in which this tangibly matters.

The first is that you should buy the functionality you need. The second is that the price will vary based on the functionality you need.

Which brings us to…

Budget

Friend, you’re about to spend $20 to $200 on a preamp VST plugin. My advice? Don’t go into debt to do it. Just don’t!

There are always other ways, whether it’s settling for an option you can afford right now, or saving up for later. It’s far preferable to spending money you don’t have.

Top Preamp VST Plugins, Final Thoughts

And now, you’re an expert in preamp VST plugins as well. Did you enjoy the ride?

There are many great products out there, it’s simply a matter of choosing an option that’s right for you.

We wish you all the best on your music production journey. Let us know how it goes!