Description
Universal Audio was one of the early pioneers in audio equipment. Founded in 1946 by Bill Putnam, UA produced recording equipment as a sideline to his Universal Recording record company. The company was later renamed United Recording Electronics Industries, giving us the famous UREI name & logo
Bill Putnam was responsible for many innovations in recording including the 1176 compressor, the valve Teletronix LA/3A and transistor UREI LA4/A levelling amplifiers. UREI produced a wide range of products and the 535 is one of many equalisers they produced in the late 70s and 80s
The 535 is a two-channel graphic equaliser with ten bands per channel, in / out switch, input gain trim and a transformer-coupled output with overload LED. It’s a simple design, owing a lot to the earlier 527 & 529 mono graphics
Like all UREI kit from this period, it’s built like a tank with a very functional case, secured by the traditional UREI exposed hex-head screws, and a beautifully-finished aluminium front panel. Inside, it’s best-practice, 1970s-style, with a thick circuit board, huge (by today’s standards) through-hole mounted components, massive American transformers and lots of hand-wiring
The 535 is a 10-band equaliser with frequencies at octave spacings. It has a reputation as a great guitar EQ – the bands are wide enough to be smooth, but tight enough to pull out or accentuate specific frequency bands. It definitely sounds crunchier than plugin EQs and can be as subtle or as lairy as you like, depending how far you push it
Like all UREI gear, the 535 has tons of sonic character and great visual appeal. It has a functional appearance, like much German audio equipment, so simple & so logical that it can’t be bettered. That combination of simplicity, rugged construction & great sonics is as compelling now as it was in the 1970s
Great analogue outboard gear never dates and never devalues if it’s as simple, effective and well-designed as this UREI equaliser. In that respect, it’s the polar opposite of software plugins. A UREI 535 will sound unlike any other EQ you own and give you two channels of no-faff equalisation for guitars, loops, drum ambience, effects – whatever you like
| UREI 535 Filter Centre Frequencies | |
| 1 | 31.5 Hz |
| 2 | 63 Hz |
| 3 | 125 Hz |
| 4 | 250 Hz |
| 5 | 500 Hz |
| 6 | 1 KHz |
| 7 | 2 KHz |
| 8 | 4 KHz |
| 9 | 8 KHz |
| 10 | 16 KHz |
