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SSL 4000 E Channel Strip Black Friday pricing is 46% off at $79, ending Nov 30, 2026, for Universal Audio's UAD Native channel strip plugin.
The SSL 4000 E Channel Strip is a console channel in plugin form: preamp, EQ, filters, compressor and gate in one strip. It runs as a UAD Native plugin with external side-chaining, and the maker says no Apollo is required.
Universal Audio says its engineers modeled the SSL 4000 E hardware, including the preamp's Jensen input transformers and the dbx "gold-can" VCA output section.
The maker also includes the DSP-lite SSL E Channel Strip Legacy plugin for UAD-2 owners.
The maker describes the brown EQ as easy to dial in and musical, and the black EQ as more surgical and clean. Both carry the SSL band interactions and amp modeling.
Universal Audio says the EQ adds punch to drums, presence to vocals and heft to bass.
The E Series compressor is pitched at everything from subtle control to hard-hitting compression. The maker says it gives guitars presence, makes vocals pop, and adds clarity, punch and depth to a drum bus.
PRE-DYN puts the EQ or filters ahead of the dynamics for different timbres. The DYN-SC buttons feed the EQ filters, the cut filters or both into the sidechain, so the compressor reacts to a chosen frequency range.
Swapping the dynamics routing and placing the EQ and filters in the dynamics sidechain is one of the creative routes the maker points to.
With an Apollo audio interface, Unison technology gives you the hardware's mic/line preamp impedance, gain stage sweet spots and circuit behaviors. Insert the plugin in the Apollo's Unison preamp slot to track in real time through the modeled preamp.
The maker says the preamp's nonlinear amp behavior is part of the SSL character it captures.
The plugin ships with artist presets from Just Blaze (Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar), Ryan Hewitt (Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Avett Brothers), Ian Boxill (Prince, Tupac) and others.
Universal Audio ties the SSL 4000 sound to records from Nirvana's "Nevermind" to Bruno Mars' "24K Magic".
Yes. The SSL 4000 E Channel Strip Black Friday deal is 46% off at $79 and ends Nov 30, 2026. It is Universal Audio's UAD Native channel strip plugin, with EQ, filters, compressor and gate in one strip.
No. The maker says the UAD Native version needs no Apollo and includes external side-chaining. If you do use an Apollo interface, Unison technology lets you track through the modeled SSL preamp in the Unison slot.
It includes the Type E 242 black knob and 001 brown knob four-band EQs and filters, the SSL VCA compressor and gate, PRE-DYN and DYN-SC routing, and artist presets from Just Blaze, Ryan Hewitt, Ian Boxill and others.
Universal Audio describes the brown EQ as easy to dial in and musical, and the black EQ as more surgical and clean. Both offer the SSL band interactions and amp modeling, and you can use either in the strip.
Prices and end dates are checked at publishing time and can change, so confirm them at the store before you buy.