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14-day money back guarantee included if product is not activated
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For more information, please refer to our Returns and Refunds Information.
If you decide your order isn't suitable for any reason you can return it - just let us know within 30 days of receiving it. Please keep hold of all the original packaging until you're sure you want to keep the order.
Eligibility for Money Back Guarantee
Important: For hygiene and software licensing reasons, some items are only eligible for our Money Back Guarantee if they are returned to us unused and sealed in the original packaging with all software still "unregistered." Details of exclusions are shown within the product descriptions. Products include:
- Monitors and Headphones
- Earplugs and Ear Protection
- Reeds and mouthpieces for woodwind and brass instruments
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- CDs, DVDs and Software
We can collect your return for a small fee, or you can send it back to us yourself. The collection fee can be found in the returns information on each product's page on Gear4music.
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This table provides an overview of your statutory consumer rights, compared with our standard returns policy and optional extended money back guarantee and warranty.
| UK & Europe | EU Standard | Gear4music Standard | Gear4music Optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return Period | 14 days | 30 days | up to 180 days |
| Standard delivery charges refunded? | Yes | Yes | Yes, up to 30 days |
| Upgraded delivery charges refunded? | Standard costs only | Standard costs only | Standard costs only |
| Free collection on cancellation | No | No | Yes, up to 30 days |
| Free collection if defective, delivered damaged or incorrect item | Yes, within 14 days | Yes, within 14 days | Yes, within 30 days |
We are unable to accept returns of any custom made items designed to work together as a unique package and some items are only eligible for money back guarantee if they are returned to us unused and sealed in the original packaging. For full information on our returns policy, please refer to our returns and refunds information guide.
Key Features
The Relab 176 Tube Compressor is an exact plugin replica of the 1960's tube hardware compressor. With every element of the hardware original modelled with immaculate authenticity, the Relab 176 Tube Compressor delivers the exact curves, harmonic behaviour, tone and calibration of the hardware with added functionality and features to fit seamlessly into modern production workflow. Built on a real-time circuit solver, it models every tube stage, transformer and timing network, so dynamics and harmonics react like the original unit. Its fixed-threshold, variable-gain approach means compression shape and tone adapt to the signal, with ratio-driven knee changes for anything from gentle smoothing to firm limiting.
Choose the transformer or resistor stage coupling to set transient speed and low-end feel, and use polarity-selective detection to focus on the exact transient edge you want to control. The Calibration control shifts internal bias and threshold for quick tone and response tweaks, while advanced trims mirror the original’s internal adjustments.
Product Ref: 349256
This plugin drops into any stage of a project and behaves exactly like the hardware that’s so celebrated. On vocals, it keeps presence intact while gently keeping peaks in check, with harmonics that scale naturally as level rises. On a mix bus, you can add cohesion with subtle peak control, engaging the transformer path for extra weight or the resistor path to stay cleaner. Individual channels can access programme-adaptive timing and polarity-aware detection where drums retain body and sustain, bass stays solid and guitars gain controlled harmonic richness. For mastering, smooth harmonic growth and precise level management pair with calibration and reference level to set headroom precisely. Handy factory presets speed up starting points across these tasks.
The original unit’s fixed-threshold, variable-gain topology is recreated end-to-end, so ratio changes reshape the curve in a hardware-authentic way. An all-valve signal path with interstage transformer coupling and a programme-dependent sidechain is solved in real time, meaning no static transfer curves that are stiff and rigid on different sources. Individual components are represented: variable-gain and line-amp stages with bias interactions, input/output/interstage transformers with saturation and frequency shaping, RC timing for attack and release, and power-supply sag that influences recovery under sustained gain reduction. Because behaviour emerges from the circuit, timing, knee and harmonics follow the source, preserving the original flow and interactions of the vintage design.
Four selectable ratios, 2:1, 4:1, 8:1 and 12:1, mirror the hardware and shift both knee position and slope. Lower settings act as smooth levellers; higher settings move towards firm limiting. As you change ratio, the character of the gain reduction evolves, so you can move from subtle glue to assertive control without juggling extra parameters. The result is compression that remains musical and predictable, letting you dial in the right response for the material while maintaining consistent tone through the signal path.
Attack and release are derived from RC networks tied directly to the variable-gain stage, so timing isn’t a fixed millisecond value. It moves with level, transient size, tube non-linearity and transformer interaction just like the hardware. This gives natural, programme-dependent behaviour that follows the music rather than fighting it. A Fixed/Auto option alters how release adapts, making it easy to choose steady control for peaks or a more elastic response for sustained material and complex mixes.
The sidechain polarity control lets the detector listen to positive peaks, negative peaks or both. That means you can clamp a sharp kick transient without dulling the low-end body, or tame plosives on a vocal while leaving overall presence untouched. By choosing which half-cycle triggers gain reduction, transient shaping becomes more surgical, improving control while preserving tone and musicality elsewhere in the signal.
The stage coupling switch changes how the gain stage feeds the output amplifier. Route through the transformer for very fast attack times plus a gentle “smiley” tilt and tighter low-end behaviour. Select the resistor path for a slower onset, flatter tone and that recognisable older low-frequency movement. Both routes reflect authentic circuit options, letting you pick transient speed, spectral character and bass behaviour to suit the source.
The single Calibration dial acts like moving multiple internal trims at once. It shifts tube bias and balance to change where compression begins, the blend of even/odd harmonics and the overall dynamic feel. Small tweaks can smooth transients, alter micro-dynamics and guide low-frequency stability, while also nudging tone warmer, brighter or tighter. It’s an efficient way to reposition threshold without touching your input gain, with deeper fine-tuning available from the hidden controls.
"The typical words used to describe a compressor plugin just don’t begin to cut it with the 176. The range of tones, in addition to the dynamic control, is simply mind boggling. If I had only ONE compressor to use ever again, this is it. The range of sounds is extraordinary. Subsequently, there is nothing it didn’t sound great with…from drums, to bass, to vocals." - Craig Bauer – Mixer / Engineer (30+ Grammy-winning artist)
"I’ve used the hardware. The Relab 176 nails it. This is the first time I’ve heard software compression actually move like the real thing." - Koen Heldens – Mixer / Engineer (80 million records sold, 26 billion streams – Kanye West, Lil Wayne, XXXTENTACION)
