The other thing to remember unlike many cloners UA has had no problem with changing the parts with no notice to the public ( remember when you couldn’t get the attenuator for the 1176?). They are completely reliant on name recognition.
I do remember that and the parts availability is something that affected everyone then & still does today... at the time basically UA, Purple and some home brewers. That was the market. I don't even think there was a plugin version at the time? Crazy as it sounds now.
While I can't speak about what UA is putting out today I can say that I bought two of the first 1000 UA 1176 reissues ever made... and so I'm gonna hop in the time machine, spin a tale and then y'all can me what an 1176LN is worth.
Got my pair back in 2000 or early 2001... 20 + years ago when UA was a brand new company with only two products. The reissue La2a & 1176LN - that was the whole works. And I remember seeing their booth at the AES show & like everyone else? Pretty stoked but kinda skeptical.
At the time if you had an 1176 it was an old one. That's all there was. When I started this makin' rekkids thing somewhere around 1996 and the naive age of 18 I remember the pro trader newspaper & they were always listed around $300-350. Didn't matter which version. This is also about the same time frame I passed on buying a half dozen or so brown Helios modules at $200 each.
Anywhoo!
UA releases these things and I knew I needed an 1176. Needed that sound in the arsenal. Had been scouting for an old one in good shape... prices are up... but now UA has this? Its new? Like a reissue guitar or amp? Part for part? And its about the same price as an old one..?
Special ordered from Guitar Denter. Plunked down my $1500 clams (I think that was the price?) and waited...
When I pick it up... from I believe the department manager no less... he says to me...
What IS this thing? Its a limiter? Its analog? What would you use this on? Why not use waves L1? Bro!
Ok Beavis. Gimme my box and nobodies gonna get hurt.
Bought 'em on the guitar denter card 0 interest. Couple months after I paid off #1 I ordered #2.
I also remember when UA released the first UAD cards... one of my good friends bought one. That was the first 1176 plug I can remember, now the "legacy" version... That could've been 2006?
And its probably worth noting that when this junk was released everyone loved it. That was the cement in the UA reputation. They did it right. They didn't fuck up.
Absolutely no regrets about buying them at the time. Still in the racks. Still getting used.
But would I buy them again? Today? Ehhhh. Maybe.
Yeah at $2600 its a big pop. And there are less expensive versions yes. And sitting next to something like an emperical fatso at $2400..? Stereo and a couple less bucks? Geez.
Yet. I've used some of the various klones & homebrew kits... as a freelancer I get around. And none of them aside from the Purples ever really made me go "yeahhh... that's it right there" Some have. But many, many times I've had someone raving about their klone I patch in and to me, its not responding right meaning like I'd expect. Or its too noisy or something. Its off... and then we do the A/B thing with mine and someone says "I can hear where the money goes"
Dude.
Now the old vintage ones? Back in 96/97 when I was working at Showplace in Dover NJ we had 3 of 'em in the racks. And they all sounded really different. One of them noticeably so. But different enough that we had to mark the track sheets and note which we used on a given source... not just settings but which of the 3 boxes.
Otherwise two weeks later you'd go to punch in a vocal? Guitar? The tone would never match. It'd pop. Night & day.
That was one of the things that drove me to buy a pair of reissues. That they're built the same and will age the same. In theory anyway and I can say 20 odd years later that's EXACTLY what's happened. I can still use 'em interchangeably. One of 'em has a meter bulb that's out otherwise no real differences to whine about.
Today in 2023 we live in era where everyone not only knows what an 1176 is but there's about 1000 different versions. From $29 plugs to $2600 hardware there's something for everyone! But now the question rages... what's the best? The most accurate? And with so many variations who can really tell? Cue up endless & mostly pointless navel gazing...
I'm sorta glad & feel lucky that I came up at the tail end of that dinosaur era of making records... mostly because if nothing else it did give me that foundational experience of working with the real shit. The quality. That's the personal high water mark... where the tide rolled in and left an impression.
And that's a tough thing to find today. Maybe even near impossible for most. And maybe even not all that important.
Having a basis for comparison is great, and I do enjoy a bit of navel gazing from time to time but overall its probably more important to get on with making some music. At a certain point 'ya gotta pick something and stick it into action. Get yer ya ya's out.
