Neve 31102 Console EQ
INTRODUCTION
Originally featured in the Neve 8068 console, the three-band active EQ and High/Low filters offer enhanced tone-shaping possibilities and a feature complexity that sits squarely between its legendary cousins, the 1073 and the 1081.
In this plug-in analysis I am just looking at the 31102 as a saturator, rather than an EQ, the EQ does sound very nice but there is not much to analyse there.
HARMONIC ANALYSIS
The UAD Neve 31102 does not generate any harmonic components. Thus, if you pass a 100 Hz sine wave through the plug-in you will receive a 100 Hz sine wave at the output.
SATURATION CHARACTERISTICS
For this test I ran drum and synth loops through the 31102. I have compensated for level so that the loops peaks at -1 dBFS for maximum resolution of the waveform in Pro-L.
Dry Drum Loop
Drum Loop 31102 at Unity
Drum Loop 31102 at +10 dB Input
Dry Synth Loop
Synth Loop 31102 at Unity
The 31102 has soft and round saturation characteristics, very ear pleasing indeed. Hence its warm and smooth sound.
The saturation behaviour of the UAD 31102 is arguably not level dependant, there are tiny differences in the waveforms between the ‘Unity’ and ‘+10 dB Input’ waveforms. To be honest, I actually missed it first time around and have returned to edit this post 
AUDIO EXAMPLES
Dry Drum Loop
31102 Drums Bypassed.aif (1.3 MB)
Drum Loop 31102 at Unity
31102 Drums Enabled.aif (1.3 MB)
Dry Synth Loop
Sie-Q Dry.aif (1.3 MB)
Synth Loop 31102 at Unity
31102 Synth Engaged.aif (1.3 MB)
FREQUENCY AND PHASE RESPONSE
Lets take a look at the 31102’s frequency and phase response.
Since the 31102 does not saturate differently at varying settings, I am only looking for the frequency and phase response of the plug-in at unity.
Spectrum Colours
Yellow - noise generated by the plug-in analysis software to analyse the plug-in
White - frequency response of the plug-in
Red - phase shift of the plug-in
31102 at Unity
The 31102 rolls off quite a bit in the high frequencies, hence it’s softening nature.