BB Tubes by Waves tube saturation plugin interface with BEAUTY and BEAST knobs

BB Tubes: Analog Tube Saturation Plugin by Waves

Rated 4.5/5 on Plugin Boutique (15 ratings)

BB Tubes is a saturation effect plugin from Waves that models analog tube stages, offering a range from subtle harmonic warmth to aggressive distortion. It comes in VST2, AU and AAX formats for Windows and macOS.

VST2AUAAXWindowsmacOS

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01Overview

BB Tubes is part of Waves' Maqma series and is built around cascading tube stages modeled from an original design. Its BEAUTY and BEAST knobs control the character of the saturation, and blending them lets you move between delicate harmonic coloring and heavy, in-your-face distortion. Waves describes the result as analog tube saturation that can be applied across individual tracks and full mixes.

Best for

Vocal saturation
Drum bus coloring
Bass warmth
Mix bus saturation
Guitar distortion
Synth coloration

Developer: Waves
Category: Saturation
Store: Plugin Boutique

02Key features

What you get

Analog tube saturation from subtle to aggressive
Original Waves Maqma design modeling cascading tube stages
BEAUTY knob for delicate harmonic saturation
BEAST knob for aggressive distortion
Blend control for combining BEAUTY and BEAST tones
Transformer control adds a colored low-end bump
Pre- and post-saturation hi-shelf Tone EQ
Bass Relief keeps low end clean from saturation
Sensitivity control sets how the signal drives the tubes

03In depth

Saturation Character and Controls

The BEAUTY knob is set up for delicate harmonic saturation, while the BEAST knob pushes the signal into aggressive distortion. Blending the two gives a wide range of tones between those extremes.

A Transformer control adds a colored low-end bump. Tube soft-clipping is designed to make mixes louder quickly, which makes it useful when you want more apparent level and density.

The Sensitivity control sets how hard the signal drives the tubes, so you can dial in the amount of saturation for each source.

Tone Shaping and Low-End Control

A Tone section provides a hi-shelf EQ placed both before and after the saturation stage. This lets you shape brightness on either side of the distortion.

Bass Relief keeps the low end clean by keeping the bass frequencies out of the tube saturation. This helps when you saturate a full mix or a bass-heavy source without muddying the low end.

These controls make BB Tubes usable on a broad range of material, from vocals and guitars to drums, synths and the mix bus.

04Specs

Will it run?

Formats, systems and requirements as listed by Plugin Boutique. Missing details are left out, not guessed.

Developer	Waves
Type	Plugin
Category	Saturation
Formats	VST2, AU, AAX
Operating systems	Windows, macOS

05FAQ

Questions, answered

What formats does BB Tubes support?

BB Tubes is available in VST2, AU and AAX formats.

Which operating systems can run BB Tubes?

BB Tubes supports Windows and macOS. On Mac it requires macOS Monterey 12 through Sequoia 15, and on PC it requires Windows 10 or later.

What is the difference between the BEAUTY and BEAST knobs?

BEAUTY is designed for delicate harmonic saturation, while BEAST produces aggressive, in-your-face distortion. Blending them gives a wider range of tones.