A Stupid Idea
Yes, this is what I was talking about, before solid state became the
norm virtually all broadcast limiters and compressors use remote cutoff
tubes as the gain control elements. Western Electric, RCA, Gates, and
others all built such products using remote cutoff tubes.
The photocell type (Teletronix) was more common: although the 670
wasn't hugely rare it was in the minority. The Gates Level Devil used
these but isn't particularly good.
This is an odd blind spot for you Bret, I suggest you check your 40s and
50s era history again, by far the vast majority of broadcast limiters
from that period used remote cutoff tubes as the gain control elements.
Oh, a lot of them were used, but most worked poorly and the FCC was
more understanding of occasional peak overmod in those days. Plus the
engineers were expected to ride gain. The Teletronix was the first
that worked WELL. The later vari-mu boxes did as well (eg the 670) but
the Level Devil was nt.wth.sht.
They came out when the combo operator became the norm. They were too
busy to ride gain like the union guys.
So technically you are correct but functionally must be qualified. I
should have been more specific.
Incidentally the old Level Devil is in some demand, as an effect more
than anything else. It sounds nice for acoustic guitar and Latin
percussion.
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