What should my first compressor be? "$600 to $1500"

[Brian]

I am looking at purchasing my first "stand alone" compressor. I have
a Joe Meek TwinQCS but it is part of an "all in one" box and is quite
noisy. I am purchasing a FMR audio RNC so no need for suggestions
there. I will mainly be compressing bass and vox if the need arises.
I have heard alot of great things about the distressor and have
personally heard it on bass but not vox. Also, I have not heard the
British mode "modification" either...how important is the British mode
for vox and bass? I have also looked into the dbx 160sl and have used
this unit on the stereo bus. I know that they all sound differnent
and it depends on the use but this will be the first of hopefully more
equipment purchases and would just like to make this one count as much
as possible. Thanks for your suggestions

[John Washburn]

"Brian" wrote:
> I am looking at purchasing my first "stand alone" compressor. I have
> a Joe Meek TwinQCS but it is part of an "all in one" box and is quite
> noisy. I am purchasing a FMR audio RNC so no need for suggestions
> there. I will mainly be compressing bass and vox if the need arises.
> I have heard alot of great things about the distressor and have
> personally heard it on bass but not vox. Also, I have not heard the
> British mode "modification" either...how important is the British mode
> for vox and bass? I have also looked into the dbx 160sl and have used
> this unit on the stereo bus. I know that they all sound differnent
> and it depends on the use but this will be the first of hopefully more
> equipment purchases and would just like to make this one count as much
> as possible. Thanks for your suggestions

Worth considering, though all really different:

DBX 160VU, 165 (also 161, 162)
Distressor (most flexible)
Aphex Compellor

Good luck!

-jw

[Mike Caffrey]

In article >,
(Brian) wrote:

> I am looking at purchasing my first "stand alone" compressor. I have
> a Joe Meek TwinQCS but it is part of an "all in one" box and is quite
> noisy. I am purchasing a FMR audio RNC so no need for suggestions
> there. I will mainly be compressing bass and vox if the need arises.
> I have heard alot of great things about the distressor and have
> personally heard it on bass but not vox. Also, I have not heard the
> British mode "modification" either...how important is the British mode
> for vox and bass? I have also looked into the dbx 160sl and have used
> this unit on the stereo bus. I know that they all sound differnent
> and it depends on the use but this will be the first of hopefully more
> equipment purchases and would just like to make this one count as much
> as possible. Thanks for your suggestions

The Brit mod is very important. Definitely get it.



www.monsterisland.com

[P Stamler]

I've used the distressor for vocals, without the British mod, and it is
awesomely good. If you want utterly transparent compression it will do that
(and easily, without a lot of messing around). If you want a massive footprint
it'll do that too, although there's a steeper learning curve.

Couldn't tell you about the British mod, but even without it this unit has my
highest recommendation.

Peace,
Paul

[Steve Holt]

"Brian" > wrote in message
om...
> I am looking at purchasing my first "stand alone" compressor. I have
> a Joe Meek TwinQCS but it is part of an "all in one" box and is quite
> noisy. I am purchasing a FMR audio RNC so no need for suggestions
> there. I will mainly be compressing bass and vox if the need arises.
> I have heard alot of great things about the distressor and have
> personally heard it on bass but not vox. Also, I have not heard the
> British mode "modification" either...how important is the British mode
> for vox and bass? I have also looked into the dbx 160sl and have used
> this unit on the stereo bus. I know that they all sound differnent
> and it depends on the use but this will be the first of hopefully more
> equipment purchases and would just like to make this one count as much
> as possible. Thanks for your suggestions

If you're willing to spend the money on a single channel, then I'd recommend
an 1176. I've found it useful for many different applications.


Steve Holt
INNER MUSIC
Music Creation & Production
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/steveholt
http://www.inner-music.com

[ScotFraser]

<< Worth considering, though all really different:

DBX 160VU, 165 (also 161, 162)
Distressor (most flexible)
Aphex Compellor >>

Since the original post mentioned compressing vocals & bass & since the
Compellor is really a program leveler, I wouldn't recommend it at all for this
application. It's a great unit, but it doesn't do what people want done
dynamically on vocal or bass tracks.

Scott Fraser

[Lou Gimenez]

get a distressor. You can get a better compressor but it will be more than
1500. A distressor is a very flexible box, you can't go wrong with one
--Lou Gimenez
The Music Lab
2" 24track w all the Goodies
www.musiclabnyc.com



> From: (Brian)
> Organization: http://groups.google.com
> Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
> Date: 20 Oct 2003 10:08:10 -0700
> Subject: What should my first compressor be? "$600 to $1500"
>
> I am looking at purchasing my first "stand alone" compressor. I have
> a Joe Meek TwinQCS but it is part of an "all in one" box and is quite
> noisy. I am purchasing a FMR audio RNC so no need for suggestions
> there. I will mainly be compressing bass and vox if the need arises.
> I have heard alot of great things about the distressor and have
> personally heard it on bass but not vox. Also, I have not heard the
> British mode "modification" either...how important is the British mode
> for vox and bass? I have also looked into the dbx 160sl and have used
> this unit on the stereo bus. I know that they all sound differnent
> and it depends on the use but this will be the first of hopefully more
> equipment purchases and would just like to make this one count as much
> as possible. Thanks for your suggestions

[Brian]

I know that I like the Distressor on the bass, I will rent one (since
I am in Nashville) and check out vox. Versatility is key for this
thing. Has anyone heard the dbx 160sl (blue face). They are pretty
expensive, but have gotten some good reviews. The one that I used was
transparent (applied to the 2 bus) so I don't know if that is what my
first purchase should be, since I'm using (if any) plug-ins.

[Wayne]

Cranesong has the Trakker for a little over $1500. I'm using two of them and
they are amazing in what they can do.

They do an 1176 blackface, LA-2, LA-3 and a reasonable Fairchild 670.


--Wayne

-"sounded good to me"-

[Scott Dorsey]

Brian > wrote:
>I know that I like the Distressor on the bass, I will rent one (since
>I am in Nashville) and check out vox. Versatility is key for this
>thing. Has anyone heard the dbx 160sl (blue face). They are pretty
>expensive, but have gotten some good reviews. The one that I used was
>transparent (applied to the 2 bus) so I don't know if that is what my
>first purchase should be, since I'm using (if any) plug-ins.

I find the Distressor way too ugly on vocals, but then I really have a
thing about clean-sounding vocals.

If you own only two compressors, the RNC and the Distressor are the two
to have. The RNC handles the clean sounds very well, and the Distressor
will give you basically any dirty sound you want. Just about any compressor
you want to emulate, you can do serviceably well with the Distressor. It
is a really handy little thing because of the huge number of tones you can
get out of one box.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mondoslug1]

>I know that I like the Distressor on the bass, I will rent one (since
>I am in Nashville) and check out vox.

I rented a Distressor last week from Underground Sound in Nville for vocals.
they're good folks.

Versatility is key for this
>thing. Has anyone heard the dbx 160sl (blue face). They are pretty
>expensive, but have gotten some good reviews. The one that I used was
>transparent (applied to the 2 bus) so I don't know if that is what my
>first purchase should be, since I'm using (if any) plug-ins.
>
>
>
>
>
>

[Johnston West]

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message

> If you own only two compressors, the RNC and the Distressor are the two
> to have.

AMEN........ also, though out of your price range, if you can find a
used Allen Smart, give it a listen. A very smooth compressor, and you
get some of that SSL sound.

Hey Celine Deon uses one live. Can she be wrong? :) ...........
http://www.meyersound.com/news/press/celine_ps.htm ........(Very good
article on Pro Sound Reinforcement)

[EganMedia]

Scott mentioned that if you were to have two compressors, an RNC and a
Distressor woulf be the two to have. I agree. However, if you were only going
to have one, I would recommend a Crane Song Trakker. There are four on Ebay
right now. They don't get quite as gritty as a Distressor, but they do the
clean hing like nothing ewlse I've heard. They also have the ability to sound
like more compressors than any other single compressor I've ever heard
(including the Distressor). Don't get me wrong- I love Distressors- I have
three- but Trakkers are even more versatile IMHO. and do the Hi Fi thing like
nothing else I've heard.


Joe Egan
EMP
Colchester, VT
www.eganmedia.com

[Richard Morrow]

If you are good with a soldering iron and can follow a really good
instruction manual, my suggestion is to build a Teletronix LA-2 clone.
I built one and its great. So great that I am presently building a
second one.
You can get everything needed for a pair of these incredible Lim\comps
for less than $1200 for the pair as opposed to spending 4-5 times that
much for real ones.
All you need is patience and E-bay hunting for the input and output
transformers.
They are discontinued UTC transformers HA-100X, (A-10 for an
LA2-A),and A-24. After that, the only expensive item is the T4b module
which you can get from JBL for $160. The rest is available from
mauser, new sensor corp and your local mom and pop electronics store.
Another thought is you can buy direct from Teletronix all the parts to
build the LA-2 or LA2-A.
Good luck.
R. Morrow
Purely Analog

[Twist Turner]

If I had to only have one, it would probably be a 1176, and if the Crane
Song trakker sounds anything like the STC8, I'd probably pick that above
the 1176.

The LA2a is fairly difficult to build(at least when I did it and the
book I had was full of mistakes), that aside the LA2a is kind of a one
trick pony, a good one but I wouldn't use it on everything.