favorite inexpensive dual/stereo compressor?

garysun · Post by **garysun** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:41 am

Anybody have a favorite they'd like to share?
I just bought the MXR Dual limiter and it arrived DOA from ebay

Any other suggestions?

I'm using a sytek mpx-4a Mic pre
into a digi 001
with a variety of mics.

Mostly recording indie, songwriters, not much elec guitar.
I will probably be using it on drums mostly, and vocals ofcourse

THANKS

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:13 am

The RNC is frequently mentioned in the favorite-cheap category, and I've always found it to do the job, if not in a sexy way. I used to have a dbx 164 (stereo 163) that was pretty insane on drums, but hard to find other uses for it. I'd like to hear an RNLA in action...they go for about $200.
That said, I'll take the UAD 33609 plug-in over all cheap comps that I've heard, but now we're talking about buying a UAD card first.

IzovAge · Post by **IzovAge** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:36 am

What about the ART PRO VLA ?

garysun · Post by **garysun** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:47 pm

Thanks!

Any others I should check out?

Slider · Post by **Slider** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:38 pm

Focusrite Compounder.
This thing is great for the money.

Hucklebeam · Post by **Hucklebeam** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:43 am

I am not sure what your budget is but for $300 I got a used drawmer DL241. I really find it to be a great unit, I highly recommend it. This is one of those pieces that never sounds horrible on anything, it proves workable on whatever signal I send through it. It sounds excellent on kick and snare, bass and acoustic guitar sound great and it works well on buss compression. It is not my favorite on lead vocals but it is certainly usable. I find my RNC's are not nearly as versatile, especially on bass and kick and even certain male vocals.
The Drawmer has a limiter that really comes in handy for the oddball hard drum spike, even cooler is the decent gate that is offered on each channel. This unit is a hell of a good deal IMO.
I always thought that the Alesis 3630 was attempting to mimic this piece as far as features. Obviously it is nowhere close in its sound or usabilty. All of that is speculation and opinion of course but thats kinda what you are looking for. Good luck on your search.
[/b]

slowblue · Post by **slowblue** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:35 am

For $300 a Drawmer 241 is a steal. I really like the Pro VLA. use it a lot more than the RNC but the RNC is nice as well, mostly use the VLA as a thickener, I sometimes run the VLA after a Distressor if I'm trying to kill some of the edge on a peaky acoustic.

Hucklebeam · Post by **Hucklebeam** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:41 pm

I have wondered about the PRO VLA. Do you track with it much?

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:53 pm

I tracked bass with the VLA Saturday and used it as a guitar bus parallel on the mix on Sunday. I just started mixing a record today and the VLA (with new Svetlana toobs) won out as the guitar parallel over the Meek SC2.2, whick is often my guitar bus comp when I'm mixing. An RNC lives on my drum bus parallel. Another on is often on vocals...

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:37 am

Hucklebeam wrote:I have wondered about the PRO VLA. Do you track with it much?

Pretty much everything I ever record goes through the VLA (the Chinese version). I love it.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:59 pm

inverseroom wrote:
Hucklebeam wrote:I have wondered about the PRO VLA. Do you track with it much?
Pretty much everything I ever record goes through the VLA (the Chinese version). I love it.

yeah man same here. kick, snare, bass, vox...

lancebug · Post by **lancebug** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:22 pm

Dbx 164. Its the original stereo version of the 163x. Also a pair of 163x's can be strapped for similar effect. I have a pair of symetrix cl150's that I tried strapping but they are not totally the same (power switch, no power switch), don't sound totally the same(harsher, smoother) and it didn't totally work (I think I broke the master/slave switch on one).

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:44 pm

joel hamilton wrote:

Totally great.

Try it again, maybe just try a 1/4" cable instead of the XLR or TRS. SOme of them seem to be PIN3 hot, with the shield just going to the chassis ground.... I got one like that and it TOTALLY didnt pass signal in my studio, but once the wire was sorted, it completely rocks.

I hope that is what it is in your case!

xhavepatiencex · Post by **xhavepatiencex** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:08 pm

ive got a symetrix 525 its never wronged me, granted I dont have experience with high end outboard, but it seems to do alot more positive things for the sound and tone of instruments then most plugs ive got

Albert · Post by **Albert** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:01 am

Another vote for that MXR dual limiter. Don't give up on it because one scumbag sold you a non-working unit. Definitely try the cabling suggestions joel mentioned. If you can get it working there's a lot of good stuff you can get out of it.

Message Board

favorite inexpensive dual/stereo compressor?

favorite inexpensive dual/stereo compressor?

Who is online