yamaha gc 2020c compressor limiter

That was my first 'full featured' comp. Not one of my best buys. Experience showed the cost/quality ratio was not good. (is it still made?
IIRC it grabbed hard even at low ratios. Was useful at slow attacks.
The gate is a joke, closes in two, long separate stages.
 
I've still got an earlier version of the GC2020 (probably the "A" version or whatever they called the first version)... actually it's not too bad when compared to some current low cost comp limiters. The gate is pretty smooth on this early version; I can't speak for the later versions.
 
I had one also and It sucked really bad and was noisy as hell, I ended up Tearing it appart and useing it for parts.....Now it is a much better unit as I built a couple nice preamps out of the Chassis and Xformer.....

Cheers
 
I agree with Ford and the others whole heartedly. The yamaha comps, EQ's, and amps were pretty terrible. For a long time I used to actually get riders that stated that the yamaha equipment is NOT acceptable.
 
Very old thread I know but does anyone know what year this compressor came out? Is it pre-90s?
Also I was wondering whether if one was to only use it for side-chaining a kick and bass whether the sound degradation would still be relevant despite the fact that the actual 'compressor' side of things is only acting on the key-input sound (which is not heard).

Thanks
 
I used to come accross then on in house PA systems in the 1990's I remember not liking them much. However if I had one now I would give it a second chance in the studio to see if it was suitable for anything.

Alan
 
The only thing I really liked about the GC2020 was the XLR I/O (in addition to the 1/4") and the switchable sensitivity. I bought mine used in the mid 90s. I don't know about side chaining it, but as a straight compressor it wasn't my favorite.
 
witzendoz said:
I used to come across them on in house PA systems in the 1990's I remember not liking them much. However if I had one now I would give it a second chance in the studio to see if it was suitable for anything.

Alan
Click to expand...

Sorry to resurrect again, but back in december I made this comment ^^^^^^, now through the wonders of the internet a forum member near me contacted me and sold me a yamaha 2020 for 2 bottles of red LOL, I will try it out again over the next few weeks and give an updated opinion.

Cheers
Alan.
 
I wonder about that too, when these threads come up, how would I hear it now after.. (20' years?) learning, listening.
There's still one out back. It's weird to say it but I have this what I think :rolleyes: is a pretty clear recollection of of how I was setting and using it in some mixes- it had to be in it's very lowest ratio and rather slow attack.
But when I think of how utterly fantastic, flexible, something like a PSP MasterComp is (yeah ok it's my latest crush :p It's like.. phooey ;)
 
Report so far LOL:

Spent an hour Saturday afternoon putting, Kick, Snare, Vocals, through it (forgot to try bass), anyway I could get a result but not my go to compressor. Sunday had a session on tracking harmonica for an album, during the playback at the end of the day put it through the Yamaha, HAY! this works, so the Yamaha is now my go to Harmonica compressor , so I suppose it stays.

The other thing it could work on is to have it on a vocal track just grabbing a little and have a good old valve compressor after it, I will let you know if I get a chance to try this soon.

I should say that this unit came out of a radio station and was like new, however it had whiteout all over the front showing where to put the knobs, so this meant the knobs had not moved for years and as such when I plugged it in the pots were very noisy. So I pulled the lid off and cleaned the pots up (and cleaned off the whiteout), all quiet now. This unit is very well made and a quality item of gear.

Oh and the whiteout settings were crap LOL.

Alan.
 
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