What's a good outboard vocal compressor without going up to the LA2A?

mofat

New member
Been eyeing on a used Empirical Distressor EL-X but I really don't know much about either of them.
 
If you're looking for LA-2A-ish compression, on the cheap side, the ART Pro VLA is a surprisingly decent box. If the budget allows, there are several LA-2A-ish clones out there...
 
The Art Pro VLA II is in my mic chain for everything I track. I'm happy with it. It also does nice things to bass.
 
Is a pre-amp is required to work with this? It looks like it would require a pre-amp in case Phantom is required?
 
I think it's preferable to hook up your mic to a good mic pre then go into the compressor. Might be kinda counter intuitive though since u bought a nice mic pre to raise the level then buy another gear to crush it. Lol
 
Just using the transformer and the amp with no gain reduction can do nice things to harsh digital samples. Wouldn't want it on everything, but nice.
 
Ultimately I got the la2a clone. It warms up my voice. My vocal chain is Neumann tlm 103-->Isa one-->audioscape la2a-->mixer
 
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