Any Compressors Worth Considering that are Cheaper than the Distressor??

U

undermind

Member
I don't have a problem with the price of the Distressor. I know it's a serious piece of equipment worth the money. I'm thinking a little about a hardware compressor for my mic chain. Mainly to smooth out vocals a little. And of course I'd love to see what else I could fatten up..

So is there anything "on the way" up to the Distressor worth considering? I know the RNC is pretty popular, but in a totally different class I would think.. And I think would likely just be a bump in the road to Distressorville.. Anything else worth looking at?
 
Something that I have found that adds a nice color is the ART PRO VLA, and at only $200?? to $250?? whole lot less then a disstressor. Even more so when you consider the fact that the VLA is two channels. And unlike the RNC/RNLA you can operate the VLA in link mode OR in true two channel mode. Only downside I guess is that rack real estate you have to give up compared to an RNC/RNLA.

BUT, if you are just buying a compressor to keep levels in check, you are recording to loud, and need to get that in check first. After you have gotten your levels in check then find a nice used UAD-1, or use some compressor like the sonalksis compressor found here: http://www.sonalksis.com/index.php?section_id=315 (they even have a trial period to see if you like it). But like you said if this is truly for smoothing out the vocals then look no further then the PRO VLA which if used responsibly (2-6dB of gain reduction) can give you a nice smoothness to vocals.
 
undermind said:
I don't have a problem with the price of the Distressor. I know it's a serious piece of equipment worth the money. I'm thinking a little about a hardware compressor for my mic chain. Mainly to smooth out vocals a little. And of course I'd love to see what else I could fatten up..

So is there anything "on the way" up to the Distressor worth considering? I know the RNC is pretty popular, but in a totally different class I would think.. And I think would likely just be a bump in the road to Distressorville.. Anything else worth looking at?
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I would not consider a Distressor for vocals.
 
A third vote for the ART Pro VLA--best bang for the buck. You can pick one of them up on eBay for around $200. Give it a go to see if it meets your needs. If not, recycle it back to eBay. Two channels, nice meters, really everything you need. You'll have to pay a lot more to do better.
 
BTW, some people upgrade the stock tubes in the ART Pro VLA for better ones like the Russian Tung-Sol brand. About $30
 
LA2A, 1176, Aphex Dominator, dbx 160 (any version..)....I could probably think up a few more that would cost mostly less than a Distressor.

The Distressor is a pretty tricky box to use well. The 1176 on the other hand is hard to make sound "bad", it just has different levels of "ooooooooooooo....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh" to it. :)
 
good point. skibbe makes the red stripe, which is an la-2a clone and used to sell them for about $1,000 by comparison, but last i heard, they were going for $1800!
 
SRR said:
BUT, if you are just buying a compressor to keep levels in check, you are recording to loud, and need to get that in check first.
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I don't think that just because I'm considering a Distressor for my vocal chain means I'm recording too loud. I'm not trying to address any problem here, and me recording levels are fine.. I know what the Distressor sounds like, just wondering if there's anything close to it for less that I'm unaware of..

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
 
By the way, I've used the Distressor in pretty vanilla situations.. I'm curious about it's more unconventional uses. I haven't heard it distort or squash anything. I'm curious to hear interesting ways people are using it. Any good tricks? It's versatility is what might make me decide to spend more over something like the VLA..
 
The Distressor is just completely different than the PRO VLA. I'm not sure why you would be considering them as an either or situation.

In the first place, the PRO VLA is a leveler with a choice of fast or slow attack, and fast or auto release. It just doesn't sound or function anything like a Distressor. The PRO VLA is not "close" to a Distressor in much of any way, they are two different beasts.

As far as getting close to the distortion aspect of the Distressor, the box I've used that comes closest is the vintage MXR dual limiter. Doesn't sound as good though, and doesn't do all the other tricks the Distressors can achieve. But if you really push the compression really hard it starts to sing a bit like the Distressor.

A box that has been called the poor man's Distressor is the JBL/Urei 7110. It comes highly recommended but is a compressor I personally have not heard.
 
fraserhutch said:
Speaking of the 1176, anyone know anything about this kit?
http://www.tangible-technology.com/dynamics/1176_kit/SL1176.html

Worth getting?
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If you were going the DIY route you might also consider the Gyraf 1176 clone (based on Rev F):

http://www.gyraf.dk/

I just received PCBs for a different version (based on Rev D of the original).

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20489

I believe the various versions of the 1176 can sound pretty different so it might be worth a bit of research before deciding which version you want to build (I bet they all sound pretty good though ;) ).

Here's some useful info I C&Pd from a thread at group diy a while ago:

the rev A and B units (blue stripe) have a total of ~50db of system gain, with a 5db lower threshold point than the rev C-F (black face) which have ~45db of system gain (the F has a class AB output amp, C-E class A). this means that if you were to turn the input knob to the same place on both a blackface and a bluestripe, and send them the same signal, the blue stripe would go into action first. so you would naturally set the input control lower on a blue stripe (to get a similar threshold), and that is what the extra 5db of gain is for... to make up for the extra attenuation at the input.

the purple and the UA are both based on the rev D/E units, so they both should have 45db of system gain. the purple MC76 and MC77 are tested for that before they leave the shop. the earlier and perhaps present UA units probably do, but they had that "mid era" where they re-did the front end, so who knows for sure.

the g1176 is based on the later rev G (the first silverface). revs F-H used an output transformer (B11148) that was configured as 1:3.5 (10db gain) for the domestic market or 1:1 (unity gain) for export to europe. the gyraf PCB uses a lundahl output as a 2:1 stepdown (6db loss). some people modified the PCB to reverse the transformer. the mnats PCB has options for various 1:2 stepup (6db gain) transformers. and the front end is either an opamp (rev G) or a bridging transformer before a pot, similar to the solution UA used in their "mid era" reissues (to be contrasted with an attenuator before the transformer, as in the rev F and earlier). finally, the threshold sensitivity is again different on the rev G, so the input knob settings do not translate well from a rev G to the D/E units.

ANYWAY, there are many options with the g1176, and yes you can make something mighty close to a rev G or even a rev F if you source all the right parts. i think experimentation is great and you can certainly make some interesting custom units. try a 31267 on the input and a lo2567 on the output, for example. or a cinemag version. or the OEP versions on the mnats PCB. lots of options.

that said, the class A output section of the rev D/E, as found in the purple units/kit, is different from what you can do with the g1176. and that is the sound some people are after.
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