Urei LA4 compressor - how do they sound, and what are they worth?

kid klash

The original Mr. Nice Guy
Hi there,

I'm quite familiar with LA2A's, but I've never used an LA4. How do they sound compared to the LA2A, and what do you think they're worth? I ran into a guy that says he has two of them, and he wants $750 each for them.
 
kid klash said:
Hi there,

I'm quite familiar with LA2A's, but I've never used an LA4. How do they sound compared to the LA2A, and what do you think they're worth? I ran into a guy that says he has two of them, and he wants $750 each for them.

There are several different versions of this unit-- silverface, blackface and I think there is an A version? I know that the different versions are regarded very differently. I've read some posts where people say that the different versions vary greatly in quality. Many people seem to get the Eddie Colletti (Sic?) mods on this which are supposed to help greatly. I've seen a lot about these posts on Gearslutz and TapeOp.
 
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The $750 seems a little high. The last person I know who bought one got it for under $500. The last one I know about going on eBay went for $675 and took more than once to sell and the $675 was the minimum bid allowed.

If you want to research this go to Google groups and punch in LA4 and Fletcher or Scott Dorsey or Mixerman and you should pull up some decent threads giving you info.

Around here I think we pretty much limit the LA4 to bass, drums and acoustic guitar.
 
kojdogg said:
There are several different versions of this unit-- silverface, blackface and I think there is an A version? I know that the different versions are regarded very differently. I've read some posts where people say that the different versions vary greatly in quality. Many people seem to get the Eddie Colletti (Sic?) mods on this (www.tangibletechnology.com), which are supposed to help greatly. I've seen a lot about these posts on Gearslutz and TapeOp.

The link is at-

http://www.tangible-technology.com/index.html

Eddie Ciletti is an awesome guy, and is super cool to deal with as well.

The stock Urei LA4's arn't bad depending on what you decide to use them for. I really dig them on distorted guitars, D/I bass, or harsher vocals. People tend to mod them due to the opamp used in some of the older models, especially the A's.
 
750 is insane. 500 a piece tops. you should be able to get a pair for 1000 on the 'open market.' if they're brown 1200. you can find them for 400-500 though...

these things are cool but everywhere. look around. ebay is way inflated. i've always thought 800 for a decent pair would be my price and i've passed up a few of those due to lack of money.

while i've never heard em...alactronics does a mod on em. they did my 1176's and wow. if i ever get the 4's they are going there asap.

Mike
 
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