A few of my favorite compressors have TWO controls total!!!
LA3a, LA2A, STA-LEVEL, collins 26w,collins 26 1U.... Actually one of my favorites has ONE KNOB!!!!! --> the Federal AM864/U !
ONE knob!
Anyway,
A few of my favorite "more budget minded" compressors are:
-The symetrix 501. Totally way more useful than the RNC will ever be.
-DBX 160x/xt/a: The best compressor ever made that will ever approach the 150-250 dollar mark. Completely amazing for so many things regardless of price. There is a reason there is at least a pair if not more in EVERY decent studio on the planet. Literally.
-Symetrix CL150: does about the same thing as the 501. Not as cool though: no limiter section for drum madness!
-Presonus ACP88 : much maligned, I love it. IC's are socketed, quality build. Sucks that it has a fan... EVERYTHING else about this little guy kind of kicks ass. attack/release/ratio/knee AND a gate on EVERY channel! 8 of them that actually sound pretty great! BLOWS away the RNC... actually, all the units i listed blow away the RNC. I have two RNC's, and they simply NEVER get used with the above choices being around... (along with a lot of really great stuff that is way more expensive to deal with here...)