High Voltage Audio - 4000 G-Series SSL Stereo Bus Compressor

[frazzman]

Hi all,

We are a (very) small gear builder working out of Melbourne and Perth. We have built many custom builds for studio's over the years. This piece of gear however is our first piece produced in a somewhat larger run.

This is our take on the revered SSL 4000 VCA compressor.

Hand built in Australia. Signal path true to the original with dual sidechain "Turbo" mode as standard.

Specifications:

- Ratio: 2:1, 4:1, 10:1
- Attack: 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30 mSec
- Release: 0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, 2.4(Auto) sec
- Selectable Sidechain High Pass Filter: 60hz, 90hz, 130hz, 200hz
- Noise Floor: -95db or less
- Dual illuminated push buttons
- SIFAM Collet Knobs
- THAT Corp 2180BL VCAs
- Rear XLR I/O connectors
- Filtered power supply

Feel free to send a message for further information.

[Wiz]

Can I see a internal pic?

cheers

Wiz

[drivebystudios]

Hi T-Rocker’s.

I’d just like to give the 2 thumbs up for this great piece of gear!

I recently had put down my deposit for the STAM SSL Clone. I was in close contact with the designers of this unit, and in the time I waited for the STAM to be built, these guys had designed, sourced and built their units.
I quickly got my deposit back from STAM and bought one of these units. I could not be happier and am super glad I went with these guys!

The guys are very experienced with other SSL builds as well as using them in the field for mixing & mastering, so when designing this unit, they’ve taken care to include all the great design features and not compromised sound in order to deliver the unit at an almost DIY price. (if you factor in the cost of your time building and sourcing mateirals, tools, shipping etc, this actually works out better than DIY!!)

I only found out afterwards that the VCA's are actually higher spec than the STAMs which is a bonus.
I gotta give them credit on the looks of this unit too as they even got picky about knobs, colour of the meter lights, and even the quality of the case. The STAMs come with TRS connectors which is another reason I'm glad i didn't go ahead.

I dont want to go into the sound too much as I'm not experienced with SSL outboard comps, but i will say this is by far superior to the UAD SSL, and I completed one of my best mixes using this comp and using the 2:1 Ratio setting.

Anyways don’t hesitate to contact the guys with any questions you have as they respond very quickly.

Cheers!

[guntash]

Greetings,

I have just purchased one. Waiting for it to arrive. Looking forward to hearing it. I'll post my impressions after I've had a play.

Günther

[frazzman]

Thanks Gunther, look forward to getting it out the door to you shortly. I trust that you will also enjoy the unit.

[guntash]

I finally got chance to hook up this unit and take a listen. I am very happy with my purchase. I find this compressor transparent and musical. It's difficult to make it sound bad. As a bus compressor it outshines the A Designs Nail, DBX 160 SL and Avalon 747. I find that the latter mentioned compressors only work well on certain sources... they either sound good on a source or they don't. This SSL 4000 G Clone will work on anything you throw at it. I highly recommend this piece of gear. It is very affordable and sounds like it should cost 3x more than what I paid for it.

[frazzman]

Gunther, thank you very much for your positive feedback.

We are very pleased that the compressor was able to meet your needs. We also appreciate you taking a chance in trying one of our builds over the usual suspects.

Thanks again.

[frazzman]

*Bump*
Currently have one more unit built and ready to go for those interested.