1176

I don’t like the 1176... The ones I’ve tried. Never anything wrong or anything like that, but they’ve never made me say : ”Yeah!”

I can almost do the all-buttons-in thing with the slowest attack and fastest release on drum room mics, but I’d be awesome if I could get exactly that without the distortion! Anyone have a circuit idea to make that remotely-possible?

Anyhow, I’ve just always assumed, it’s just the ones I’ve tried, not the 1176 itself. Everyone seems to say I’ve just got to find the “right” vintage ones and I’ll get it!

No thanks! I’d rather move on to more modern things that instantly wow me! So, are there any modern 1176-types that will obviously get me to get-it? AVD-Audio’s 1176 kit has me curious at least!

CAPI FC526, vastly less distortion. 

I went wow! when I had an early model blue stripe (rev A) with the low-noise mod done. 

I had it for  a couple of months and really got to like it before I had to return  

...

My own builds of 1176 various revisions don't knock me out nearly as much, but they're in the ballpark and not at all bad, just 'not optimal'. 

Mind tend to be a bit 'lumpy' in the (long) release characteristic, for example - I prefer a really smooth limiter release.  And getting the calibration that suits your intended usage is something of a trade off between noise at 'idle' and 'available GR'.

Noise is always a concern, particularly with some pcbs/psu/wiring schemes.

I think the originals are less noisy, what with the spacious pcb, proper small PSU traffo  an all ... and I think properly selected components and good calibration make a large difference to the end result - not something you get easily with just one or two builds, usually.

That said, my 'Mnats Rev D / EA traffos'  build gets daily usage along with a chineve-mod 1081 preamp - in my 'lounge room' recording setup

I send combo to a modern vca gate/compressor to then give it more of a refined  'gated and levelled'  character.

....

I'd surely like to try some well manufactured units, like the recent UA or some properly put together kits like the Capi. 

So - yep, I think it's a 'search' as always, for the really good performers that inspire you.

Recording Engineer said:

but I’d be awesome if I could get exactly that without the distortion! Anyone have a circuit idea to make that remotely-possible?

Click to expand...

Do you mean the distortion that occurs under moderate compression or the distortion of the JFET?

I think the distortion of compression at faster settings (which occurs with all compressors) is what people like about the 1176. Its an effect.

Recording Engineer said:

No thanks! I’d rather move on to more modern things that instantly wow me! So, are there any modern 1176-types that will obviously get me to get-it? AVD-Audio’s 1176 kit has me curious at least!

Click to expand...

I don't think it has to be vintage. There might be some variation in the behavior depending on the particular JFET but the distortion that occurs from fast compression should sound the same pretty much. Maybe there's some difference in harmonic content and noise performance depending on the JFET. But if I had to guess I doubt there would be much of a measurable difference.

I’m talking specifically the distortion you get with all-buttons-ins. And I love it best with the slowest attack and fastest release. If I could just have that without all the distortion when driven by loud drum room mics, that’d be awesome.

I used to have a pair of the UA Reissues that I bought new sometime in the early 2000s. I’ve used a vintage blue strip, and I’ve used a pair of vintage black faces. They’ve all left me with the same ho-hum feeling. Absolutely nothing bad to say, also absolutely nothing that makes me say, “cool”. I mean people talk about the output having so much character that they’ll use them without compression just for the character... Haven't experienced any of that.

I've never used one but the distressor  , is supposed to be a 1176 with digital control
but when checking out  my RNC really nice compressor , my friend with a studio who rejects anything that  " freaks out "
in his words, we could not get the RNC to distort , although the compression is on the transparent side rather than colored

Funny, I also had a pair of Distressors I bought new around the same time... I never “got it” with them either; again, nothing bad to say. Oddly enough, just as I am wowed with the LA-2A/3A siblings, I’m wowed with the Fatso sibling too.

Also bought a new RNC around the same time too. Again, nothing bad to say, but the only wow was from the how useful it was, considering the price-point; especially since the the 1176s and Distressors didn’t wow my ears. I would like to hear the RNL at some point.

By the way, I had all these and used them nearly every day up to about three and a half years ago throughout a few different studios I had, so it’s not like I didn’t live with them for a while.

I guess I just found them all to utility compressor/limiters and especially got replaced as utility compressors when I had an SSL 6048E.

Maybe it’s just I take a-little-more-subtle/a-little-more-natural for granted and expect them to be less costly; maybe, maybe not. I truly don’t know.