Manual
Table Of Contents
62 | BRITISH CLASS A
the Low, Low Mid and High Mid bands, and fully
clockwise for the High band. You will note that
with all the EQ bands set to , the EQ curve dis-
played in the Console 1 On-Screen Display is not
entirely at. is reects precisely how the original
equalizers behave—they add a little something even
when the bands are supposedly in bypass! Using the
Equalizer button in the top left corner of Console
1’s EQ section of course still takes the EQ entirely
out of the signal chain.
Compressor
e British Class A Compressor adds a full-bodied
and syrupy tone to the sound source, in addition
to its highly musical gain reduction. e model is
based on the classic British diode bridge compres-
sor/limiter, which rst came out in 1968. As with
the equalizer, we’ve added extra exibility, incor-
porating a modication used by many top-level
studios to improve control of attack times and add
more release time options. We have also extended
the reshold range to make it useful for a wider
variety of incoming signal levels.
e original compressor oered no control over
attack times, it was xed to circa 3 ms. e modi-
cation, and the British Class A Compressor
model, adds , , and ms attack settings.
Furthermore, the modication adds and
ms to the release time (or Recovery as it’s labeled
on the original), in addition to the four options of
the original: , , ms and .
automatically adjusts the release time to t the mu-
sical content, and you may nd it particularly useful
on complex and eventful material such as across the
entire stereo mix or on a drum buss.
So to stick to the original hardware sound, keep
Attack on ms, and leave out and ms
Release. You can save any setting as the default set-
ting—please refer to the “Default Presets” on page
43.
of the pro audio world in a single channel, with a
completely dierent character than the two SSL
channels available. Read on for a walkthrough of
the channel’s sections.
Drive
In the early 70s, it quickly became apparent to
recording engineers that pushing the transformer
coupled input stage of these consoles harder than
it was really designed for added a rich sound to the
recordings which made them large and alive sound-
ing. e rst and most coveted generation of the
input channels incorporated Marinair transform-
ers, and these are the ones we have emulated to get
exactly the sound that has helped generations of
sound engineers to achieve great mixes. Just turn up
the Drive knob a bit on all your tracks. e Charac-
ter knob does a similar thing as in the SSL SL 4000
E channel, turning it counterclockwise gives the
distortion character less midrange emphasis (good
for adding subtle density and warmth to tracks),
turning it clockwise makes it more aggressive (good
for making sounds stand out in the mix). In the 12
o’clock position, you get exactly the original sound
of the original console input stage from the early
70s.
Equalizer
To ensure the model’s accuracy, the British Class A
Equalizer has been based on several dierent origi-
nal vintage hardware pieces.. While staying true to
the originals’ character, curve shapes and even their
odd little quirks, we have added dual mid bands for
further exibility—the originals only had a single
one. So you can for example use one for the lower
mids and one for the higher, something that was
not possible on the analog originals unless you com-
bined two individual channels. e four EQ bands
all have an position, which you’ll nd by turn-
ing the Frequency knob fully counterclockwise for