This thing rocks on the 2bus! Really takes my recordings to the next level. This is another cool project from Gyraff and Group DIY. Basically the buss compressor out of a SSL 4000 series console.


JD

Whats the price tag on that DIY?

Maybe $400 or so....Once I get a silk screened front panel it will add another $100.

Not bad for $2500 compressor. But I have about 20 hours in it.

I have a lot of interest in one of these, too.
After looking up the plans and all the info I could on the GSSL, it seems there are some mods or tweaks that some folks think need to be done to the original plans, right? How did that work out for you? Did you make some changes?

Hi Jack!

Nice neat work, looks really good!



Hey, those ain't (gulp) Hoser cables plugged in there, are they?



mud

Hosa? Yeah I think so, those are insert cables I have laying around the studio and work bench. I almost always go in-line between my deck and mixer. But ocassionally I use insets too. It would be great if I could own all top end cables, but I don't. So I use good cables where needed, and whatever I have when I don't have any good ones left.

JD

Dudge,

This is a refined version of the compressor on the SSL 4000 console. It actaully is updated to work better than the original. It will not allow a mix to go lop-sided, like the original did. There is only a few mods worth doing IMO. The side-chain filter which is really a HPF, and a 0-10 or 0-20 db scale switch. All others including the transformer I/O are so sublte its not worth the extra coin. Most mods are based on what components you could find. Like VCA's. Each vendor's VCA's may use different values of resistors to make them stable. So depending on what brand you bought you change about 3 resistors in the schematic. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.

I actually built this one using carbon resistors instead of Metal Film. The results are almost exactly the same. I think the Carbon resistors probably are a tad warmer. So if your mixing in Digital it may help. The metal film is probably a tad brighter and might work better on Analog tracks. Very subtle though.

These are excellent sounding clones. I recomend you build one.....or two or three. In fact, they are pretty killer on Drum buss also. So I will be building a second one for my studio.


JD

quote:

Originally posted by Jacl Daniels:
Hosa? Yeah I think so, those are insert cables I have laying around the studio and work bench. I almost always go in-line between my deck and mixer. But ocassionally I use insets too. It would be great if I could own all top end cables, but I don't. So I use good cables where needed, and whatever I have when I don't have any good ones left.

JD

Jes' teasin' about the Hosers (sic!) - my humble room, too, has cables from a variety of sources ... I save my Mogami inserts & patches for vox chain, and the Hosas for less critical uses.

Folks 'round here sure do love to bash Hosa cables, though!

mud

How's it sound?

How about an A/B when she's up an running?

thx

I was just looking at that last week...gyraf has some DIY Calrec EQ's that look like fun...might have to give them there things a whirl...

I'd be mighty interested to hear that next to my Drawmer 1968...especially if it's got the HP filter in the sidechain (which my Drawmer has on a switch). Can you disable that filter should you feel the need to tighten up the bottom end of something?

This is how my stereo buss compressor looks like.

DSC00075.JPG (140 Kb, 35 downloads)

Please note all users here that using Jakob Erlands designs (or any others without explicit permission) for commercial gain is not allowed.

These are DIY projects for private use. Please read the disclaimers on the relevant sites before getting into these projects.

Yo Peter, Absoulutely agree. Anyone that has been making these to sell them for profit is scum. This was a design that a very generious engineer allowed the audio community free access to. This was an adaptation of the buss compressor section out of an SSL. This is not a direct copy, but an adaptation of a portion of that circuit. Jacob even created the PCB layouts for the DIY community. Now we have a few dirt bags that are making and selling them for profit on ebay. Very quickly Jacob and others will stop helping the DIY communitiy when they are being taken advantage of. Jacob has a very sucsessful audio business and could have made and sold these himself if profit was the interest. I would never sell mine. The whole idea of DIY is to learn about audio designs and make some cool gear in the process.

Jre Productions

Cheers!

JD

Check your Private Mail.

Peter

That is really cool, hopefully I can get some time someday to do this. How does it sound?