These days you will often find the only thing standing between a real instrument and the digital world of zeros and ones is a warm and smooth sounding piece of outboard gear. While some studios have ditched the metal racks in favour of plugins, many stand by their outboard as the last means of affordable and essential recording hardware. As such, freelancers working with small budgets are frequently forced to bring tracks recorded in big rooms to a kitted out home studio set up for mixing and overdubs. These spaces are laden with glowing stacks of metal outboard racks that add depth and character to the sound.
There are plenty of manufacturers cranking out racks to satisfy the needs of those who don’t have 30 grand to spend on a Fairchild 670, but still want buttons and dials to tweak on the outside of the box. The manufacturing of this high-end gear maintains a high level of engineering attention that combines modern DSP processing with tubes and transistors.

Bricasti M7 Stereo Studio Reverb
Some of the world’s leading studio engineers have been raving about the Bricasti Model 7 (M7) reverb ever since its introduction. The Grammy Award-winning engineer Joe Chiccarelli (White Stripes, U2, The Shins, Frank Zappa) states: “From the instant we turned on the reverb returns, it was obvious – this is one serious quality piece of gear.”

The M7 is a high-resolution digital reverb unit, which incorporates the latest DSP processors providing a giant leap forward in reverb processing alogorithms, while a fully differential analog section and dedicated transformer-based linear power supply conforms to high-end specifications.

Designed with a user-friendly interface, the Model 7 features 100 individual reverb presets, the True Stereo Reverb Process algorithm, 12 parametric program parameters, 100 user registers and four front panel favorite dials. The analog junkies will also be happy to know that the M7 comes in separated digital and analog modules.
> bricasti.com

TL Audio ebony A2
TL Audio has gained a loyal following from engineers and artists, including Dizzee Gillespie, Coldplay and Hank Shocklee, for its Class A circuitry and valve designs. The Ebony series is TLA’s latest range of discrete processors, consisting of three units with Class A circuitry and an optitonal and controllable tube stage.

The A2 is a stereo valve processor and features balanced I/O, multi input options, analog VU metering and intuitive controls. It also offers DO-2 digital SPDIF interface for connectivity with high quality conversion.
It has a three-band eq with swept mid, a compressor section with variable ratio, threshold, attack, release, knee and gain make up, eq switchable pre and post compression stage, +10dB metering for use with DAW.
www.tlaudio.co.uk

 Daking FET III Stereo Compressor
Nirvana’s producer of the Nevermind album, Butch Vig says: “If you’re looking for that vintage sound of a Trident A and you want to add warmth to the digital recording chain, look no further. Daking’s mic preamps add a distinctive sonic character that really make your recordings come alive.”

With a long history of name dropping by pro engineers, Daking has recently released the FETIII stereo compressor, a dual channel limiter. The FET III compressor circuitry and gain stages are all discrete and fully Class A.

This version has been designed to match its predecessor for speed, performance and versatility, with the addition of variable high pass filters from 0 to 200Hz added to the detector stage of each limiter channel and variable linking between channels when compressing two different tracks. The product is two independent units in one box and thus uses audio summing and That Corp differential amp I/O (electronically balanced). The common mode rejection in FET III is equal to that of FET II and output level is +24.
www.daking.com

Cartec EQP-1A
KMR Audio has the exclusive worldwide rights to the new Cartec EQP-1A. The unit is said to be a no-compromise remake of the Pultec passive programme eq, being hand-wired, point-to-point and has a power supply that utilises the same rectifier valve as the Pultec original.

It features all valve gain and power supply sections, intuitive design and a low noise floor. Other features include military grade Grayhill switches and PEC pots, custom wound transformers and inductor, an engraved faceplate and balanced XLR inputs and outputs.
www.kmraudio.com

Universal Audio 1176AE Limiting Amplifier
The 1176AE anniversary edition is a limited-run, ‘hod-rodded’ version of the original, built over 40 years ago. The hand-built model was limited to a run of 500 and features the program-dependent characteristics from the original Revision A Bluestripe, in addition to the class-A low-noise circuit and custom transformers of the 1176 Revision E.

The 1176AE offers a ratio array of 2:1, 4:1 and 8:1 for compression, while a 20:1 ratio is preserved at the top for full limiting. Its slow, 15ms attack setting adds additional versatility to the unit. 

Lastly, the 1176AE offers something new for bass-heavy tracks or over-the-top effects, with a unique super-slow attack setting of 10ms, cleverly repurposed from the redundant off/bypass position from the 1176’s attack control. This gives the user an option not achievable with the original unit, allowing transients to pass more freely and furthering the versatility of the 1176AE beyond its predecessors.
www.uaaudio.com

Empirical Labs Distressor
The Distressor can be found in most high-end studios, serving its duty as an automatic gain (or volume) control device. The Distressor electronically controls the volume of nearly any source in a ‘musical manner’.

The Distressor is a digitally controlled device that benefits from the integration of digital controls to switch different circuits in and out. Its custom designed gain control circuit is meant to add a warm sound to digital recordings. Adding to this are several modes, integrated to color the signal, with or without compression or gain control.

Extended modes are included to  allow emulation of vintage gain control units and deliver a classic knee sound.The dynamic range is 110dB from maximum to minimum output in 1:1 mode.
www.empiricallabs.com
   
Manley Langevin Mini Massive Stereo eq
In Wes Maebe’s API review of the  Manley Mini Massive (issue 24), he explained that the unit is the smaller companion to the Massive Passive. Housed in a 1U chassis, it shares the same components, has a similar circuit layout and is based on the same passive eq design as the bigger model.

Four Manley Rapture amplifiers provide gain for the unit, combined with with series and shunt PSU regulators to provide low noise power supply.
The back of the Mini Massive provides balanced and unbalanced +4 or unbalanced -10 inputs and optimised headroom. If they are put in the circuit or pushed, the transformers provide Discrete Class A sound. Frequencies in the low band range from 22Hz to 1k and provide a bottom end similar to a Pultec. The band starts from 560Hz and goes all the way up to 27k.
www.manleylabs.com

Summit Audio  ECS410 Channel Strip
Summit Audio’s ECS-410 Everest channel strip is a four-section analog processor and mic preamp. Each section is completely independent and features its own fully balanced I/O with the ability to route each section together internally with the Touch Patch routing section.

The Everest provides thru-hole parts for reliability and easy repairs and gold-plated circuit boards. The I/Os are all balanced and use high-end connectors. Each section is laid out by hand, so trace routing is the result of experiment and testing, not the accidental routing coming from a computer generated ‘auto-route’ feature.
www.summitaudio.com

Thermionic Culture Culture Vulture Stereo valve distortion The Culture Vulture was originally designed as a distortion box to simulate the distortion of a 200-Watt valve guitar stack, but has found use on drum loops, vocals, piano sounds or across a final mix.

The unit is designed to provide a 0.2 to almost 99.9 per cent distortion, changeable from even to odd harmonics.
With independent channel operation, it provides high impedance line or instrument inputs, and 4kHz and 7kHz filters in addition to overdrive and bypass switches.
www.thermionicculture.com

Chandler TG1 abbey road special
The Chandler TG1 is a recreation of the classic EMI TG12413 limiter with the original design information and circuit board drawings, provided by Abbey Road and EMI.

Originally designed to model the Fairchild 660/670, it ended up with a sound of its own. Its limiter/compressor features a discrete circuit with transformer balanced I/O. The limiting element is a unique diode network for smooth distortion.

Engineer Michael Brauer (Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan) has found many uses for the TG1. He says: “When used across the drum room, the EMI-inspired stereo compressor brings out an aggressive quality that I’ve not yet heard from any other compressor (and I’ve got 46 to play with). When used as a send it brings out the punch and clarity of instruments without effecting the overall level of the stereo output. I love them, I can't wait for Wade to make the EMI inspired eqs.”
www.chandlerlimited.com

Tube Tech CL1B compressor
The Tube-Tech CL 1B compressor is an optical, all-tube based compressor designed for single tracks of audio. It features a gain-reduction element, positioned immediately after the input transformer. It is controlled by the sidechain amplifier, which contains the two time control circuits – one for fixed and one for variable attack/release. The two time controllers can be used separately or combined and the circuit contains semi-conductor OP amps for the entire control.

The gain-reduction element is followed by a tube-based push-pull amplifier with variable gain up to 30dB.
www.tube-tech.com

Drawmer DL241 compressor
The DL251 Spectral compressor is designed with a variable Dynamic Spectral Enhancement section, which is meant to restore the high frequency energy lost during full-band compression. Its circuitry is said to be very effective for compression and limiting during broadcast transmission, and equally across a stereo mix.

Its compressor section can be switched to provide either hard or soft knee compression. In soft mode, the ratio increases gradually over a 10dB input level range until it reaches the ratio to achieve a more natural sounding compression.
www.drawmer.com

Prism Sound Maselec MMA-4XR mic preamp
The MMA-4XR has been designed to meet the challenges of modern digital media in order to provide high quality signal levels from the offset of the recording process. It was created to provide accurate gain adjustment with minimal noise and a transparent signal path.

The preamp was developed in association with engineer/producer Leif Mases, who has worked with internationally renowned artists, including Abba, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck and Black Sabbath.

The minimalist design approach sees each channel of the MMA-4XR with controls only for gain (69dB in 3dB steps), phase invert, cut (mute) and 48V phantom power.
www.prismsound.com

SSL X-Rack
Desiged with the same circuitry found in SSL’s Duality and AWS 900+ consoles, the X-Rack is a modular rack system with total recall. With room for up to eight modules, it offers the option of combining two different varieties of mic pre (Super Analogue and VHD), eq, dynamics and master section. It allows users to create a summing mixer with analog mix bus.

The X-Rack features MIDI I/O connections and a mix bus link port that provides the option of  connecting two X-Racks.
www.solid-state-logic.com