TL Audio Ivory 2 Dual Comp v.s. HHB Dual Tube Comp

[Gravity]

Ok so I've got a TL Audio Ivory 2 dual comp on loan from a local shop. I'm trying to find a valve bus comp to go along with my incoming SSL G series comp.

Now if I decide to buy the comp it'll be about $700CDN, it's used but in pristine condition, no rack rash or anything. Just a bit of dust. Good price, and I'm sort of digging the comp (I cascaded it on my live bass rig last night at rehearsal and it really sounded cool) But now we come to it. There is also an HHB comp available for $1000... now I know the story with TL and HHB, but my rep at the shop told me the HHB and Ivory Series were the same. After looking around a bit it seems that it's more likely the HHB comp has the same guts as the Classic series, but I'm not so sure and i'm not really familiar with the TL stuff from a guts perspective.

Can anyone give me an idea if my guess is right? if so, is it worth checking out the HHB on loan as an AB to the TL unit, or are there any opinions from people who've used both first hand??

[Blast9]

I was told that HHB rebadged the TL Audio stuff for the US market (Canadian too?).

Its therefore identical

EDIT --- Found this from http://www.digitalprosound.com/2003/.../tl_review.htm

Tony Larking Audio products were available in the US until 1998, at which point the line was rebranded and sold in the US as HHB. Any of the Classic, Radius and other series of HHB were all, in fact, TL Audio under the hood. I've been a long-time user of TL Audio, having lived in Europe for most of the nineties, I first bought a TL Audio C-1 Dual Valve Compressor — an industry classic. I later bought an EQ-2, and when I began building systems for projects studios for other people, TL Audio was often on the list for front-end gear. Tony Larking began manufacturing valve equipment under his own name in 1993 along with former Neve designer David Kempson. And prior to that Larking had a long history of retrofitting vintage gear and also had a healthy used gear business. Giving credit where credit is due, Tony Larking was designing valve gear long before the current wave of manufacturers jumped on the "it's gotta have tubes" bandwagon. Larking was also one of the first to introduce a hybrid design of solid state and valve that improved on some of the shortcomings of previous all-valve designs — notably noise floor and reliability. [an error occurred while processing this directive]Recently, the HHB versions of TL Audio equipment have been discontinued and the TL Audio brand is again available in the US. Distribution of TL Audio is still being handled by HHB.