API 2500 or SSL G or NEVE 33609 compressor?

[vlado@couchreco]

hello,

i'm about to purchase buss mix compressor and i'm not quite sure whether
to go for API 2500, SSL-G or NEVE 33609. i need a comp with character/colour
(i have millennia TCL-2). my experience with SSL-G is that it might be
too aggressive on some material ... never heard API 2500 or NEVE 33609
please your opinion?
thank you

vlado

[Mike H]

Call Mike Nehra @ Vintage King and demo them:

Mike Nehra - Sales Director/Business Development

No, I don't have any relationship with them at all...........they are just set up to provide demo's, hassle-free, no grimacing when you return them.

This is the ONLY way you'll get the right answer.
A little cost for shipping is money well spent, to get the right unit for you.

Get set to hear recommendations here for all three.

Personally, I am using 33609 J/D, followed by a pair of Pultecs.
The best I have found for my tastes.
These follow 8816 summing units.
May not work for you at all.

I never took to the 2500. Definitely has a sound.

I have three X-Racks, love 'em for bread & butter EQ/comp, but I never tried the SSL-G. Closest I came is C1 and C2.

These units are so different, you'll know within a couple of hours once you get demo's and A/B them...................gotta A/B them side-by-side, rather than getting one at a time.

Have fun.

[Dirty Halo]

This is one of those questions where only YOU can tell us what YOU need.

Perhaps the better questions would be to ask what attributes do each of these tend to bring and then decide which works best for you.

In my experience:

1. SSL G-Series compressor (a little depends on what version, new G384, Alan Smart, etc) -- Great for a tight glue to give it a more modern punch, using some of the standard 2-buss settings you'll find around here. So many albums have been mixed with that classic SSL G comp across the 2-buss, there is an expected "sounds like an album" sound to it (mind you, MUCH more goes into the overall sound, but that is a part)

2. Neve 33609 -- A different feel than the above, perhaps it gives you more of a console feel, some extra harmonic content and hair (grasping for adjectives here). I'm sure it's great across the 2-buss like the above poster said. I personally don't use it for that, but I do run the final mix through stereo 1073 for those trannies... so what do I know>

3. API - I don't know. And I don't know it well. (I'd hate to be one of those guys to offer up advice I don't actually have)

Hope that helps a bit.

-andrews

[kingofswing]

I agree with Dirty Halo, they all have a sound unique to each box.

Each time I have heard a SSL G comp in action, instant grab and raised volume comes to mind. Thats how I describe it. But it is what it is, the sound cannot be altered.

In saying that I find the Neve Portico 5043 to do a kind of similar thing with mixes in feed-forward mode, but it changes with feed-back. I have no experience with a 33609, but some owners have compared it with a 5043 in feed-back mode and like it very much and better in some cases. I suppose you get the tranny sound too, like most Neve stuff.

No idea on the API 2500, but i'm sure it kicks a*s too.

[DJGoody]

I just got the API a few months ago....... I do love it. I can't fathom not having it, after using it. It took me a couple weeks to get it, but once I started to understand how it grabbed, it just got really musical.

The nice thing is the THRUST selections. That really makes this thing for me..... for instance, I always felt like the SSL/SMART grabbed too much ultra low bottom, and pumped as a result (sometimes in a good way). With the API, I feel like the THRUST helps me control that a bit.... almost like a really flexible sidechain, built in. Also, it has the feed forward, or feedback style selection, which is huge!!

Not to mention, it has color. I love lots of color, and the API has it. It's not "clean" or sterile at all......

That being said, I do still love the SSL and the 33609...... the API is just a whole other thing that I happened to really gel with.

[PKatis]

I own and use all three. The 33609 lives on my keyboard bus. The API 2500 lives on my drum bus, and the SSL lives on my mix bus preceded by Thermionic Culture's The Phoenix.

They are all great compressors. If I could only buy one, I WOULD DEFINITELY CHOOSE THE API 2500. Lots of personality, color, control and versatility. It kills on drums and the mix bus. Seriously.

[Purusha]

I say, buy the 2500 and save a few extra bucks for DIY G-SSL with new Turbo boards
to get the true stereo compression as in the original G consoles. Than you can
also DIY the 33609 as next step (I can get you the PCBs and case)

Why pay so many $$$$ for all the gear out there if you can make some stuff at
home and it can and will sound just the same and look even better

[andremattos]

API2500

[Marjan]

Originally Posted by PKatis

the SSL lives on my mix bus preceded by Thermionic Culture's The Phoenix.

Hi, just curious on how you use those two on the master buss... I suppose you use them in conjunction.
What do you do with either one?
Do you sum ITB?