Siemens U274
Racked & Modified
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Vintage Diode Bridge Limiter/ Mic Preamplifier module built by Siemens in the late 60s. It has been recapped, heavily modded, and racked.
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Mods:
- Mic/Line switch
- Variable Input Attenuator for "Fine Gain"
- Variable Side-Chain HP Filter, 60-360Hz
- Six different time-constants for attack & release
- Output pad -20dB
- Variable Compression Amount
(Ratio)
- Custom-made chassis and regulated PSU +24V
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VA2A "The Freemonk"
Built for Chris Webb a.k.a. Freemonk
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Vintage Optical Compressor / Leveling Amplifier built on the 1968 LA2A schematics. Featuring:
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- NOS UREI Optical Cell (1970)
- NOS RCA original LA2A tubes
- NOS UTC A-24, A-10 trarnsformers
- Paper & Oil Capacitors
- Blore-Eds Pots & Switches
- Siam VU meter
VA2A "The Argonaut"
Built for Ivo Sotirov
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Vintage Optical Compressor / Leveling Amplifier built on the 1968 LA2A schematics, but heavily modified. Featuring:
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- Increased bandwidth
- Output attenuator that turns the unit into a tube distortion
- Secondary Unbalanced output
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- NOS UREI Optical Cell (1970)
- NOS RCA original LA2A tubes
- NOS UTC A-24, A-20 trarnsformers
- Paper & Oil Capacitors
- Blore-Eds Pots & Switches
- Sifam VU meter
VA2A "The Friary Edition"
Built for Fuzz Audio
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Vintage Optical Compressor / Leveling Amplifier built on the 1968 LA2A schematics. Featuring:
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- NOS UREI Optical Cell (1970)
- NOS RCA original LA2A tubes
- Sowter input/output transformers
- Paper & Oil Capacitors
- Blore-Eds Pots & Switches
- Sifam VU meter
E.M.S.M.
Built for Ivo Sotirov
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Electro-Magnetic Summing Machine. This is a 8-track tape-machine-inspired hardware emulation & summing box. Featuring:
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- 3x Transformers per channel
(2x Vintage Haufe + 1x Carnhill)
- Vintage Neumann V475-2B Summing Amp
- Melcor-inspired 1731 op-amps
- NOS Germanium Diodes
VA47 "The Bomber"
All tube 3-stage channel strip built in the chassis of a vintage tape-machine amplifier. Featuring:
- Vintage Preamplifier taken from a legendary EMI design.
- Tube Baxandall EQ from a vintage guitar amplifier.
- Tube based output amplifier.
- UTC A-12 vintage input transformer
- Carnhill Output Transformer
- NOS Mullard Tubes
- Vintage Sifam VU meter
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VAE "Earth & Sky"
Build for Hugh Neal
Mastering-grade Solid State Stereo Equaliser. Featuring:
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- All stepped: Input Trim, Low Boost (10, 40, 70, 140Hz), High Boost (2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40kHz).
- LED VU meter bridge
- Gold Relay True Bypass
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- CAPI GAR2520 Discrete Op-Amps
- Orange Discrete Op-Amps
- Super high-speed Analog Devices ICs
- Audiophile-grade Nichicon Capacitors
- Dual Power Supply
EQ502 "Earth & Sky"
Build for sj.2fvded
Mastering-grade Solid State Stereo Equaliser for the API 500-series format. Featuring:
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- All stepped: Input Trim, Low Boost (10, 40, 70, 140Hz), High Boost (2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40kHz).
- High Boost x2 switch
- True Bypass
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- Super high-speed Analog Devices ICs
- Audiophile-grade Capacitors
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What Tubes Should I Choose?The choice of tubes in a VA2A is the most important and impactful for the tonality of the unit. In that particular device, the tubes have the biggest tonal affect from all other elements. My advice is: if you're going to upgrade some parts and you're wondering where to spend your money - tubes is the way to go. Choosing a good set of Vintage RCA tubes like the once used in a 1968 LA-2A would go a long way. In a VA2A they sound smooth, creamy, and fat!