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by Mark Makoway
There are some pieces of musical and recording equipment that rise above the crowd to become legendary, revered by musicians, engineers and collectors alike. Late '50s Les Paul electric guitars, Neumann U-47 microphones, and Neve recording consoles are extremely sought-after by vintage-heads. Unfortunately, because this equipment is collectible, it is also expensive and pretty hard to find.
Perhaps the most legendary compressor of all time is the Teletronix LA-2A electro-optical limiting amplifier. Even though it went out of production in 1969, you can find a LA-2A in just about every major league recording studio in the world. It is the tube compressor of choice for recording and mixing vocals, bass, kick drum and pretty much anything else you want to put through it. The LA-2A lends warmth and fatness to everything it touches, while at the same time remaining strangely invisible. Does this by any chance sound like something that could be useful with a digital workstation?
Enter Universal Audio and their reissue of the Teletronix LA-2A. Universal Audio hand-builds the LA-2A reissue to be nearly identical to the original units inside and out. Like the original, the new LA-2A sports the trademark grey faceplate and occupies three rack spaces, but is suprisingly shallow with tubes and transformers exposed to permit easy access and cooling. The guts of the reissue, such as the T4 electro-optical cell, HA-100x input transformer and A-24 output transformer, either come from the original sources or are manufactured to the exact specifications of the originals.
The main differences between the new LA-2A and vintage units are that XLR connections have been added to the back (a very convenient addition), the compressor/limiter switch has been moved to the front panel (also convenient) and the faceplate screws are no longer hand screws (i.e. you need a screwdriver). Also, the original Allen Bradley input pots have been replaced with pots from Precision Electronic Components.
The LA-2A gets a lot of its legendary sound from the T4 electro-optical cell, which delivers a fixed, 10 microsecond attack time and a variable two-stage release. The first release stage is set at 60 milliseconds but the second varies between 500 milliseconds and 5 seconds depending on the amount of compression and the length of time that the signal has been above the threshold. In other words, the more intense the compression, the longer the release time.
Now, I should state for the record that I have been looking into getting a vintage LA-2A. As a general rule I prefer vintage to reissue, but you have to be very cautious when purchasing 30-year-old gear (particularly if you are forced to buy sight unseen over the Internet...). So, I have to admit that the idea of owning a LA-2A in factory condition is pretty appealing. But how good does the reissue sound?
The review unit arrives as I am doing a re-mix of a David Usher single. I immediately buss the lead vocal over to the LA-2A and... an immediate and obvious difference. I compare the LA-2A to an Avalon, to a Distressor, to a plug-in Renaissance compressor... and in each case, I prefer the LA-2A. The vocal can breathe and doesn't feel at all suffocated, but at the same time it sounds so smooth and present and, well, warmer.
I track a guitar solo... Les Paul to Marshall JCM800 stack to Shure SM-57 to Avalon pre to LA-2A to Apogee Rosetta to Logic Audio... and it sounds fantastic. I can't make this unit sound bad. And it's the same story when I track a bass guitar through the LA-2A. Things just don't sound digital.
Finally, I A/B the reissue against a vintage unit that I borrow for the day from a friend of mine. Hmmm... It sounds different - not worse, but different. The new unit is a bit clearer sounding on the vocal and perhaps a little tighter in the bottom on bass guitar. Is it possible that the new LA-2A sounds better than the vintage unit?
I know from past encounters with the LA-2A that no two sound exactly the same. They all share the same overall character, but under the microscope there are always differences. It is sort of the same thing here. Perhaps they would sound the same if I took the vintage unit for recapping and general maintenance (i.e. make it sound new again).
Working with digital workstations like ProTools and Logic Audio, it makes a lot of sense to have one or two channels of world class analog signal processing to take you into the digital domain. If each element sounds great going in, there is no reason why you cannot create world class results without a world class multi-million dollar studio. The Universal Audio LA-2A fits into this equation perfectly. It takes the digital out of my workstation.
With a list price of $3,495 (US), the LA-2A is certainly not cheap, and I would have to say that is the one downside of the LA-2A: you'll probably have to take some time saving up for one. It seems like Universal Audio has purposely priced their reissue units right around the street price of a vintage LA-2A, which is a little steep.
For more product information, contact: Universal Audio, PO Box 3818, Santa Cruz, CA 95063-3818 (831) 454-0630, FAX (831) 454-0689, info@uaudio.com inquiries, www.uaudio.com.
Mark Makoway is guitarist for Moist, producer/owner of Rumblecone Music, and author of the book The Indie Band Bible (www.indiebandbible.com).
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