Post by bchurch on Sept 3, 2022 14:09:45 GMT -6
This is a loooooong shot, but has anyone built/designed anything around the old B&B/Aphex 1537A? I have been using (and acquiring) those old CX-1 comp/expander units (link) since discovering them at another studio years ago. They aren't dissimilar from the dbx202 "push-blossom" sound you'd find in the original 160 comp, but there's a certain sound to 'em that I'm in love with (if you do ever find a pair, take heed that some have a JT-115 output trafo, others don't - but you can add one).
I lucked into six NOS 1537A VCA's (the ceramic version) and am itching to try and work it into a single space, stereo comp - hoping to implement modern niceties like SC HPF (probably just an off/80hz/160hz on a DPDT switch) and a 10-position stepped blend knob. So, I will graciously admit my EE background is a little light on things like one VCA versus the next, control voltages, etc.- basically I know enough to know I don't know enough, and that it's not like I can just go, "oh, this one has fourteen pins and so does this one, so we're good".
So yeah, I figured I'd at least throw a shot into the dark here to see if anyone's ever messed with any designs using these old homies. I *DO* have a spare CX-1 PCB that's been picked over for backup parts like those old cat-eye push-switches, as well as the service manual, schemos, etc. I could probably start with just recreating the PCB in Libre (I've been thinking of doing this to see if I could find a dev to help create a plug-in version).
I swear, more people need to hear these old B&B/Aphex 70's-era comps. Excellent 'tude compressors.
WANTED TO ADD: The original SSL 4000 Master Buss compressor used the 1537 before they went out of production (then to the 202, then to the THAT 21XX) - so it might not be outlandish to try and jerry-rig a GSSL PCB (which have 4 x THAT 2181 VCA's in the BOM). The 1537/A has a 2x7 pinout, the THAT is 1x8.
I lucked into six NOS 1537A VCA's (the ceramic version) and am itching to try and work it into a single space, stereo comp - hoping to implement modern niceties like SC HPF (probably just an off/80hz/160hz on a DPDT switch) and a 10-position stepped blend knob. So, I will graciously admit my EE background is a little light on things like one VCA versus the next, control voltages, etc.- basically I know enough to know I don't know enough, and that it's not like I can just go, "oh, this one has fourteen pins and so does this one, so we're good".
So yeah, I figured I'd at least throw a shot into the dark here to see if anyone's ever messed with any designs using these old homies. I *DO* have a spare CX-1 PCB that's been picked over for backup parts like those old cat-eye push-switches, as well as the service manual, schemos, etc. I could probably start with just recreating the PCB in Libre (I've been thinking of doing this to see if I could find a dev to help create a plug-in version).
I swear, more people need to hear these old B&B/Aphex 70's-era comps. Excellent 'tude compressors.
WANTED TO ADD: The original SSL 4000 Master Buss compressor used the 1537 before they went out of production (then to the 202, then to the THAT 21XX) - so it might not be outlandish to try and jerry-rig a GSSL PCB (which have 4 x THAT 2181 VCA's in the BOM). The 1537/A has a 2x7 pinout, the THAT is 1x8.
