Stam Bus compressor and other clones, anyone not happy?

I came up with an SSL exactly like the one atop that pile in the video. I do not find my Stam Mk. 1 to be that different. The times I've used a Smart it did seem more aggressive than the SSL, maybe a little sexier sounding for lack of a better term.

One note: I don't use auto release. I am almost always slowest attack/fastest release on the master bus.

If you aren’t completely happy with your SSL style compressor, I always recommend giving the Smart C1-LA a try 👍🏻

The sidechain could be incorrect on the Stam clone or the SSL X-Logic could have some aging parts that need to be swapped out giving it more of a sound.

You need the auto release cushion to affect the transients with the faster release and not pump the tonal material and control your fader movements without pumping horribly.

If you can’t get an ssl bus style comp to do that, you’re better off using a plug. The Glue is still good especially at 16x oversampling and the SSL Native bus comp is okay but the glue’s distortion is only about 1% better and SSL Native is just standard digital comp. I prefer other plugins for the “SSL Bus” type control but these are there, easy, and old school producer stuff.

copperx - I’ve never had an SSL style analog compressor make me go “wow.” I see them as useful tools. They can be snappy or punchy or add glue but they are fairly plain sounding to my ears. Wow factor for me usually comes in analog gear that works magic on sharp transients and sounds gutsy… and imparts a sheen or tube or transformer thing that is sweet… like the LTL Silver Bullet, Stamchild 670, AudioScape EQPA EQ, Retro STA Level, Inward Connections Vac Rac TSL3, Chandler RS-124, and those types of analog gear. SSL comps are great tools and I use them (particularly on drum buss), but they don’t wow me. I’ve had the Wes Audio Dione for many years. Very useful and sounds solid for an SSL remake. I would expect the Stam SSL to be solid as my Stam gear all sounds excellent.

P.S. in the SSL style department, I think the Dramastic Audio Obsidian and the Smart seem to add just a little something to the stereo width and depth while still sounding much like an SSL.

hah! Yup… and that is definitely not an SSL comp in my experience. Now… the LTL Silver Bullet MkII with the C slot engaged starts to give the best of both worlds!! Neve, API and SSL vibes working together

You have to bare in mind that you are comparing apple's with pears. If you want the X-Logic clean sound then the X-Logic is the right unit for you. If you want the old SSL console sound from the 80's then ours would be your best bet. No mysteries here, the original desks used 4 discrete DBX 202 VCA's on the E series consoles and 2 of them on the later G series consoles, these discrete VCA cans have a much higher THD (between 0,9% to 1.7%) vs almost non existent on the X logic. This is where precisely the magic happens to my ears.

If you want us to put THAT 2002's on your 4K we can and it's at no extra charge when requesting it, you will end up with a cleaner sound but that's not my personal preference nor our clients. 

I have a couple of very famous engineers as clients that would completely disagree with your statement and were happy to sell the X logic after getting the SA-4000 MK2 as they wanted the old SSL sound back. 

Subjective taste is what it is and that is the beauty of it. Each to their own!

I've found Stam to be very close to the originals however it doesn't automatically mean that old analog equipment is subjectively better, you may simply prefer the X-logic and that's absolutely fine.

It looks like in the SuperAnalogue X-Logic there are no electrolytic capacitors in the signal path, which is the same thing that Smart Research claims about their C2 compressor, so probably there are some similarities in the circuit? Obviously I'm no EE.