The TL Audio C-1 compressor maintains its position among the most flexible, polished-sounding high-end compressors on the market today. Featuring a spectacular raven blue 6mm milled aluminum front panel, General Electric US military-specification valves, high retention gold-plated ceramic valve bases and circular back-lit VU meters, the C-1 is even fatter sounding and more rugged than its legendary predecessor.
All controls are continuously variable (unlike some other compressors with switched parameters) and high-quality onboard mic preamps allow direct-to-tape recording of microphone sources. Stereo front panel instrument inputs mean a keyboard or guitar can feed straight into the C-1 and down to tape with a minimum of fuss. Whether the C-1 compressor is tracking vocals and instruments or adding roundness and warmth to a complete mix, it will become an indispensable part of your signal path within hours.
The TL Audio C-1 features a low-noise solid state preamp followed by two valve stages per channel. The valves are General Electric ECC83/12AX7A types, run from a stabilized 250v DC power supply. The first valve stage acts as a voltage amplifier, with the second stage forming part of the gain control element. The gain control is performed by TL Audio's own unique transconductance stage that avoids the use of VCAs, thus improving transparency and minimizing distortion, which is virtually constant at 0.05% over the full bandwidth. The frequency response of the C-1 compressor is virtually flat between 20Hz and 40kHz, and measured between -3dB points, the C-1's bandwidth is a staggering 5Hz to 70kHz.
