Love ’em or hate ’em, compressors have a place in the musical world – on vocal/instrument microphones, recording/studio gear, interface plugins and, of course, pedalboards. Today’s squishy treat comes to us by way of our friends at Crazy Tube Circuits, improving on one of their existing creations. The φ (Phi) Golden Ratio Compressor is an all-analog unit that’s been ungraded to include 3 separate compressor circuits at the flick of a switch…intrigued yet?
The three modes present in the φ (Phi) Golden Ratio v2 each have their own compressed voice, with different characteristics, range and response of controls to suit every musical style. These compression circuits are as follows:
FET: This is a feed-back detector / control compression circuit that relies on a FET transistor for gain reduction. It adds a distinctive color to the signal and can be set for super-fast response, but it may also introduce a bit of musical distortion.
OTA: The majority of guitar compressors use this technology. Our interpretation uses a feed-forward detector circuit thus being able to “squeeze” things harder, ideal for catching fast transients and limiting. It is the most controllable circuit with punchy and direct sound.
OPTO (Optical): A hand selected photocell combined with a feed-back detector circuit offer smooth attack and release characteristics resulting in very musical and organic compression even on extreme settings. It can also be set very neutral so that you won’t be able to tell when it’s on but you sure going to miss it when it’s gone.
The range and taper of the onboard controls differ for each circuit as well. Threshold adjusts the amount of signal that goes into the compression detector circuit, while Ratio adjusts the amount of compression/gain reduction (FET: 1.5:1 to 10:1 • OTA: 1 :1 to 20:1 • OPTO: 1 .5:1 to 15:1). The Attack knob sets the time until compression (gain reduction) begins, with Time increasing as you turn clockwise (FET, OTA circuit range: 1 ms to 30ms • OPTO circuit range: 3ms to 33ms).
Use Release to set the time until compression (gain reduction) stops and returns to the initial level (FET, OTA circuit range: 50ms to 4s • OPTO circuit range: 80ms to 4s). Blend is an always welcome addition to any compressor pedal, setting the perfect mix between dry-uncompressed signal and wet-compressed signal, allowing you to add punch and sustain without losing the dynamics of your signal. Finally, Volume sets the output level of your compressor unit, which can be used for makeup gain or as a clean boost if you wish.
φ Phi will fatten up your tone even with no compression added. With the parallel compression technique of blending the compressed signal with the original – uncompressed signal, you will experience clarity and precision only found in studio recordings. Plus, there’s an internal switch which selects between 9 or 18V DC of operation from a standard 9V DC power supply via an internal voltage multiplier. Use the 18V setting for increased headroom and enhanced compression characteristics. Not sure if there’s ever been this many compression options and incredible tones packed into a unit this size, but kudos to Crazy Tube Circuits for pulling it off. We love the φ (Phi) Golden Ratio Compressor – be sure to check out our demo to hear what it can do for you!
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