TL Audio C1 compressor

The TL Audio CLASSIC C1 is edeal for instrument tracking and mix buss applications, with two channels of soft knee, variable ratio compression with mic, line and Instrument level inputs.

All controls are continuously variable 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.

The 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 stabilised 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 a unique transconductance stage which avoids the use of VCAs – thus improving transparency and minimising distortion, which is virtually constant at 0.05% over the full bandwidth. The frequency response of the C-1 is virtually flat between 20Hz and 40kHz, and measured between -3dB points, the C-1’s bandwidth is a staggering 5Hz to 70kHz.