New SSL G-Comp + API 527 vs SSL G 

Loved the polish of the SSL here.

Hi there! I love your content and I believe we share a similar audio palate (& some gear: Fearn Pre, Audioscape EQ’s, SSL X-Desk) You nailed it regarding the Audioscape Buss Comp… I also LOVE the company and my communications w/Chris, Trevor, Michael etc have all been about the best I’ve experienced. It’s just that piece they didn’t quite nail. Even your comparison method of getting the best results possible for each tool… 👌 I also share same attitude as you have regarding dismissing gear based on origin; the same parts are the same parts… and I also could care less about Chinese manufacturing. If great gear is made more affordable so that it can find its way into the hands of artists then I’m ALL for it! I worked on an SSL Duality for a decade and a G-series before that. I know their gear quite intimately, doing paid gigs during the day and burning the midnight oil on passion projects all night for a huge chunk of my life. I’ve done a shoot out with the Uk made mk2 and the Chinese made mk3 and I’m sad to report: the whole lamentation on SSL being made in China is actually well founded in this case. Yes, people who know nothing will automatically harp on the manufacturing change/“selling out”, blah, blah, blah… but in this case it really is true that the quality suffers. The new unit is extremely transparent at low levels. Can do the “smack” thing kinda, but with less assertiveness and gets “smeary” like a plug-in. It also presents a rather ugly midrange… yes, like a plug-in(especially one that is exhibiting aliasing build up). A classic SSL Comp “wraps” around the transient. Adds a touch of dimension, sweetens the highs, adds punch and richness in the mids, carves out nasty low mids and enhances lows, including a touch of sub. Put simply, it just excites everything and makes mixes dance with life… combining posh tone, attitude and guts. The new mk3 sounds flat and dull in comparison. It’s not just tone; it’s a sound-stage thing. I purchased and returned a mk3. I IMMEDIATELY knew something was wrong upon listening, and this was before I knew it was Chineee manufactured. To check my ears I conducted a blind shootout against a mk2 with friends where even our girlfriends could hear the difference… always favoring the mk2. Mind you, I did the same tests with the mk2 and the desk comp years ago and it was much more difficult to hear the difference. In that case it was TRULY the same parts/built in the same factory, but different headroom so the difference was a subtle sense of “less stress/effort” in the console. (The 19” silver X-Logic sounded either the exact same or possibly better than the comp in the Duality). SSL prizes their “super-analogue” tech as being as close as possible to “straight wire”… but in truth they imparted boutique tone along the way. The new stuff ACTUALLY kind of achieves the “straight wire” level of transparency… and it sucks. It can sound kind of elegant/clean but it can also sound cheap depending on the material. I actually think that it doesn’t “add” to the midrange, but without some kind of tonal mid range “cut” like the uk models, the mids bunch together naturally due to the compression, generating a stuffy/cramped register. It simply doesn’t sound like an SSL UK made buss Compressor. I highly encourage you to jump on the used market for a mk2 and compare them for yourself… I would be honestly be surprised if we came to different opinions based on your other observations. The good news is that the market doesn’t know yet… lots of “we’ll actually…” posts by less experienced people have saturated the conversation, so you can get used mk2’s for about the same price as a new mk3. In the future we’ll look back at how good we had it before everything affordable was changed to soulless, toneless & utilitarian. Maybe BLA can mod these new units in the future or something… Oh, and perhaps predictably, I prefer the API on your mix bus. I like how “muscular” API mids are but I always find they need a touch of lows and highs to sweeten on mix bus duties. Cheers and keep up the great work!

SMART CL1A VS SSL G COMP PLEASE

API 527 seemed more depth

nice vid but need longer audio clips for comparing.

Damn, that SSL sounds mid-rangey! :) API sounds more neutral to me Thanks for sharing, once again this was super useuful to hear! 👍

15 minutes talking on a 16 minute sound comparison video is crazy lol

Hello sir. quick question for you. How do you like the Aurora converter?

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How would you get the API 2 connected to a Windows DAW without an audio interface? Say I was using the Burl B2 Bombers for AD and DA conversion. I don't understand how or what I would need to print mixes or masters to DAW

The fuss about being assembled in China is not the hardware. Not all countries have good intentions in the long run with making business deals. I can guarantee that China has gone in to a very large medical company that stationed some plants in China and took over the facility and took their intellectual property. China is not into making things cheaper for you.