With the CP52a Alctron brings a wonderful minimalist approach to 500 series compression. No need to cover your meters with tape as some top engineers have been known to do; the CP52a's "above" and "below" LEDs simply tell you whether the audio level is above or below the threshold leaving your compression decisions up to your ears instead of your eyes. There is also a "clip" LED to tell you when your signal is getting too hot. The "fast/slow" switch allows for a quick and easy choice of attack and release settings. The threshold, ratio, and output gain are fully variable. There is also a HPF at 100Hz, a polarity switch, bypass, and 48v on board. Why 48v you ask? Plug in a condenser microphone; throw it on a loud source like drums or a guitar amp and see what happens. Or, better yet, try it with one of Alctron's MP-1 or MP-3b signal boosters and one of your dynamic or ribbon mics. I'm not going to say it will be life changing, but I'm not going to say it won't either.
