ART Pro-VLA II 2-Channel Opto Tube Leveling Amplifier

I really do love this compressor. Does exactly what a compressor is supposed to do. Does it well. And is not difficult to use. No matter what, you're going to have to spend SOME money on your gear... and I can honestly say this has been worth every penny of the $269 I put into it. It's worth it to also note that I use this with the ART MPA II. Which I'm also a major fan of for the price point.My favorite part of having this compressor is that it provides the user the opportunity to truly learn how to use an external compressor, and not be limited by the quality of your gear. That is to say, if the user cannot get a good sound or get the right amount of compression, it is not the gear's fault. The problem would lie with the skill of the user. Whereas the really cheap stuff will always sound quite cheap, this does not.Using a tube preamp and compressor really takes the digital edge out of my guitar work, as quite often things would sound very dull harmonically. Or just muddy and unclear (I don't have a great interface, but still). But using these two pieces of gear have cleaned a lot of that right up. I can rely on driving this compressor and preamp to get a great amount of tube grit, which to my ears really just makes amp modeling sound so much better (I use Logic). This compressor, coupled with the MPA II, has really helped me find an awesome smooth, slightly crunchy guitar sound.I realize it sounds like I'm pushing both ART's preamp and compressor combo, but if you love this layout on the compressor then the MPA II is also the way to go. It's the same great value for the price.I have yet to try this on a microphone. Just guitar so far.Order some tubes with it though. 12AT7's. The stock chinese ones in there aren't so great.

Sounds great, and I love the stereo linking/unlinking. I, like many others, recommend changing the tubes out for some higher quality ones when you get chance for a bit of a sound quality upgrade, but even out of the box, this thing punches way above it's price point, in my humble opinion. I have had zero noise issues. If you are like me, and are a home or "bedroom" studio music creator, for this price, it's very very hard to not recommend this as your first outboard compressor. Highly versatile.I use it for compressing Vocals and acoustic guitar, and it is transparent of course, but you CAN drive it a bit for some color if you want to. Just don't expect it to sound like a FET or something when doing so. I find myself using this over my Warm LALA clone to the point where I should probably sell the LALA. If it broke or got stolen or something, I'd get another.

I recently picked one of these up in addition to the ART Pro MPAII, and I couldn't be happier. The unit is intuitive in design and function. The meters accurate and make it very easy to dial in your settings. The attack and release can go from super fast to slow, this makes character of the compression very versatile. It sounds beautiful on vocals, acoustic instruments, and instrument DI's. The synergy of the MPAII and VLAII are great! Almost any source can be put through these guys. If you are new to compression and looking to buy your first hardware compressor, you can't go wrong with this. If you already have a few compressors, I can assure you that this will add a new flavor to the palate. The only downside is the low grade tubes that they are shipped with, they don't give the rest of the unit any justice. Although these tubes sound great stock, a few upgraded 12ax7 tubes make this unit shine. Definitely a bargain at the listed price.

Unit was a part of a serial compression processing chain. The primary use of the studio is voiceover work. The box started out promising by providing a platform for the multiband compressor which followed it.When voiceovers are broadcast over the air, they go through the station's own processing, and the ART PRO VLA caused this to induce gross distortion.Within a week, the settings were drifting, until the front panel became non-responsive- and when pulled from a well ventilated rack, it was quite hot to the touch.I would suggest saving up for a better tube compressor or if it is the transparency you desire, have a gander at the Compellor.

Besides looking so good - with a sleek, black brushed aluminum control panel, cool etched knobs and those humongous "old school" VU meters, this tube compressor also really works well.I purchased the Art Pro-VLA II Tube compressor for my modest home project studio in order to crunch some live jazz recordings where the peak hits from drums and horns was just too much to compensate by riding the gains.Of course, the unit worked just fine as a limiter with the ratio set at 10:1 and the input threshold around -6 db, but what turned out to be so surprisingly sweet was the overall warmth this tube compressor brought to my tracks on final mixes.I find that running the compressor at bare minimums, like 2:1 ratios and input thresholds at -4 db, the Art Pro takes those brittle digital multi-track recordings and makes them sound more like an analog tape recording.This is a nicely built unit, at a great price that is a wonderful addition to bolt into those small rack spaces found in home project studios. If it had a better instruction manual (and a beginners tutorial) shipped with the unit it would be a five-star product.

I was a broadcast engineer in a previous career and lived and breathed compressor limiters. I spent many hours tweaking to get the best sound for my stations.First, let me address this comment from a previous reviewer, "The Capacitors leaked all over the inside of the unit and I had only used it a few time, without much success."Clearly this reviewer opened the case and noticed the yellow "goo" around the capacitors. The "goo" is cement used to keep the capacitors from moving around, not leakage.I've used mine for two days and, yes, I opened the case to see what was inside. What I found was a well constructed unit. I installed it in the tape in/out loop of my equipment so I could do A/B testing and was very impressed. With levels matched, the audio quality was identical to unprocessed audio minus, of course, the leveling effect.You can adjust this unit to compress "the pants off" your material and it will do it nicely. You can also use it as a gentler leveler, as I do, and it does that as well.A gain control amplifier is a useful tool but applying it to your application takes some practice. If you want uniformly high output, set the thing for fast attack and release, but be prepared to hear breathing and pumping. If you want only to smooth the differences between input sources or CDs, set attack and hold more conservatively. Don't be afraid to experiment.This is an awesome unit for the money but not for the person who isn't willing to tweak knobs to get the sound they want. It's definitely NOT plug-n-play.

For this price? Yep. Get it. I am very surprised with how well this thing works. It compresses vox so transparently. Awesome thing on the vox mic, or on the mix bounce. The box is solid metal construction. The knobs can be recalled, and it feels like and sounds like an expensive piece of gear, while it does not cost that much. How they do that? No idea.

Lo compre en 2018, en ese tiempo llego muy rapido, demoro unos 5 a 7 dias en llegar (algo inusual para mi viniendo desde tan lejos).El compresor esta bien, para su precio cubre todas las funciones básicas de este tipo de procesadores y el color que aporta al audio es genial, sin embargo el producto tiene una falla importante. Uno de los canales, el canal 2, procesa la señal mucho mas fuerte que el canal 1 (la comprime mucho mas) aun cuando los parametros estan configurados identico para cada canal, esto en dual mono podría llegar a servir si tienes dos señales diferentes, a la larga serian 2 compresores distintos. Sin embargo me perjudica bastante al usar la función stereo link ya que no me permite procesar una señal de ese tipo de manera apropiada.Lamentablemente nunca pedí una devolución por la falla, ya que todo el tiempo lo use (y lo sigo usando) como dual mono, y cuando me toco usar el stereo link y me percate de la falla, ya era tarde para la garantia.

Easy to control and very good finish. Thanks.

Using for DJ use and other projects

Excellent gear. Sounds great and Value for money.

Recibí dañado y por falta de tiempo no pude verificar su buen funcionamiento, se apaga y se prende de la nada