Hearing is Believing

This has got to be the most versatile, best sounding, most intelligently built compressor on the market for under $2k. There's nothing like it at this price point, and it is SERIOUSLY worth every penny. After running bass, vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and room mics through it, I've realized "how did I get by without this before?"

Not even the best VST compressor I have (and I have tons of em) can compete with ONE pass on this thing. It could take fifteen minutes for me to find compression settings on a VST comp that really grabbed the sound in all the right ways, tightening it up just enough, making it pop and have some attitude. Yeah--takes about 2 minutes with the EL8, AND it sounds better. Sometimes I'd chain multiple VST compressors doing less reduction each to get a smoother sound, to some avail. However, ONE PASS though the Distressor and it all became clear - analog compression truly sounds better. In all ways.

The distortion modes are fantastic, the Dist3 sounds great on guitars, I love the bandpass detector for acoustic guitars and picked basses and certain snares. It's a monster. I mean, truly a monster. It blows other compressors out of the water that are twice and three times its price. Versatility, quality, and just straight up SOUND. It's my new favorite piece of gear.

EXCELLENT! Compressor.

A few months ago I bought a new Distressor and it didn't take long to decide that 1 was not going to be enough. As a Result I just purchased my Second Distressor. I have these paired with a set of Vintech x73i MicPre/Eq's and the sound is nothing short of AMAZING! The Distressor is so easy to use and the Sound is Completely Professional. You can go from Very Smooth to Extremely Hard Compression withing seconds. I can easily understand why every major studio has at least one pair of these units in there racks Turned On and In Use. Highly Recommended!

Could be my favorite!

This is a piece of gear that can make you a better engineer. Really hard to make it sound bad, and really easy to make it sound amazing. Love it on snare, gtrs, and drum overheads/rooms. Definitely worth the investment and then some. In fact, get two.

Crazy Good

This thing sound good on everything, vocals, drums, guitar. It is definitely worth the price.

Quite simply insane!

I was looking for a compressor to add some warmth and punch to my mixes, as the digital realm of audio production could not provide enough of this by itself. After a lot of research I went with the Distressor. I am quite simply blown away by the warmth and fatness of these machines!! As I produce loads of different genres of music, I have found that they shine wherever I apply them! And the fatness! Youll never diet again! Do yourself a favour and get a Distressor, whether its your first or last compressor. The flexibility is amazing, and theres a reason you'll hardly find a professional studio without one today. The Distressor for President '08!

Distressor Review

What's good: The distressor is by far the most versatile compressor on the market. If you're only going to buy 1 high end unit this is your best bet. It really helps add tone and some analog color if your recording straight into a computer. The opto mode gives you that "set it and forget it" feature. You just adjust the reduction to taste and you can't go wrong on guitars, bass and Vocals. The high pass is very useful as opposed to using a side chain just to prevent the low end from getting to boomy when compressing.

What's average: The harmonic thing adds some color but is no match for a real tape machine. The idea that it emulates other vintage compressors is just not true. The example settings for emulation they list in the manual work well and have similar attributes to the real units however they really don't have the tone or character of the originals.

Overall a great unit for the price. There's nothing out there for less money that will cover all your needs. It hard to get a bad sound out of this unit, even with extreme gain reduction. There are better compressors that will cost about the same and beat out the distressor for certain applications. The ADL or Manley for opto, the dbx 160 VU, original UA 1176, LA 2a, to name a few.

Good for percussion tracks

I'd have to say I disagree with the review above. The distressor sounds great on drums, yes, but you can have a whole percussion track with kicks, snares, tambs, hats, etc. and the distressor still works great. In fact I consider the main strength of the EL8 is that it morphs a dry, flavorless perc. track into a great one. Ideally you'd need two distressors but with a little more work, you can survive with only one. A top choice and every studio I've ever seen has at least one.

Double-Edged Sword

This is a great compressor for the following reasons: Adjustable harmonic stages and range of compression stages. You can really morph a sound into something else or something usable with these tools. It sounds great on a kick or snare because of the variability of your harmonics. You can get the dynamics to have a "feel" to them opposed to a "sound". Snares and kicks have so much presence and punch after you run it through this box. The negatives? It's pricey to own and sounds horrible when you use it on more than a few things in a mix. Tracking with it is a godsend, but mixing with it is deceiving. It is tempting to use it on a lot of tracks because it really helps you feel the music, but it completely destroys all dynamic coherence of your mix. There certainly IS too much of a good thing here. However, I wouldn't blame it so much on the box as I would the mixer, but still, you should know that if you have one, it's only going to sit on one or two tracks and NOT be a workhorse. THIS IS NOT THE SHURE SM57 of compressors...more like a mint condition, completely restored Model T of dynamics-- using it has a time and place, and it is not your daily driver.