Summit Audio TLA-50 Reviews

4.8/5.0 based on 4 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Nick Schenkel

I've used this compressor on guitars, basses, vocals, drums and synths, and have always been pleased with the results. The TLA-50 adds an immediacy and warmth that cuts through the mix and allows your signal to sit up front and center.

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Customer Reviews

Joshua Ray
from Minot, ME USA
April 2, 2013Music Background:
Mix/Recording Engineer

Awesome!

Super simple to use. Adds some nice warmth without it being over the top. It sounds great on vocals but I have especially loved it on male vocals. I was surprised at how well it leveled the dynamics with out sucking the life out of them. It has been a very popular item on my vocal chains. The first session I used it on was a really cool indie rock single for an artist I had never worked with before. After I gave him the first draft he commented that he has never had his vocals sound so good. This unit played an important role in getting "that" sound.

It has also worked well on bass and drums although I haven't used it on these items enough to give it a fair review.

MARVIN SAEZ TATE
from NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
June 2, 2010Music Background:
PRODUCER, ENGINEER, ARTIST

CREATE A SONIC MASTER PIECE !!!!!!

I PURCHASED THIS UNIT AFTER TELLING ~JEFF LAW~ MY SALES REP. AT SWEETWATER. THAT I NEEDED SOMETHING TO FIT IN WITH MY MOJAVE AUDIO MA-200 AND THE FOCUSRITE ISA-1 ALSO PURCHASED LAST MONTH. I WILL BE KEEPING THIS UNIT EVEN WHEN I UPGRADE TO A STEREO COMPRESSOR, AND IT WILL BE ANOTHER SUMMIT AUDIO PRODUCT. SO THERE YOU GO, WON'T SAY HOW THIS UNIT SOUNDS, REMEMBER I BROUGHT IT WITHOUT HEARING IT FIRST. JEFF I ALWAYS BELIEVE IN YOU NOW. WILL BE BUYING THE FEQ-50 TO FINISH THE FRONT END IN MY SIGNAL CHAIN FROM SWEETWATER. P.S. I LIFE LONG CUSTOMER

don Bono
from San Diego, CA
May 25, 2007Music Background:
Artist, Producer, Mix and Mastering Engineer.

Mighty Midgets

I bought these units and waited a month faithfully for them to ship. When i got them i took them home and fired them up. One of the capacitors had blown out so that left me with one unit when put in bypass mode to still control the gain knob. However after talking to summit audios Product Chief he was a big help and took the untils back and fixed them both and turned them right around within a week. Summit Audio has great customer service

Now on use these things to me are noisey a lot more than i would expect from a unit at this cost i have some other stuff that produce far less noise. But after a few test i was able to get the floor noise down substantially something i can bare with. BUT THE WARM out of these THings and Compression is Nice, NO pumping effect even when driven fairly hard on a full mix i heardly heard the compression. They added a nice effect the vocals and other instruments seemed to sit nicely together. Whoever said that big things can't come in small packages, Yes these are no TLA 100 or Vari-mu but its a nice start for someone trying to add a nice tube sound on a budget. Outside of the them being a little noisey I am satisfied with the investment and these have a home in my Studio for a while to come. Of course They will take backseat to my Manley Vari-mu.

from Chicago, IL
April 2, 2007Music Background:
Project Studio Owner, Musician

Great Limiter with a warm, round tone

The TLA-50 is a great little limiter for the money, and while it doesn't work on all sources it does sound great on guitars, kick, male vox, bass, and synth leads. Use it where you need to control dynamics while adding a little tube character.