The Definitive SSL Channel Strip
The Solid State Logic Super 9000 equips studios large and small with a comprehensive SSL channel strip boasting discrete SuperAnalogue and VHD mic preamps, 4-band G and E series EQ, a 9000/Duality dynamics section, and extensive sidechain functionality. The Super 9000 incorporates the best of SSL technology, culled from the coveted consoles that have dominated the recording industry over the past half-century. Just like on a Duality console, you can choose a pristine, high-headroom SuperAnalogue preamp or a VHD (Variable Harmonic Drive) circuit to enrich your signals with colorful harmonics and saturation. Packed in an elegantly arranged 1U chassis, the Super 9000 is a formidable front end that delivers definitive SSL clarity and punch. It ranks among the best-sounding and most versatile do-it-all channel strips producers at Sweetwater Studios have had the pleasure of working with.
Related Videos: Super 9000 Channel Strip
Choose your preamp: SuperAnalogue or VHD with Drive control
Offering the versatility of a Duality console front end, the Super 9000 gives you the choice of SuperAnalogue or VHD preamps. Additionally, the VHD circuit’s variable Drive control provides a continuous sweep between 2nd and 3rd order harmonic enhancement. While the former provides organic, tube-like responsiveness, the latter delivers a harder-edged, transistor-like distortion. You can blend anywhere between the two extremes to nail the absolute sound for a given source, while four LEDs above the VHD button indicate the intensity of the effect. What’s more, the VHD preamp can be re-routed from the Mic path to the Line input path via the Input Flip button, giving you an easy method of processing line-level DAW stems with harmonic saturation.
Switchable “Pink Knob” and “Black Knob” EQ
For the ultimate in sound-shaping flexibility, the Super 9000 lets you choose between two of SSL’s iconic 4-band parametric equalization circuits: 292 G Series “Pink Knob” or 242 E Series “Black Knob.” The 292 mode features variable Q for the parametric mid-bands, with smaller boosts/cuts producing wider bell curves and, conversely, larger boosts/cuts yielding narrower curves. The 242 EQ, on the other hand, offers a constant-Q design that is more useful for surgical sound sculpting. What’s more, the HF and LF shelves of the 292 generate a steeper response than those of the 242 and exhibit the unique “undershoot/overshoot” characteristic at the hinge frequency that many engineers praise as being highly musical sounding.
Even more sound-shaping flexibility
Taking things a step further, the EQ section of the Super 9000 is fitted with two buttons labelled “E Bell/G÷3” and “Gx3/E Bell.” In 292 mode, these divide the Low-Mid frequency selection by 3 and multiply the High-Mid frequency by 3, enabling the mid-bands to target frequencies way outside their standard range. In 242 mode, these buttons switch the LF and HF bands between Bell and Shelving modes. As longtime SSL aficionados would expect, the EQ circuit can be switched into the dynamics sidechain. The Super 9000 is also equipped with highpass and lowpass filters that are completely bypassed when their Gain controls are turned fully counterclockwise. The HP filter has a slope of 18dB/octave, while the LP filter is spec’d with a slope of 12dB/octave. The filters can also be switched into the input section or the dynamics sidechain.
Precision 9000/Duality dynamics section
The Super 9000 is equipped with the definitive modern SSL dynamics section, which delivers unparalleled control and punch. Constructed around the high-performance THAT 2181A voltage-controlled amplifier, this masterful compressor/limiter provides a switchable fast attack mode and the peak detect option, first introduced on the SL 9000 console dynamics section and subsequently adopted by the Duality console’s dynamics section. Additionally, the coveted SSL Expander/Gate section is retained, incorporating variable hysteresis into the Threshold computation to afford more exacting control. A Hold control is also included to enable precise gate/downwards-expansion control.
Console-like versatility
Being an SSL product, the Super 9000 provides console-like versatility with the inclusion of a dedicated insert point, an external sidechain input, flexible process ordering, and sidechain linking. The balanced insert point is invaluable for integrating supplementary outboard gear into a signal path, and you can even move it from its default position (right after the input stage) to the output stage, just before the Output Trim. Also included is a dedicated external sidechain (key) input, flexible process (re-)ordering, and sidechain linking that lets you use two Super 9000 compressors for stereo operation. Given the Super 9000’s immense usefulness and unprecedented flexibility for handling any number of studio processes, it’s amazing that SSL has managed to pack everything into a tidy 1U chassis. But then, this is Solid State Logic we’re talking about!
The Solid State Logic legacy
Since its founding by Colin Sanders in 1969, Solid State Logic has followed a design philosophy that prioritizes the needs of artists, engineers, and producers with products that facilitate creativity by removing technical impediments and streamlining workflows. From the groundbreaking SL 4000E with TotalRecall to the SuperAnalogue SL 9000 J and K, AWS, and Duality, SSL consoles have captured the magic of countless iconic recordings. Indeed, installed in the world’s top studios, Solid State Logic consoles have shaped the sound of modern music. Firmly ensconced in the pantheon of pro audio greats, SSL continues to innovate, bringing its uncompromising quality and signature sonics to new generations of artists and creators. Sweetwater is proud to offer you SSL’s pedigreed line of consoles, signal processors, and audio interfaces.
Solid State Logic Super 9000 Features:
- Premium mono channel strip with dual mic preamps, 4-band EQ, and dynamics
- SuperAnalogue (9000) and VHD (Duality) mic preamps, selectable
- Selectable mic pre impedance: 1.3 kΩ, 11 kΩ
- 48V phantom power, polarity invert, pad, and Line input switches
- Input Flip moves the VHD Pre from the Mic path into the Line in path
- 4-band EQ with switchable 292 “Pink Knob” and 242 “Black Knob” modes
- 9000/Duality dynamics section with compressor and gate/expander
- Dynamics sidechain link for linking two Super 9000 compressors for stereo operation
- External sidechain (key) input
- 8dB/octave highpass and 12dB/octave lowpass filters
- Insert point for integrating external processors into the signal path
- To-Sidechain switching: Filters to Dynamics sidechain, EQ to Dynamics sidechain
- Flexible process-order routing: Filters to input, Dynamics post-EQ, Insert to output
- Switchable input and output metering
- Line Output trim
