Lindell Audio LiN76
Boutique recording equipment maker Lindell Audio announces the availability of its LiN76 Vintage Limiting Amplifier - aptly designed to recreate the timbres and nuances of ’76-style FET (field-effect transistor) compressors, duly delivering instant vintage-vibe dynamics processing for today’s demanding recording studios.
As a resident producer at Bohus Sound Recording in Kungälv, Sweden - itself boasting a long and prestigious history that is intrinsically linked to the Swedish recording industry, namesake Lindell Audio founder Tobias Lindell knows only too well what recording equipment works best, boutique or otherwise. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the most classic and respected sounds of dynamic processors live on in Lindell Audio’s aptly-named LiN76, proudly designed in Sweden to recreate timbres and nuances of ’76-style FET compressors - backed by the Vintage Limiting Amplifier wording boldly blazoned across its no-nonsense front and back panels. Put it this way: with LiN76, it is even possible to replicate the infamous ‘all-button mode’ made famous by British recording engineers throughout the Seventies, reproducing a sound that is still popular today.
This ‘secret mode’ effectively changes the RATIO to roughly 20:1, and also changes the bias of the circuit as well as the way that the knobs interact with each other. As a result, the LiN76 becomes much more aggressive, with its reaction knee becoming more like a plateau than a gentle curve with a more aggressive dirty tone that sounds incredible on aggressive drums, while the ATTACK becomes very punchy with a gooey ‘sucking’ sound on the RELEASE. Regular settings, however, are: ATTACK - continuously variable 20 µs to 800 µs; RELEASE - 50 ms to 1200 ms; and RATIO - 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, and 20:1 (and any combination thereof).
Vintage-vibe dynamics processing continues with a front panel-dominating VU (volume unit) meter, metering the amount of gain reduction applied with units selected by the chosen METER mode: +4 - meters output level at 0 with +4dB output; +8 - meters output level at 0 with +8dB output; Off is self explanatory; and GR allows for meter calibration (by turning the back panel-positioned METER CALIBRATION screw until the needle rests at 0, having ensured that no RATIO buttons are selected beforehand).
Back panel-positioned OUTPUT and INPUT are both balanced line-level TRS (Tip, Ring, and Sleeve), rounding out an easy-to-use, solidly-built 19-inch rack-mounting (2U) package - powered by an AC (alternating current) 12V 5A switching supply, adaptor included - that weighs in at 8kg, duly delivering instant vintage-vibe dynamics processing for today’s demanding recording studios.
A RAD Distribution company, Lindell Audio’s LiN76 is shipping and available at a price of $399.00 USD - RAD Distribution is also the exclusive North American distributor for Lindell Audio products - and a price of €499.00 EUR - in the EU (European Union).