*This is a special order, non-stock item. Any warranty issues will be handled by Unity Audio UK. No returns for any reason allowed, but full warranty applies.
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The Lisson Grove AR-1 is a vintage style tube compressor based on the classic Altec compressor that was used intensively in the ‘60s, by many British studios and used on countless records and many ‘Beatles’ and ‘Pink Floyd’ records too. However, the AR-1 has some modifications. Some of which are in the circuit and some functional.
The Lisson Grove AR-1 has been built from a love of the sound of a bygone era. The quality of each component in the units is of the highest possible standard, and the unit is hand built from top to bottom under license by Unity Audio Ltd. We hope you recognize that very familiar sound.
“Today I put the AR-1 on the vocal, yesterday I put it on the acoustic and the day before I put it on the bass. If i’m gonna spend good money on a compressor it can’t be a one trick pony. There’s a few ponies running around in this baby.” Michael Brauer – Producer (Credits include: Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Coldplay, The Vaccines, Shakira, Doves)
“The Lisson Grove tube compressor is like a glimpse into the toolkit of an English recording engineer circa 1960. It’s not perfect, it’s not pristine and it’s not like any other compressor. It sounds distinctive and is one of my favourite compressors of all time.” Barry Rudolph – for Mix Magazine
Lisson Grove AR-1 Compressor Features
- Release
These are self explanatory but it is slightly quicker than the original. - Attack Time
Also self explanatory, but if you pull the pot the compression is bypassed, it is not a hard bypass, and you retain the sound of the unit without the compression. - O/P Load
This Pot adjusts the output impedance of the unit, going from 600 ohms in the far right position, to 200 ohms (Dark) in the far left position. We put this on our unit as the original had an output of 200 ohms but we felt that was too dark for some uses so made it possible to have a variable tone without adding anything too incongruous to the circuit. - The ‘Infinity’ control
In between each of the 6 recovery settings is the Infinity position which is, in effect, an extremely long recovery time. There are a variety of uses for this feature, a useful one being the ability to ‘prime’ the unit before a take. This is done by placing the compressor in a ‘Infinity’ position (one click up or down from the desired setting), having the artist play or sing a note before recording, then switching in the desired release time once things are under way. Yet another use of ‘Infinity’ would be to prevent an increase in gain during silent passages. We have also added a quarter inch jack on the back, to enable a footswitch control, for hands free operation. - Balance
This provides an easy way to balance out the two sides of the gain reduction valve, thus minimizing distortion and feed-through thumps. When you press the push-button, it is then a simple matter for the engineer to adjust a small trim control until the pulsing sound is heard at its lowest level. This is very practical for balancing out the gain reduction valve.
