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Pete's Place Audio BAC-500
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Usually Ships Same or Next Business Day ?
Quantity Discounts
| Quantity | Amount |
| 2 or more | $945.00 |
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Pete's Place Audio BAC-500 Description
If you're looking for the quickness and control of an FET compressor with more character and tone options, as well as being easy to dial in...look no further than my friend Brad Avenson's BAC-500 for your 500 series needs.
Designed by Brad Avenson of Austin, Texas-based
Avenson Audio, the BAC—short for Brad Avenson Compressor—is a
feedback-style FET compressor built around two discrete op amps and a
custom wound output transformer.
“We
are thrilled to finally be collaborating with Brad on this project,”
says Pete’s Place Audio President Lisa Montessi. “His experience,
knowledge and passion really shine through in everything he creates and
the BAC certainly is no exception. It’s a fantastic compressor and it’s
going to make a lot of 500 Series fans very happy.”
From
the top down, the BAC’s faceplate features a large silver rotary input
knob, smaller pots for attack, release and ratio, and a large output
knob at the bottom. Additional features include a three-position
sidechain contour switch, eight-LED gain reduction meter, and
pushbuttons for distortion and bypass.
The
module’s attack control runs from fast to quite fast, while the release
control exhibits a fairly wide range, enabling the compressor to go
from “pumping, breathing fast” up to approximately a second and a half.
This allows sounds to “hang” a bit when using the device purely as a
leveler or limiter.
The ratio
control features five positions ranging from 2:1 to 20:1, with a sixth
position marked as “∞!”. According to Avenson, “The infinity control
has a little exclamation point next to it because, not only is it
really flat, but it also puts you in that spot where you can do some
over-compression and other interesting things. It changes where the
threshold starts to compress as well, so it gives you different
varieties of tonal characteristics to play with.”
The
BAC’s sidechain toggle switch offers a choice of three possible
settings: flat, high-pass filter (cut off around 70 to 100 Hz), and an
option that somewhat exaggerates the high end while simultaneously
cutting the low end. “The overall effect of this third setting is
somewhat like a de-esser fed into the sidechain, but it’s a little
wider than that and quite good for taming a variety of things that are
overly bright,” Avenson notes.
With
all of the controls essentially cranked between the input and output
knobs, the BAC is capable of delivering nearly 50 dB of gain, which can
be very helpful in compensating for serious gain reduction issues
caused by greatly compressing dynamic range.
The
bypass button found below the output knob is a true relay bypass, while
the adjacent distortion button allows the user to achieve a true bench
FET compression sound. “A lot of FET compressors use tricks to
linearize the FET as a compression element and make it sound cleaner
because if they’re used solely by themselves, they’re really pretty
raunchy sounding,” says the designer. “So this switch allows you to
play with how much of the frequency response and distortion
characteristics of the FET you get. By engaging it, you’re getting a
lot more second harmonic distortion and aggressive sounds because we’re
taking away some of the linearizing elements. It’s basically a way to
kick in a more aggressive sounding compressor without changing any of
the other settings. You can dial in the amount of dirt you want.”
Avenson
sums the BAC up by adding, “Although this product is largely designed
to provide a bit of color and flavor—and not be too heavy handed—it
really does possess that nice ‘bite’ that is characteristic of FET
compressors and perfect for cranking down on things like drum room mics
when you need it.”
Pete’s Place
Audio is an umbrella organization founded to bring a wide variety of
handcrafted, innovative, boutique recording and live audio products to
market. Under the leadership of President Lisa Montessi and backed by
the manufacturing expertise of A-Designs Audio, Pete’s Place
collaborates with some of today’s most talented recording artists and
engineers to help determine what products, regardless of how esoteric,
they feel are missing in the studio and live performance environments.
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Pete’s Place BAC-500
Compressor Review / See All ZenPro Audio Reviews Here: Review Page
Brad Avenson has been around a while
and designs for himself and other companies. I’ve always found Brad to be very
insightful and striving to do something unique without boasting or having an
attitude or ego. If Brad had an ego he could certainly use it to boast about
this compressor, which hits many a nail on many a head effortlessly! The
BAC-500 is a transformer out balanced FET compressor for the API 500 format and
features switchable ratio select (2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1, INF:1), variable attack
and release times, 3 sidechain selections (flat, low-cut, upper mid boost to
help with de-essing), a true relay bypass and a distortion circuit to bring
more character and grit when needed.
I find the BAC500 to be very
flexible in use on many sources. It has a thick character to it for sure, no
straight wire with gain stuff going on here. Not a straight distortion kind of
character but a smoother, more rounded sound overall. The attack time is fast
and faster, if you want to you can really latch a signal down QUICK. The
release time however can be adjusted very wide for super long times if needed.
With the ability to perform light gain reduction to essentially acting like a
limiter, it exhibits lots of control. In standard operating mode it brings
smooth control over vocals and instruments and drums, but if you kick in the
distortion switch it adds an edge to the sound that bites slightly and helps
define the “outline” of the sound better. Things like el gtrs, drums and loud
vocals LOVE the distortion switch! It can sing nicely for sure. The input gain
is pretty hot, I find the BAC 500 typically works best no trying to send it
super hot signals as the lower portion of the input gain pot can be a bit
finicky.
The sidechain choices are great, I
really like position # 3 on vocal use as it exhibits tons of control but also
acts as a de-esser too for a very balanced sound. When trying to achieve that
flat-lined and in your face vocal, this setting comes in handy so the S’s don’t
rip your ears off. Drums can be crunched up nicely with faster release times.
Bass guitar is handled very well, and the sidechain # 2 position doesn’t get
too pumpy either. Overall this compressor has a “glue-y” sound and a thick
sonic space that is unique. I kind of think of the BAC-500 as the FET
compressor you wish you always had: it holds stuff in place very well without
that hard sort of midrange sound that many classic FET compressors exhibit.
Conclusion: When it comes to ease of
use and character, the BAC500 just does it. I like the versatility and the fact
that it can be very heavy handed when needed. For vocal mixing with character
and in your face sound, as well as bass guitar control…it is a great reach.
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