ART Pro-VLA II 2-Channel Opto Tube Leveling Amplifier

Sounds great, and I love the stereo linking/unlinking. I, like many others, recommend changing the tubes out for some higher quality ones when you get chance for a bit of a sound quality upgrade, but even out of the box, this thing punches way above it's price point, in my humble opinion. I have had zero noise issues. If you are like me, and are a home or "bedroom" studio music creator, for this price, it's very very hard to not recommend this as your first outboard compressor. Highly versatile.I use it for compressing Vocals and acoustic guitar, and it is transparent of course, but you CAN drive it a bit for some color if you want to. Just don't expect it to sound like a FET or something when doing so. I find myself using this over my Warm LALA clone to the point where I should probably sell the LALA. If it broke or got stolen or something, I'd get another.

I really do love this compressor. Does exactly what a compressor is supposed to do. Does it well. And is not difficult to use. No matter what, you're going to have to spend SOME money on your gear... and I can honestly say this has been worth every penny of the $269 I put into it. It's worth it to also note that I use this with the ART MPA II. Which I'm also a major fan of for the price point.My favorite part of having this compressor is that it provides the user the opportunity to truly learn how to use an external compressor, and not be limited by the quality of your gear. That is to say, if the user cannot get a good sound or get the right amount of compression, it is not the gear's fault. The problem would lie with the skill of the user. Whereas the really cheap stuff will always sound quite cheap, this does not.Using a tube preamp and compressor really takes the digital edge out of my guitar work, as quite often things would sound very dull harmonically. Or just muddy and unclear (I don't have a great interface, but still). But using these two pieces of gear have cleaned a lot of that right up. I can rely on driving this compressor and preamp to get a great amount of tube grit, which to my ears really just makes amp modeling sound so much better (I use Logic). This compressor, coupled with the MPA II, has really helped me find an awesome smooth, slightly crunchy guitar sound.I realize it sounds like I'm pushing both ART's preamp and compressor combo, but if you love this layout on the compressor then the MPA II is also the way to go. It's the same great value for the price.I have yet to try this on a microphone. Just guitar so far.Order some tubes with it though. 12AT7's. The stock chinese ones in there aren't so great.

I received a unit with channel one dead on arrival. Returned defective unit, replacement was sent out. Replacement arrives and channel two is dead on arrival. I was sent two defective units, returned and refunded.I really wanted to like this compressor. I have the ART digital MPA II and it has worked flawlessly. I am very disappointed that ART would send out 2 defective units.2 defective units, returned and refunded. Earns one star.

I recently picked one of these up in addition to the ART Pro MPAII, and I couldn't be happier. The unit is intuitive in design and function. The meters accurate and make it very easy to dial in your settings. The attack and release can go from super fast to slow, this makes character of the compression very versatile. It sounds beautiful on vocals, acoustic instruments, and instrument DI's. The synergy of the MPAII and VLAII are great! Almost any source can be put through these guys. If you are new to compression and looking to buy your first hardware compressor, you can't go wrong with this. If you already have a few compressors, I can assure you that this will add a new flavor to the palate. The only downside is the low grade tubes that they are shipped with, they don't give the rest of the unit any justice. Although these tubes sound great stock, a few upgraded 12ax7 tubes make this unit shine. Definitely a bargain at the listed price.

For this price? Yep. Get it. I am very surprised with how well this thing works. It compresses vox so transparently. Awesome thing on the vox mic, or on the mix bounce. The box is solid metal construction. The knobs can be recalled, and it feels like and sounds like an expensive piece of gear, while it does not cost that much. How they do that? No idea.

This unit was all the rave a few years back in the audio/home recording magazines. And for good reason.The PRO VLA is a very smooth compressor with good metering. It's easy to get a nice overarching compression ratio for individual channel OR for main mix duties. The stereo link function is nice, but I don't know how useful the panning feature is when it's linked in stereo. I just leave it panned up the middle to keep both channels' output the same.And kudos to ART for engineering it to be relatively free of pumping and breathing artifacts that plague lesser units.I've got mine in the main mix insert of my analog front-end/digital back end studio. It's tightened up my mixes and the sound quality has improved greatly, as compared to the other brand name comp that was in the chain previously.The fact that it's a very sexy looking unit doesn't hurt. The VU's are as sensitive as the ones on my big analog mixer and lend a nice vibe.I'd put this into the 'why didn't I buy one sooner' pile.Good stuff!!!