Introduced in 1970, this unit defined ‘that sound’ which 50 years later is still held as a high water mark in Pro Audio. The Neve 1073 - other mic preamps exist, but they exist in a universe with the 1073 at its centre. Warm Audio WA76 $699, Universal Audio 1176LN $2599 Ignore the logo and the external PSU and for all intents and purposes you have the 1176 experience for $699. Our pick of the many, many alternatives for an 1176 has to be one of the first companies to bring us off the shelf 1176 compressors for self build kit money. You can have the sound of the 1176 without these controls but that isn’t quite an 1176… It’s also a control set: the threshold is fixed and you dial in more or less compression using two hands, turning the input and output controls in opposite directions, the attack and release controls work ‘backwards’ and the ratios are switched, not continuous. These days there are even faster ways to control levels but the unintended colour the 1176 introduced has kept it at the top of the popularity stakes ever since.Īn 1176 is two things, it’s a sound, a style of compression, usually used as a channel compressor, noted for its aggression and energy, though used with care it’s actually pretty versatile. Introduced in the late 60s and exploiting the speed of the newly available Field Effect Transistor, unlike its valve and optical predecessors the 1176 was lightning fast. The 1176 is the most copied, most reproduced and most ubiquitous compressor of all. Have you ever seen a big studio without an 1176? I’m not sure I have.

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