In 1969, one man developed a diode-bridge compressor for a television station’s mixing console—and wound up changing the world of audio, giving us a much-loved unit that added weight, density, and punch on countless hits since. In 2019, one company takes this design and amps it up for our new millennium. That’s right—Heritage Audio is releasing its HA-609A Dual-Channel Bus Compressor and Limiter, and, unlike other models based on this classic design, Heritage Audio has completely eschewed integrated circuits, opting for an entirely discrete, class-A design instead.
If that’s not music to your purist ears, consider that the HA-609A makes use of three transformers in each channel—Carnhill and St. Ives transformers, no less. Indeed, this will prove quite the colorful compressor and limiter for recording, mixing, and yes, even mastering. Whether you deploy it on tracks, busses, submixes, the two-buss, or in your mastering chain, the HA-609A will operate with boutique, vintage aplomb.
Not entirely vintage, however: the limiting section of this compressor has been revamped from the original design to give you more of a modern workflow, with a new fast-attack setting that aids in a variety of tasks; subtle peak control and comprehensive sculpting are both available, all while taming the fastest transients of your program material. You’ll also find a selectable fast attack speed on the compressor circuit, all the better to handle drums and percussive material.
For perfect calibration and recall, the HA-609A only uses rotary switches and precision, stepped potentiometers, making it quite suitable for mastering. Diode-bridge compressors are renowned for adding color, even when left bypassed in the circuit path. You may want this, but you also may not, so Heritage has provided true bypass switching, so you don’t have to patch it out of the signal path for true A/B comparisons.
Whether your mix or master, give yourself the gift of a solid piece of equipment this season: check out the Heritage HA-609A, now available online.
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