Ridge Farm's 'The Boiler' is a dual channel compressor/limiter designed for use in professional recording studios. Ridge Farm is a boutique company with only a few products, all of which are very well made and somewhat hard to come by. Each of the two channels on The Boiler has XLR jacks for input and output, and that's all of the connections that it has beyond the standard power jack. It is rack mountable and will only take up a single space in a traditional casing.

UTILIZATION

Using The Boiler isn't tough at all, as I found myself catching on very quickly while using it. Each of the two channels are identical, each with parameters for threshold and input level. Those are the main parameters that control your sound, but there are then switches for attack and release that can be set to either slow or fast. It also has a link switch in the middle of the two channels that allows you to pair the channels up and have only the left channel control your threshold, while having individual control over your input level still. Even those with a small amount of experience with dynamic processors should be able to use this without needing a manual.

SOUND QUALITY

In a word, the sound of Ridge Farm's The Boiler is outstanding. It's great for mixing, which is really the only situation I've used it in, as I haven't done too much tracking with The Boiler. Either way you'll get similar results, but most of the time unless I'm looking for a very specific sound right off the bat I'll tend to track clean and process sounds during mixing. It's hard to describe the sound of this compressor/limiter without one actually hearing it, but suffice it to say that this will add a lot of fullness and a vibrant quality to your sound no matter what you are using it for. I've tried it on vocals, snare and kick drum, as well as for bass guitar. The results were stellar across the board, leading me to believe that this will work very well for all applications when used right...

OVERALL OPINION

If you're ever able to give the The Boiler a shot, I'd highly recommend taking advantage of using it, as it's really got an awesome sound and is up there with some of the best compressor/limiters that I've used. It's incredibly easy to use, so even if you don't know all that much about compressors, you should be able to use this if you understand the basics. The price definitely isn't cheap, but that's what you're going to have to pay if you're looking for professional sound quality. I don't have a bad thing to say about The Boiler...