Spectra Sonics 610

The Spectrasonics 610 is a single channel compressor in the form of a rack mountable piece of outboard gear.  It is an analog unit and I'm not sure what type of connections it has the one that I have used had been pre-racked.  It will take up two rack spaces in your rack.


UTILIZATION

Using the Spectrasonics 610 is hard at all and at the same time it provides you with a good amount of options for controlling the tone of your signal.  The unit has parameters for input, output, release, slope (like attack), and for changing the metering to either gain reduction, input, or output I believe.  As you can see this is pretty basic as far as a compressor goes and there isn definitely a lot there to play around with your sound a lot.  I've never seen a manual for this as it is a vintage piece of gear so I can't speak to how helpful it would be or not, but the unit is easy to use and I never needed one.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound of the Spectrasonics 610 is pretty awesome and it is great for a variety of applications.  I especially like the way that this sound on snare drum, but it also sounds great on electric and acoustic guitars, vocals, and bass guitar.  It is really just an all around good sounding compressor and the good amount of parameters make it versatile and possible to use in a number of different situations.

OVERALL OPINION

I first used the Spectrasonics 610 about five years ago and I haven't had access to one in a while so I haven't had the chance to use it in a few years, but I am always hoping the next studio I go into has one as it is really a great sounding compressor.  It is pretty rare but is considered by a lot of engineers to be a great sounding compressor that will warm up your sound a bit and do its job well.  If you can find one of these they definitely aren't cheap, but finding one is that hardest part.  If you are professional studio owner and need to have one of these, I can't argue as this is truly a great sounding piece of gear.