Famed audio designer Rupert Neve created the venerable 2254 diode bridge compressor in 1969. Now, almost 50 years later, Rupert Neve Designs have issued a 500-series product based on the original, but with some useful, modern updates.
The 535 Diode Bridge Compressor module is based on the dynamics circuit found in the Shelford Channel, the channel strip RND released that was itself something of a Neve greatest hits collection. As on the Shelford Channel, the 535 module adds a wet/dry mix control and an advanced timing control, offering five attack time settings from fast to slow plus an auto mode. That’s in addition to the threshold (-25 to +20 dB), ratio (1.5:1 to 8:1) and gain (-6 to +20 dB) controls. Other features include level and gain reduction meters, a sidechain high-pass filter, stereo linking, a ‘fast’ limiting mode and a compressor in/out switch. Promising the larger-than-life qualities that made the 2254 so popular but with significantly lower noise, the Rupert Neve Designs 535 is available now, priced $1,095.
We got the skinny at the AES Convention in New York from Jonathan Pines.
