You’ll find API’s acclaimed compressors, equalisers, preamps and DIs in most of the world’s best studios, and increasingly, serious guitarists and bass players have been buying into the company’s 500-series range of modular processors in order to always have access to their favoured studio signal processing chain. With that in mind, API have now developed two new devices targeted specifically at musicians, placing the same compression and EQ out of the Lunchbox and onto the pedalboard.
The TranZformer GT and LX both share the same physical format, housing their electronics in a large and very rugged metal case. An included 18V power supply ensures plenty of headroom for the signal processing, which comprises an input gain control with up to 30dB gain, followed by a compressor based on the classic API 525 circuit and a three-band equaliser. Two footswitches allow the compressor and EQ to be switched in and out of circuit independently. Each unit boasts both a transformer-balanced and an unbalanced output, both with their own polarity reversal switches.
The main difference between the two units lies in the frequencies chosen for the three EQ bands, which reflect the intended application of the GT for guitar and the LX for bass. API’s TranZformers offer players of both instruments the same sort of signal path available in the company’s large-format consoles, enabling their studio sound to be taken anywhere. US MSRP is $579 for each pedal, and the TranZformers are available now.
