It’s been just over a year since the official launch of Z&H Designs, and their product range has already tripled in size from the four processors that were available at the time. The latest arrival is the Z&H VCA Compressor, a new unit which the company say combines the characteristics of the ever-popular SSL Bus Compressor with the forward, transient-focused response attributed to American VCA designs.
The front panel features two rows of controls, with the top row offering all of the parameters you’d expect to see on an SSL-inspired compressor: Threshold, Ration, Attack, Release, Sidechain (HPF) and Make Up. A Glue/FWD toggle switch alongside the Threshold control offers access to the unit’s ‘British’ and ‘American’ modes, with the latter resulting in sharper-sounding transients, while another two switches offer a soft-knee mode and an automatic release setting.
Where things differ from the norm is the second row of controls, which the company refer to collectively as the Z&H Colour Module. With the section bypassed, the unit delivers clean compression with distortion remaining below 0.005%, but engaging it allows users to dial in enough harmonic distortion to push that measurement to 1%. The section relies on a pair of transformers, and includes Boom and Spark controls that increase harmonic content centred at 120Hz and 10kHz respectively. The overall tonality can be fine-tuned using a Z&H control, and there’s a Mix control for instant parallel processing. A final section then houses a Rate control and Auto button, which can be used to automatically apply a fade-out at the end of a track.
Pricing & Availability
The Z&H VCA Compressor is available to order now, priced at $1999£1789.20 including VAT. Shipping dates are yet to be confirmed.
