Golden Age Project Comp-554 MK2 500 Series Compressor

The Golden Age Project: affordable vintage-inspired gear

The Golden Age Project was founded in 2005 on the belief that vintage gear sounds best and the desire to pass on this sonic legacy to a new generation of musicians, engineers, and producers. All discrete, Class A signal paths with no integrated circuits and the use of transformers, stepped controls, and military-grade build quality are the cornerstones of the legendary British equipment deployed in world-class recording and broadcast studios in the 1970s — the Golden Age of analog. Fat, warm, punchy, and authoritative, this is the sound heard on countless hits for nigh unto half a century. Locating, purchasing, restoring, and maintaining vintage gear is time-consuming and costly. Fortunately, this small, family-owned Swedish company makes gear the same way it was made back in the day — at an amazingly gentle price.

A distributor of high-end studio equipment for many years, Golden Age Project founder Bo Medin wanted to be able to offer products with much of the same exclusive sound in a price range that made them available to a larger audience. Inspired by original designs, Golden Age uses modern technology to re-create that lush, opulent sound, making it surprisingly affordable. They use some modern ingenuity to add new functionality to superb classic designs and produce them in a cost-effective way, which allows them to be both optimized and affordable. From outboard equipment to condenser, dynamic, and ribbon mics, you can outfit your entire studio with vintage-inspired Golden Age gear without exceeding your budget.

Golden Age Project Comp-554 MK2 500 Series Compressor Features:

• Delivers the same sound as its predecessor with upgraded knobs and switches, plus a more robust design
• Colorful, vintage-flavored 1-channel compressor based on classic diode bridge designs
• Vintage-style electronics with no integrated circuits in the signal path
• All discrete, Class A signal path
• Transformer-balanced I/O (prepared for Carnhill upgrade)
• Flexible control range for threshold, ratio, attack, and recovery
• All controls (except Gain Makeup) are stepped
• 3 selectable sidechain filter frequencies
• 3 flexible sidechain options: Internal, Insert, and External
• External sidechain I/O is electronically balanced at 4dBu and appears on the right slot rack connections
• Separate Bypass and Compression IN/OUT switches
• 2 insert connectors for inserting Golden Age EQ-573 in the main audio and/or sidechain signal path
• Meter selectable for Output (selectable for +4 or +12dBu) and Gain Reduction
• Link switch for linking 2 units for stereo operation
• 3-position AIR EQ switch: Flat, +3, or +6dB at 30kHz
• 2-position output termination switch for tonal variation
• Soft start circuit ramps up supply voltage slowly (about 10 seconds) to avoid a power-on current surge
• Separate input and output XLR and TRS jacks for flexible connections
• Back-panel switch for 600-ohm termination
• External power supply to avoid interaction with the audio circuitry and the transformers
• Great sound that suits most sound sources and genres