Ivory 5021 Tube Compressor

Valve compression is now universally recognized as one of the essential tools for today's recording engineer. The Ivory 5021 Tube Compressor provides everything you would expect from a TL Audio compressor: first class audio quality, bags of flexibility and a price tag so modest you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a printing error. Now the TL Audio 5021 Compressor features hard and soft knee modes, four attack and release times, an improved optical gate design and an optional digital output. Like the C-1 compressor, the 5021 uses TL Audio's special transconductance amplifier design that avoids the use of VCAs, ensuring maximum audio transparency. So whether you're hitting the end stops or just providing gentle dynamic control, the 5021 delivers super-smooth results every time.

The 5021 employs two valve stages per channel, in the form of a Sovtek ECC83/12AX7A twin triode valve run from a stabilized 150V DC supply. One stage is in the preamp, and the other is in the gain control element of the compressor.

About TL Audio

TL Audio began manufacturing audio products in 1990, when the company - founded by Tony Larking - was largely involved in the restoration and re-selling of vintage equipment such as Neve and Trident recording consoles. The first TL Audio products were original Neve EQ modules, which were taken principally from broadcast consoles and re-packaged to make them suitable for music production studios. Shortly after this Tony Larking was introduced to David Kempson, a leading designer at Neve for nine years.
By 1993 the demand for used valve outboard equipment had become very strong but most models such as the original Pultec and Fairchild valve devices were already extremely rare and expensive. There appeared an obvious gap in the market for brand new affordable valve products and the result was TL Audio's first valve product - the EQ-1 Dual Valve Equalizer. This product revolutionized the studio market by offering reliable, flexible, great sounding valve processing that was within the budget of most studios. The EQ-1 quickly attracted the interest of mainstream engineer/producers, with the first two production models going to Roy Thomas Baker (who had produced many of Queen and Foreigner's early recordings) and Chris Porter (who was working with George Michael and Take That).

The EQ-1 was the first of what became known as the 'Classic' range, and was followed by what has become possibly TL Audio's best known product - the C-1 Dual Valve Compressor, which shot to stardom as Chris Fogel's mixdown compressor on Alanis Morissette's multi-million selling 'Jagged Little Pill' album.

The Ivory Series
With the Classic range expanding to include more models, the growth in popularity of affordable digital recorders and mixers heightened the appetite for valve processing, which led to lower-cost ranges such as the Ivory models. The Ivory series of preamps, equalizers and dynamics devices has become TL Audio's best selling range of products to date. The Ivory Series satisfied all the criteria that we knew customers were looking for: a great sound, flexibility and user friendliness, all with a smaller price tag!

Today, TL Audio has become one of the most respected names currently manufacturing Pro Audio equipment. According to designer David Kempson, "Our hybrid design approach was not chosen to cut costs: we created it because we genuinely believe it is a better way of producing valve processors. It makes them consistent, reliable, quiet, and - best of all - it means that by gearing ourselves up for large-scale production we can make the products affordable as well. Every studio deserves to benefit from the advantages of valve signal processing - with our products, we make that possible."

TL Audio ” Plug in the real thing.