Tubes of Glue: Everything Recording on the VTC
- 21.06.2022
- Gabriel Maceu Faria
- VTC
- Review
We are incredibly proud that B Church, writer for Everything Recording, has reviewed our Vari Tube Compressor. He wrote a quite complete article about his first impressions, the device's characteristics, behavior, and its possible uses in different applications.
If you've ever got curious about the VTC and was waiting for an informed opinion about it, look no further; and if you already have a VTC and would like to know everything it can do, this is also for you!
READ HERE - Tubes of Glue: The Tegeler VTC
What Everything Recording Writes About the VTC
"The VTC responded with an absolute buttery smoothness, pulling up the room and decays like the drummer himself was manning the faders." – B. Church, Everything Recording, June 2022
"Seriously, this is as musical a compressor as my ears have ever heard." – B. Church, Everything Recording, June 2022
"Purpose-built to do one thing and do it well, the Tegeler VTC is nothing short of an instant classic. Depth, warmth, and yes, "mojo" to burn. In today's digital world, a touch of analog class like this is a revelation." – B. Church, Everything Recording, June 2022
"Tubes of Glue": Tubes, Transformers and Glue Compression
The title of the review captures the essence of the Vari Tube Compressor: "glue" – pulling a mix together into one whole – is what a vari-mu compressor is built for, and the tubes are the reason the VTC sounds the way it does.
What the Vari Tube Compressor Is
The Vari Tube Compressor (VTC) is our vari-mu tube compressor for mastering, the mix bus and subgroups – a complete tube signal path built on the same principle as the Fairchild 670. Per channel the signal passes through three transformers and four triodes: the tubes add harmonics the ear finds pleasant, and the transformers deliver a gentle saturation before the signal even reaches the compression. Compression sets in very softly and only grabs harder as the input level rises; a low-cut in the side chain keeps low frequencies out of the control circuit, so a mix bus can be densified by up to 6 dB of gain reduction without audible pumping. Operation stays simple: turn up the input until the music is densified enough, set the timing with attack and release, adjust the output level. All controls have 42 detents, and the two channels run linked as a stereo pair or – link switch off – independently as two mono channels. Since 2023 there is also a Color/Comp switch that takes the compression out entirely and lets only the tubes and transformers work on the signal.
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Related: Adrian Tucker Interview: Producing with the VTC · Jazz on Vinyl: All-Analog Recording with the VTC · New VTC: Color/Comp Switch for Pure Tube Color
