Yes, folks, I am selling my extremely rare, deeply loved Retrospec SqueezeBox. This is a tube driven opto-compressor stomp box that is prized by stage and studio players alike. It's based, so I have been told, on the coveted LA2A ciruit of the 60's. Remember that velvet hammer bass sound in many recordings from the 60's? Sort of like being hit over the head with a big rubber mallet swung by a benevolent gorilla. It's like that. 
On top of that you get a nice fat, slightly gritty tube sound. This is not one of those "with real tube sound" circuits. This is a true, two-tube circuit. There is a pre-amp that raises your instrument level signal to line level via tube driven gain. Then the signal is sent to the compressor. On the way out you cut the input to bring it back down to the level you want for the next gain stage. This means no solid state opamps anywhere. You could use this to drive a power amp or go directly to console. In addtion to the unbalanced out, there is a 600 Ohm balanced output that is also driven off the tube circuit. So you get an awesome tube DI along with an amazing tube driven opto-compressor. Even when the compressor is switched out, your signal is going through the tube circuit adding warmth and sparkle to your sound. This is a great buffer pre when in front of your effects or use it to overdrive your tube amp/pre-amp.
More pictures are available here.
The controls on the unit are as follows:
Input: 1/4" unbalanced input (could accept balanced, but I am not sure.)
Input pad: This is a 3 position switch that has 0, -10, and -20 dB input attenuation levels. Good for active intstruments, keyboards, hot pickups, etc. This was an upgrade. Ken McKim, the owner of Retrospec, did all the work.
Above led: a green led that glows when the signal exceeds the threshold. Brightness increases with signal strength.
Threshold knob: adjusts the threshold, (sensitivity), of the compressor from infinity to -40. There are no indicators of the units, so I am going to assume its dBu.
Active led: a yellow led that glows when the compressor is switched on.
Comp/Lim knob: controls the level of compression from 1:1 to 10:1
Eq switch: 2 way switch that turns the eq stage on or off
Eq knob: When the eq switch is set to on, the unit adds some highs to make up for the high-end loss associated with compression. This knob controls how much high end is added in. I think this is a particulary nice feature of this unit. It can really add some nice sparkle and shimmer to your sound without ever getting brittle.
Power switch: turns unit on or off.
Power led: blue led that glows when the unit is on.
Out knob: attenuates the tube driven output level form 0dB to -infinity dB (off).
XLR balanced output: 600 Ohm DI. I used this for recording and it sounds great.
1/4" output: unbalanced output
AC Power Cord: 110 or 220 V AC power input. Internal switch to set the voltage.
Some other nice features:
I have the original box. A good thing for you collectors out there. Also, because this is an expensive unit and the I want the guy or gal who purchases this unit to be absolutely thrilled, I put really nice tubes into it. The unit came with 12AU7s which are nice low-gain, clean sounding, warm nanode tubes. On McKim's advice, I put in 12AT7's which have slightly more gain than the AU's, but significanly less than the more common 12AX7's. There are a couple of reasons why I went with the AT's. First, they have a little more grit then the AU's, but still remain fairly linear through the gain range. Plus, and this is the important part, I found some really awesome NOS tubes. These are two brand new NOS Brimar CV4024's. I purchased one of these for my tube bass pre-amp on a friends recommendation and was blown away. So, when I decided to put this unit up for sale, I knew the somewhat tired Jans Phillips 5814s had to be replaced by these awesome tubes. The result is outstanding. These have a sparkle to them that has to be heard to believe. You will love the sound!
Condition:
The original rubber feet have been replaced with velcro strips. There are a few scratches on the bottom. The paint is not perfect, but still mostly shiny. I would call the finish good to very good. All original components are there, (minus the tubes of course). They all work excellently. The input jack is slightly loose. By that I mean that if you jump around a lot with your instrument plugged into it, you may hear some make/break clicking. All the soldering is good, it's just the contacts are not as tight as they used to be.
Asking price: $1500.00 plus shipping/insurance. Paypal accepted, you pay any related fees. 24 hour approval period. No trades.
On top of that you get a nice fat, slightly gritty tube sound. This is not one of those "with real tube sound" circuits. This is a true, two-tube circuit. There is a pre-amp that raises your instrument level signal to line level via tube driven gain. Then the signal is sent to the compressor. On the way out you cut the input to bring it back down to the level you want for the next gain stage. This means no solid state opamps anywhere. You could use this to drive a power amp or go directly to console. In addtion to the unbalanced out, there is a 600 Ohm balanced output that is also driven off the tube circuit. So you get an awesome tube DI along with an amazing tube driven opto-compressor. Even when the compressor is switched out, your signal is going through the tube circuit adding warmth and sparkle to your sound. This is a great buffer pre when in front of your effects or use it to overdrive your tube amp/pre-amp.
More pictures are available here.
The controls on the unit are as follows:
Input: 1/4" unbalanced input (could accept balanced, but I am not sure.)
Input pad: This is a 3 position switch that has 0, -10, and -20 dB input attenuation levels. Good for active intstruments, keyboards, hot pickups, etc. This was an upgrade. Ken McKim, the owner of Retrospec, did all the work.
Above led: a green led that glows when the signal exceeds the threshold. Brightness increases with signal strength.
Threshold knob: adjusts the threshold, (sensitivity), of the compressor from infinity to -40. There are no indicators of the units, so I am going to assume its dBu.
Active led: a yellow led that glows when the compressor is switched on.
Comp/Lim knob: controls the level of compression from 1:1 to 10:1
Eq switch: 2 way switch that turns the eq stage on or off
Eq knob: When the eq switch is set to on, the unit adds some highs to make up for the high-end loss associated with compression. This knob controls how much high end is added in. I think this is a particulary nice feature of this unit. It can really add some nice sparkle and shimmer to your sound without ever getting brittle.
Power switch: turns unit on or off.
Power led: blue led that glows when the unit is on.
Out knob: attenuates the tube driven output level form 0dB to -infinity dB (off).
XLR balanced output: 600 Ohm DI. I used this for recording and it sounds great.
1/4" output: unbalanced output
AC Power Cord: 110 or 220 V AC power input. Internal switch to set the voltage.
Some other nice features:
I have the original box. A good thing for you collectors out there. Also, because this is an expensive unit and the I want the guy or gal who purchases this unit to be absolutely thrilled, I put really nice tubes into it. The unit came with 12AU7s which are nice low-gain, clean sounding, warm nanode tubes. On McKim's advice, I put in 12AT7's which have slightly more gain than the AU's, but significanly less than the more common 12AX7's. There are a couple of reasons why I went with the AT's. First, they have a little more grit then the AU's, but still remain fairly linear through the gain range. Plus, and this is the important part, I found some really awesome NOS tubes. These are two brand new NOS Brimar CV4024's. I purchased one of these for my tube bass pre-amp on a friends recommendation and was blown away. So, when I decided to put this unit up for sale, I knew the somewhat tired Jans Phillips 5814s had to be replaced by these awesome tubes. The result is outstanding. These have a sparkle to them that has to be heard to believe. You will love the sound!
Condition:
The original rubber feet have been replaced with velcro strips. There are a few scratches on the bottom. The paint is not perfect, but still mostly shiny. I would call the finish good to very good. All original components are there, (minus the tubes of course). They all work excellently. The input jack is slightly loose. By that I mean that if you jump around a lot with your instrument plugged into it, you may hear some make/break clicking. All the soldering is good, it's just the contacts are not as tight as they used to be.
Asking price: $1500.00 plus shipping/insurance. Paypal accepted, you pay any related fees. 24 hour approval period. No trades.
