Is your UT&T LAB Compressor LED this slow?

[cokedawgfer]

Just picked up a UT&T Lab and it sounds *mostly* great in the little bit I've spent with it. I've got a lot of experience using LA style compression in a recording setting, but the pedal has me slightly curious. It's action, according to the LED is *very* slow. Slower than the meters on any of the plugin LA2A, LA3, etc. plugins I have (UAD). Is this how they are? I did buy this used, so there's a tiny piece of my brain that's wondering if there's something off.

Video below. At the beginning, you can see how slow it is to return to green when I just play little short stab notes, at a very moderate setting. At the end, I play some eigth note runs and you can see it's even slower to return.

When I'm actually playing songs, it seems to get up in to the orange or red and just stay there. It seems to my ear the first few notes I play after turning it on are the level you'd expect then the LED climbs into the orange/red, and the whole thing drops in level a bit and stays there. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm just curious if mine is performing like others. The overall tone of it is great and it's very gooey....just wondering if it's....too?....gooey?

 

[davelowell2]

It’s got a long release.

 

[crguti]

The 4th note

 

[cokedawgfer]

It’s got a long release.

Didn’t realize it would be *this* long! Something to get used to, and I think makes it applicable only in certain scenarios for me, performance-wise. I do love what it does to slower passages. Faster more percussive stuff, i dunno yet…

 

[cokedawgfer]

The 4th note

That’s how I know if you’re listening or not

 

[bassboysam]

turn the input down, that should allow it to release sooner.

 

[cokedawgfer]

turn the input down, that should allow it to release sooner.

It definitely doesn’t compress as much with the input down, but the release rate appears to be the same.

I’m not even necessarily trying to get it to release faster. It’s just the slowest release time I’ve ever seen on a pedal compressor and I’m just wondering if mine is working right

 

[pbass2]

Is the LED accurate to what's actually happening, release-wise? IK, can be hard to discern.

 

[cokedawgfer]

Is the LED accurate to what's actually happening, release-wise? IK, can be hard to discern.

Yeah, I'm playing with it now, and what my ear hears, release-wise, matches the action of the LED returning to "green" (idle). It's super slow. Attack wise, not at all, but I also think maybe that's not the point of this compressor.

 

[butterfingers1]

Whatever the reason, I keep mine at 9 o’clock. Any higher and it starts not sounding right, to me anyway.

 

[cokedawgfer]

Whatever the reason, I keep mine at 9 o’clock. Any higher and it starts not sounding right, to me anyway.

funny, that's pretty much where I landed as well, with my passive P bass, at least.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I use mine all the time. It's a slow release, but it sounds great. I usually don't set it any higher than when the LED just starts to turn a tad bit orange. It might go fully orange or even red on very heavy B-string notes, but not often. Otherwise it's green and more or less stays that way. But I use my ears to set it, not my eyes.

 

[wolffire99]

It’s reacting exactly same as mine.

 

[cokedawgfer]

It’s reacting exactly same as mine.

Thank you, this is ultimately what I was after

 

[cokedawgfer]

I use mine all the time. It's a slow release, but it sounds great. I usually don't set it any higher than when the LED just starts to turn a tad bit orange. It might go fully orange or even red on very heavy B-string notes, but not often. Otherwise it's green and more or less stays that way. But I use my ears to set it, not my eyes.

For sure, the sound is great. That’s ultimately where i have landed too, just a touch of orange here and there.

Would you say the release action on yours is similar to the video I posted?

 

[ddnidd1]

Perhaps the manufacturer could provide insight.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

For sure, the sound is great. That’s ultimately where i have landed too, just a touch of orange here and there.

Would you say the release action on yours is similar to the video I posted?

It's pretty much the same if I hit it that hard.

 

[Ben Clarke]

Is it supposed to have adaptive release times like an LA-2A? If so, backing off the sidechain gain or raising the threshold would help. I would bet there's quite a bit of gain reduction happening that would get your attention on a plugin meter.

I sold off an Effectrode PC-2A because it had the same issue and I couldn't fix it without external attenuation (hot bass - vintage L-1000). Someone recommended the LAB to me, but I thought it was a change in the wrong direction for what I want. Broughton Omnicomp confirmed that.

I appreciate the full time controls on a comp - I'm just too used to them being available in a studio environment.

 

[butterfingers1]

Not knowing much about the technicals, but articulation disappears when set above 9 o’clock, the bass sounds more like humming. Almost like attack compression is way too quick and release never happens. Maybe this tone has its uses, I need to explore it more.

 

[cokedawgfer]

Not knowing much about the technicals, but articulation disappears when set above 9 o’clock, the bass sounds more like humming. Almost like attack compression is way too quick and release never happens. Maybe this tone has its uses, I need to explore it more.

I’m experiencing this too. I’ve decided I’m going to put it on the market. Its usable range (for me), is just too narrow, and while I like the tone sweetening, the compression action is just not for me.