Yo Bludog where are ya?
I now own both the Squeeze Box and the Juice Box. Both are originals, not reissues. It's true there is not much out there on Retrospec or McKim. I'm a big fan though. Would be nice to have a place where people can come for questions/answers and more.
The Squeeze Box is my favorite compressor. I love the way it colors my tone and the compression is easy to dial in just right. I also have an Origin Effects Cali76TX, which is fantastic. Takes me a bit longer to get the right settings but when I do I love it. A bit more transparent than the Squeeze Box but a very nice unit. FWIW, I'm oddly quite fond of Mike Piera's (Analogman) Orange Squeezer clone, the Juicer. For the price and the size, it's a great one, - good tone color, not too noisy, just the right amount of squish and a simple one knob design... plus it runs at 18v for more headroom. I've tried quite a few other comps out there (FEA, 3Leaf, etc) but these 3 are my favorite.
As a little aside, I just changed the tubes in my Squeeze Box last night. One of them was microphonic and it was finally getting to the point that it was causing problems I could no longer ignore. Hard to tell what was in it, but I put in 2 NOS 60's era Sylvania 12AU7WA's. NOS and vintage wasn't really important to me other than I thought it might be smart to put military spec tubes in this time to ensure they last longer. I also picked up a pair of NOS 60's Sylvania (Mil. Spec) 12AT7WA's in case I want to try a lower gain option... I'm not entirely sure which came in it originally so I figured this covered me and let me experiment a little. Was too late to give it a test run so no feedback for you yet. With some time I'll report back.
As for the Juice Box, I like it just fine. It has a good quality tube warmth and yet is very transparent. However, I must admit that I like my A-Designs REDDI much better. The Juice Box is still a great tube DI, but the REDDI just seems to sing a bit more, especially higher up the neck and on the ghost/muted notes. I think it sounds more like an actual tube amp, probably due to the transformer. Retrospec positions the Juice Box as a transformerless tube DI, which makes it quieter and more transparent according to the marketing, which I find to be true. Despite preferring the REDDI, if all I had was the Juice Box, I would be happy to use it in the studio or live. My feeling is it's better suited for keyboards, at least for me. I'm considering getting another to have a stereo pair for my electric piano and synth stuff. Tried it on guitar and it was better then direct into my interface but still not the sound I'm looking for when it comes to guitar... seems mic'ing the amp is the only way to get the tone I'm after. I also have a Countryman Type 85 that I used to use between my '76 Ampeg V4B and the cab when playing live. But once I got the REDDI that method was retired. The REDDI just sounds SOOOOOO good, both clean and running effects into it. I'm a huge REDDI fan, definitely my first recommendation for those that have the budget.
That was more than I expected to add (too much?), but I hope it's helpful for somebody out there. Long story short is: Squeeze Box is a really fantastic compressor. If you dig the LA2A, this is a great alternative that gets you awfully close. The Juice Box is cool but, for me, there are richer sounding tube DI's out there. Depends what you're after. Some may find the Juice Box to be perfect for them should they prefer less color and don't mind a tad less bass in the upper register.
Thanks for getting this started, Guz! If you come across any technical info or just some useful observations from your experience, share them here. Would be great to have a central place on TB for all things Retrospec. Let's just stay away from dogging them about the delays on their reissues. I hate when these threads go negative.
