Empirical Labs EL8-X Distressor with British Mode and Image Link

Really hard to beat two of these on a master bus without spending 5 figures. Get one… or two!

Before I got my stereo pair of these, I'd only ever used compressor plugins. Once I had the Distressors, I learned what all those plugins were actually *trying* to do - but not doing as well. Once I learned how to really use the Distressors musically (which is not hard - and there is a HUGE range and versatility in them, especially the British mod - definitely get the British mod), I got a lot better at working with compression in general and all my software compressors got more useful as well. Even for - or especially for - someone on a really tight budget, it's hard to argue against the Distressor due to it's class-act sound and amazing range of settings.

I have owned this unit with Brit mod for about 6 years. When I first started using it, I thought it was defective. It works so smoothly, you don't realize it's compressing as opposed to cheap units that color the sound. You find the beauty of the Distressor when mixing. Vocals sit more smoothly in the mix and tracks gel together better. I use it with the 610 side of a UA 6176 preamp/ comp and I get a nice big sound.

It slices! It dices! with hundreds of options with just few control settings... emulating tape saturation and classic tube compressor sounds. With advanced sidechain EQ and eight unique curves...harmonic bliss... the sound... will astonish you! the Distressor EL-8X-X is the Cameleon of compressors!!!Don CaponeVoice Actor