G Bus VCA Compressor Kit

Built up beautifully, sounds great

I just finished building this up and have tested it both with live sources (mostly voice) and with some prerecorded sources. The bottom line is that the build was very straightforward and took about a day even with my slow and mediocre soldering technique and usual quota of mistakes. The compressor works and sounds great. It's a classic VCA compressor, and I mean that in the most positive sense possible. It won't give you the same sonic character as a FET or optical compressor, and those may be better choices for some tracking uses, but it's wonderful for relatively subtle final compression on mixes. I haven't tried the external sidechain yet but that was a big selling point for me, especially since I like to duck, and also to compress my stems separately but using the rough mix as sidechain

This thing bangs

Alright, so you're interested in a bus compressor, you've done your research, and now you're here looking at this thing in your cart wondering if you should pull the trigger. Just do it. Peterson has created an absolutely stunning piece of gear here - a SSL style bus compressor is one in a dozen, but he's put in the work to make this thing not just another Gyraf ripoff (no offense to Jakob's insane generosity and brilliance), but its own unique version with just the right mods and meaningful part choices. This isn't even mentioning the instructions and interactive build map he created - something like this makes building this compressor akin to building a Lego Deathstar or something... it brought me back to those days where the instructions were clear, concise, legible, and overall just enjoyable to work through. I have a pretty thorough understanding of audio electronics, but I feel like you could get through this build with a mid-level understanding, attentive mind, and Google. Advanced builders will find this highly enjoyable. It took me about two full days to build. I did incorporate the Feed-Forward mod with a switch on my build. As laid out in the build/mod guide, I had R10 switching in a series resistor and ended up liking the sound of an additional 300k (so 400k) for feed forward. There was just enough room to drill a hole on the far right of the faceplate and mount a small push button. Again, I had a blast building this thing. Peterson, insanely well done. Can't wait to put it on some records :)

EXELENT

Very professionally made kit with instructions for assembly and especially G BUS calibration. I highly recommend it.