Old units like this usually have a long history. Unfortunately there's no user log included! I would love to hear the vocals with and without the unit to better hear what its doing to the sound.
I feel like the release is way too slow. It makes the voice noticeably drop in volume after a short (RMS of about 5 ms, I assume) peak. It does provide a nice saturation though.
It was bothering me at first as well, but I thought of it as a really ironic thing, since the compressor overreacting made it more dynamic.. in a completely different way the volume levels are still uneven, but still compressed with the tone of the unit... Amazing
I agree....what's the point when it drops this mush in volume? In my opinion it's a lot of money for an simple compressor that does not produce something that ca be worth that kind of money. So...snake-oil?
Hey back in the 60s we used KIWI to spit shine our dress shoes to go with our "tailor made" suits. Nice stuff. We also used to light it on fire to make it more creamy .Good choice of moniker
I guess it was created for old radio and TV adverts, when they were always louder than the programs ;-) It sounds really sweet on the quieter sounds, so by dynamic preparation of a vocal, for instance, you could achieve a fabulous result! The louder parts are so squashed they are less loud than the quiet parts, so it seems that without controls you have to control what you feed it for best results
This was originally designed for broadcast as a "gain-rider". The Level Devil came out some years after the Sta-Level, and I believe was an attempt to compete with the CBS Labs Audimax (which had introduced the gated "return to zero" feature to this type of compressor back around 1959). To my ears, the Level Devil sounds like it's missing some of the "intelligent" gain-control functionality that the Audimax had (using potted modules containing multiple time-constant circuitry), and ends up sounding worse than the earlier Sta-Level did.
Beautiful and unique. How to not sound like everyone else... I would get inspired everytime I would turn that beauty on! Congratulations for your purchase! Hope it serves for another 50 years! Great content and gear-love!
My issue with vintage tube gear, specifically microphones, is sound changes over time. I can’t tell you how many mics I’ve used that change sound over the course of a recording session or mix. Keep them maintained.
Reminds me of my friends old Germanium fuzz box. Had to stop using it live because the settings were never the same depending on the ambient temperature haha. Hot days, it’d squeal. Still great in the studio though for a bit of mess around
It sounds absolutely stunning! There is no settings on it at all? So I guess the only way to control the amount of compression is to adjust how hot you are going into it?
As a person who does Electronics Engineering for a living these last 30 years and in my youth worked in an amp/vintage gear repair shop, my advice if you see performance degrading, the obvious check is tubes... but also those electrolytic capacitors can dry out pretty severely over 60 years. In fact its not a bad idea if you find yourself the time to source and replace the electrolytics all in one go (checking operation between every cap swap of course).
i have a gates sta level, an original, i love that thing, surprisingly it sounds great on drums. old compressors like these or ita, fed, etc.. were all about transparent compression. its very different to the modern approach
I used to own a Gates STA-LEVEL but tossed it back in the 90s. That is a pretty standard broadcast compressor from the era. Man does that thing pump! I will stick with plugins. BTW, you are well on your way to becoming another Jack Joseph Puig or Chris Lord-Alge!
Sort of related - as a photographer for many years (before the digital revolution) I turned to vintage gear - wood cameras built in the early 1900's and lenses form 1920's - Soul! My final rig was a 1950's view camera (from Illinois, by the way like your Level Devil)- and, yeah, alas - a 'modern' built portrait lens from 1980 's (doing a good vintage effect). Life of sheet film and a smelly old wet darkroom. I thought the hassle was worth it. My last days as a photographer had me working with Photoshop and inkjet printers...So much for my purity. Took me a while to figure out how to work a mouse.
Well, lets face it, this box was designed for the radio broadcast industry (most likely AM) where the FCC gets at bit bitchy when you over modulate spreading out of your allocated bandwidth. I'm not surprised at all that the attack and release is set to what it is, and is fixed at that level.
Awesome. It's always better/cleaner to run 2 tubes at idle rather than one tube hotter. Old Hammond/Leslie Tech. Actually, I shipped my rebuilt Hammond BV (B-3 mod) to a gentleman in Holland... funny 😎. Anyways, thank you !!!
Perhaps some of the comments dissing your purchase are by young folks who don't share my geeky appreciation of 50s, 60s bulky tube gear. (I'm 68). Obviously plugins are more versatile than this beautiful old box, but it does have sonic character and it's a working collectors item. And I think you got a good deal on it!
The other day i was thinking about building a fairchild-style compressor with a pentode based VCA and you're showing me a product like this! i want one
"A very sought after rusty front plate - we like those in the plugins.. this one has a real one *confident smirk*" made me laugh way more then I should.
he needs to get over it with that. who cares plugins have the same visuals and its fake and he got the real thing. its about the sound. plugins get real close to that vintage sound anyway. Acustica Audio is doing it. they have wonderful sound and wonderful graphic. and cost a 10th of it, no waiting, no shipping headache etc.. :) no energy wasting, fuel consuming, electricity :) but yes real vintage girl is still nice and special.but no need to bash technology
@@PatrickPleau actually i agree with him 100%, i just thought it was funny. Most of the time those "romantic" interfaces are just annoying for me, it doesnt inspire me to be more "vintage" about the operation of the plugin. I much prefer the valhalla, eventide, oeksound etc approach. Why not just let software do what it does best? And as far as mastering and certain mix applications, sometimes you just need the real thing.
Thank you for the video, but Why not just use a TLA 100A? They are much easier to get a hold of and take up less space. Maybe I’m missing something but the level devil seems to be doing pretty much the same thing?
Here's an idea: mid/side compression. Split stereo into mid/side, take the side channel and phase flip one of the sides to make it mono as well, compress the two separately, and voila!
Yes. This is what all the plugins in the world will never be able to recreate. Real screws. And watching a real meter just... move... Gearporn. And a great voice.
Sounds very weird. I’m not sure how this will be useful at all with a release so slow. Everything you throw at it just leaves everything after in compression. Nils added an attack and release which might be useful to consider? It’s obviously feasible to do so. Interesting unit but not much use in the box.
Michael Wirth It must be jealousy. Clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about and my awards and career is worthless. Or.. it’s just not as effective a unit as some others of a similar time/build.
The needle movement shows some unexpected behavior as well. Don’t know if it’s already working as intended. The timing is weird but I probably like it as a color box. A pass through bypassing the detection part could be great.
Hallo and Greetings,from the neighbourhood germany. Im pretty interested in this Unit and as you mentioned, im still waiting to one poppig of to purchase. This and an EMT 140 are the Last Units i wanna but. Anyway, i did notice some interferences like radio sound. Did it come out by the Unit or did it Infected the unit? Please Write back. And keep things up, Follower since a Long Time..! Cheers from Cologne Steve Cheers
Can you tell something about your interface? Im using Reaper like you and I don’t want to change to another daw. I currently have the saffirepro40 but it’s 8 inputs and outputs aren’t enough anymore for my analog gear. What’s your setup?
Hola, querido amigo! Realmente me veo tus vídeo y aunque no se ingles realmente creo que tienes un buen contenido. Podrías hacer que tus videos tengan subtítulos en español. Saludos !!
I personally did not like the timing of the compressor release, but I can only imagine a vocal or instrument that would perfectly fit the release. However, the color and texture of this unit is another conversation. TBH, it's the best part of this unit, from this test example.
Maybe Wytse is nice enough to grant us some some in depth pictures of the circuit. And you may also look here: www.schematicsforfree.com/archive/dir/Audio/Products/Professional+Audio/G/Gates
Quite a horror story with the shipping. I didn't know that our customs in the netherlands would be so bad with electrical equipment. You always hear that about Australia, especially if it contains any food or seeds.....
this is extremely cool for mellow vocals, brings out a lot of character. isn’t the guy from the national recording his vocals with one of these or was that a sta level?
Sta level the smart way to get a Fairchild style limiter /compressor 😎👍. Customs and import fees 😥👎why do they have to punish small businesses owners importing vintage equipment that are not available in the EU. The sta level sounds better in limiter mode more saturation. But pulling one tube out for faster attack in compressor mode works. It still sounds very good and adds alot of saturation.
Really awesome! Maybe it's just my impression but doesn't the attack of the compressor feel slower and the threshold a bit deeper after you removed the tube for the gate? It sounds amazing btw - how does it compare to your Altec compressor?
Wait so, if you take the tube 6 out it changes the sound of the compression? Is this okay to do? Like it won’t mess anything up? Also is there any other tricks to do with the level devils, that effects the sound coloration? I have two of them, and want to know any things I can do to them without modding them to effect the different sounds. Thanks for the video.
Anyone who think this compressor sounds great is lying to themselves. Vintage doesn’t always mean better. It has too slow of a release making the vocal sounds uneven. literally the opposite of what a compressor is for on vocals. I can see this working on a kick or snare
Sadly it works super slow and you can hear it work 😕If you're a collector okay but I will never wrap my head around the fact that ppl pay these high prices for gear like this :D
Compressors like these are usually good on Kiks. Nothing will ever compete with a Collins 26U on a thunderous thumping kik even beating out a Fairchild 660.
I really dig this video, I'm going hybrid in my studio with analog gear, can you recommend any of your videos to watch to successfully set this up? I am a Patreon member and very thankful for the site.
Its a bit stupid, but why not experiment with running signal true very long (bad) unbalanced wires, aluminium foil, metal meteorites, pencils and all kind of differend conducting materials ? Thats real analog distorsion where you are looking for. And combine or switch between these materials in serial and parallel ofcause. Sound degradation is simple i think.
OKAY WEIRD ONE. I WAS WATCHING THIS VIDEO AND THE VOCAL WAS PLAYING BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT ANOTHER VIDEO WAS PLAYING AND IT WAS ANOTHER GATES COMPRESSOR DEMO (this one: ua-cam.com/video/6eWDMUDvg7g/v-deo.html) AND WEIRDLY ENOUGH THE TWO SOURCES MATCHED REALLY WELL LMAO AMAZING
So, apparently, the Gates Radio Company still exists under a new name. Check them out -> www.gatesair.com
"Gear over 50 years old requires regular maintenance..."
I can confirm that that statement also applies to audio engineers over 50.
(cough cough sniff Errrghh! scratch uuurrpp groan) What are you talking about?!
@@roberthunt1540 Relax...posted by a cat lover...probably allows it to walk on the board.
I’m going to see if she has more a cappella versions of Darude Sandstorm. That vocal was amazing!!!
Alter R3, in parallel with C1 in the amplifier to change the release.
Alter the 100K after V8 on the control to change attack
Please explain more, I have two of these guys and am interested in all the changes I can do.
Old units like this usually have a long history. Unfortunately there's no user log included! I would love to hear the vocals with and without the unit to better hear what its doing to the sound.
I feel like the release is way too slow. It makes the voice noticeably drop in volume after a short (RMS of about 5 ms, I assume) peak. It does provide a nice saturation though.
It was bothering me at first as well, but I thought of it as a really ironic thing, since the compressor overreacting made it more dynamic.. in a completely different way the volume levels are still uneven, but still compressed with the tone of the unit... Amazing
lots of automation
I agree....what's the point when it drops this mush in volume? In my opinion it's a lot of money for an simple compressor that does not produce something that ca be worth that kind of money. So...snake-oil?
I like it does not allow vocals to sound harsh. Actually sounds smooth although attack is a little slow. Nothing any other plugin can’t fix!
@@sjmusicgroup you’re right it’s pretty cool!
i was wondering how it sounds crushing the shit out of drums!
$153 from the US to Holland is actually not a bad price for shipping.
Fun fact: STA is pronounced STAY as in, Stay Level... A pretty cool name for a compressor.
Hey back in the 60s we used KIWI to spit shine our dress shoes to go with our "tailor made" suits. Nice stuff. We also used to light it on fire to make it more creamy .Good choice of moniker
the big question is how does darude sandstorm sound with it?
Mono...
DavidSJ or you can run One side first and the other after and than match them again on the computer.
He already ran the acapella through it
That sounds amazing. I'd love to hear the vocal in a track afterwards.
I guess it was created for old radio and TV adverts, when they were always louder than the programs ;-) It sounds really sweet on the quieter sounds, so by dynamic preparation of a vocal, for instance, you could achieve a fabulous result! The louder parts are so squashed they are less loud than the quiet parts, so it seems that without controls you have to control what you feed it for best results
Congrats on your new compressor ! It sounds awesome, I hope there is a trick to speed up the release so it gets more versatile.
Bless. Good job on restoring this thing!
This was originally designed for broadcast as a "gain-rider". The Level Devil came out some years after the Sta-Level, and I believe was an attempt to compete with the CBS Labs Audimax (which had introduced the gated "return to zero" feature to this type of compressor back around 1959). To my ears, the Level Devil sounds like it's missing some of the "intelligent" gain-control functionality that the Audimax had (using potted modules containing multiple time-constant circuitry), and ends up sounding worse than the earlier Sta-Level did.
This plug-in takes skeuomorphism to a whole new level
Beautiful and unique. How to not sound like everyone else... I would get inspired everytime I would turn that beauty on! Congratulations for your purchase! Hope it serves for another 50 years! Great content and gear-love!
When clicking on the thumb on UA-cam, just seeing the image, I really thought I would gonna see... Hainbach 🤔🤗😊
My issue with vintage tube gear, specifically microphones, is sound changes over time. I can’t tell you how many mics I’ve used that change sound over the course of a recording session or mix. Keep them maintained.
Warm them up before proper work.
Reminds me of my friends old Germanium fuzz box. Had to stop using it live because the settings were never the same depending on the ambient temperature haha. Hot days, it’d squeal. Still great in the studio though for a bit of mess around
It sounds absolutely stunning! There is no settings on it at all? So I guess the only way to control the amount of compression is to adjust how hot you are going into it?
wow. Love the sound (of the Gates and Julia's vocals)!
As a person who does Electronics Engineering for a living these last 30 years and in my youth worked in an amp/vintage gear repair shop, my advice if you see performance degrading, the obvious check is tubes... but also those electrolytic capacitors can dry out pretty severely over 60 years. In fact its not a bad idea if you find yourself the time to source and replace the electrolytics all in one go (checking operation between every cap swap of course).
Great vocal!
In your last review I already saw that sexy big box sitting there and wondered what it was . So this is a pleasant surprise !
Esko?
i have a gates sta level, an original, i love that thing, surprisingly it sounds great on drums. old compressors like these or ita, fed, etc.. were all about transparent compression. its very different to the modern approach
I'm really impressed by your enthusiasm for this piece of gear -
you really went through some financial (and other) inconvenience in order to get it!
Demo sounds great
I used to own a Gates STA-LEVEL but tossed it back in the 90s. That is a pretty standard broadcast compressor from the era. Man does that thing pump! I will stick with plugins. BTW, you are well on your way to becoming another Jack Joseph Puig or Chris Lord-Alge!
Sort of related - as a photographer for many years (before the digital revolution) I turned to vintage gear - wood cameras built in the early 1900's and lenses form 1920's - Soul! My final rig was a 1950's view camera (from Illinois, by the way like your Level Devil)- and, yeah, alas - a 'modern' built portrait lens from 1980 's (doing a good vintage effect). Life of sheet film and a smelly old wet darkroom. I thought the hassle was worth it.
My last days as a photographer had me working with Photoshop and inkjet printers...So much for my purity. Took me a while to figure out how to work a mouse.
Well, lets face it, this box was designed for the radio broadcast industry (most likely AM) where the FCC gets at bit bitchy when you over modulate spreading out of your allocated bandwidth. I'm not surprised at all that the attack and release is set to what it is, and is fixed at that level.
My goodness that sounds magical...
Keeping the hardware store in business by buying screws ;)
BTW, this hardware sounds unique, as does Julia's voice ❤
Awesome. It's always better/cleaner to run 2 tubes at idle rather than one tube hotter. Old Hammond/Leslie Tech.
Actually, I shipped my rebuilt Hammond BV (B-3 mod) to a gentleman in Holland... funny 😎.
Anyways, thank you !!!
Perhaps some of the comments dissing your purchase are by young folks who don't share my geeky appreciation of 50s, 60s bulky tube gear. (I'm 68). Obviously plugins are more versatile than this beautiful old box, but it does have sonic character and it's a working collectors item. And I think you got a good deal on it!
Wow, what mighty peace of gear! Great sound, that you for sharing this experience! 🤓👌
Run some drums into that unit, lets hear this nice compressing sound on it :)
The other day i was thinking about building a fairchild-style compressor with a pentode based VCA and you're showing me a product like this! i want one
The seller should have put a bottle labelled "snake oil" inside :)
"A very sought after rusty front plate - we like those in the plugins.. this one has a real one *confident smirk*" made me laugh way more then I should.
he needs to get over it with that. who cares plugins have the same visuals and its fake and he got the real thing. its about the sound. plugins get real close to that vintage sound anyway. Acustica Audio is doing it. they have wonderful sound and wonderful graphic. and cost a 10th of it, no waiting, no shipping headache etc.. :) no energy wasting, fuel consuming, electricity :) but yes real vintage girl is still nice and special.but no need to bash technology
@@PatrickPleau actually i agree with him 100%, i just thought it was funny. Most of the time those "romantic" interfaces are just annoying for me, it doesnt inspire me to be more "vintage" about the operation of the plugin. I much prefer the valhalla, eventide, oeksound etc approach. Why not just let software do what it does best? And as far as mastering and certain mix applications, sometimes you just need the real thing.
Sounds awesome. Must be the authentic rusty panel.
Thank you for the video, but Why not just use a TLA 100A? They are much easier to get a hold of and take up less space. Maybe I’m missing something but the level devil seems to be doing pretty much the same thing?
Here's an idea: mid/side compression. Split stereo into mid/side, take the side channel and phase flip one of the sides to make it mono as well, compress the two separately, and voila!
I would have paid that much for the rusty front panel alone.
This sounds great
It has some harmonicas so that what makes it sound different from modern stuff
I definitely don't need it, but would love something like this at the bottom of my outboard rack...
Yes.
This is what all the plugins in the world will never be able to recreate.
Real screws.
And watching a real meter just... move...
Gearporn.
And a great voice.
Sounds very weird. I’m not sure how this will be useful at all with a release so slow. Everything you throw at it just leaves everything after in compression. Nils added an attack and release which might be useful to consider? It’s obviously feasible to do so. Interesting unit but not much use in the box.
Maybe you should clean your ears, or probably you are jealous, thia thing sound amazing and with a more modest reduction it will sound even better.
Michael Wirth It must be jealousy. Clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about and my awards and career is worthless. Or.. it’s just not as effective a unit as some others of a similar time/build.
The needle movement shows some unexpected behavior as well. Don’t know if it’s already working as intended. The timing is weird but I probably like it as a color box. A pass through bypassing the detection part could be great.
Hallo and Greetings,from the neighbourhood germany.
Im pretty interested in this Unit and as you mentioned, im still waiting to one poppig of to purchase.
This and an EMT 140 are the Last Units i wanna but.
Anyway, i did notice some interferences like radio sound. Did it come out by the Unit or did it Infected the unit?
Please Write back. And keep things up, Follower since a Long Time..!
Cheers from Cologne
Steve
Cheers
Can you tell something about your interface? Im using Reaper like you and I don’t want to change to another daw. I currently have the saffirepro40 but it’s 8 inputs and outputs aren’t enough anymore for my analog gear. What’s your setup?
I think an old gear intervention is needed.......but I certainly enjoy your videos.
damn.. these things sound so good..
Amazing purchase, sounds incredibly warm
Hola, querido amigo! Realmente me veo tus vídeo y aunque no se ingles realmente creo que tienes un buen contenido. Podrías hacer que tus videos tengan subtítulos en español. Saludos !!
Nice, really nice. Thanks for showing and I hope it lasts a long time.
I personally did not like the timing of the compressor release, but I can only imagine a vocal or instrument that would perfectly fit the release. However, the color and texture of this unit is another conversation. TBH, it's the best part of this unit, from this test example.
I wonder if there is a schematic for it, I would love to make one. I love valve gear.
Maybe Wytse is nice enough to grant us some some in depth pictures of the circuit. And you may also look here: www.schematicsforfree.com/archive/dir/Audio/Products/Professional+Audio/G/Gates
retro instruments is doing a new version of the sta level, and from what i´ve heard they sounds awesome, but cost a bit of money...
Quite a horror story with the shipping. I didn't know that our customs in the netherlands would be so bad with electrical equipment. You always hear that about Australia, especially if it contains any food or seeds.....
is there any alternative plug-in version of this ? sounds so good
This has started to be come my favrouite audio channel
this is extremely cool for mellow vocals, brings out a lot of character. isn’t the guy from the national recording his vocals with one of these or was that a sta level?
What was Julia’s vocal chain?
Not enough front panel screws
Can you shared it to us for free download?
Sta level the smart way to get a Fairchild style limiter /compressor 😎👍. Customs and import fees
😥👎why do they have to punish small businesses owners importing vintage equipment that are not available in the EU. The sta level sounds better in limiter mode more saturation. But pulling one tube out for faster attack in compressor mode works. It still sounds very good and adds alot of saturation.
Oh man --you've got yourself a golden channel now.
Really awesome! Maybe it's just my impression but doesn't the attack of the compressor feel slower and the threshold a bit deeper after you removed the tube for the gate? It sounds amazing btw - how does it compare to your Altec compressor?
Wait so, if you take the tube 6 out it changes the sound of the compression? Is this okay to do? Like it won’t mess anything up? Also is there any other tricks to do with the level devils, that effects the sound coloration? I have two of them, and want to know any things I can do to them without modding them to effect the different sounds. Thanks for the video.
GATES was great! I used their broadcasting audio mixers. Fantastic!
was this thing originally designed to sit in the input signal path of the radio transmitter, hence the gate and the expander etc?
Anyone who think this compressor sounds great is lying to themselves. Vintage doesn’t always mean better. It has too slow of a release making the vocal sounds uneven. literally the opposite of what a compressor is for on vocals. I can see this working on a kick or snare
Which song is that?
let's make a plugin version with no screw & a fabfilter interface ;)
Sadly it works super slow and you can hear it work 😕If you're a collector okay but I will never wrap my head around the fact that ppl pay these high prices for gear like this :D
Neat dude! I love old vintage instrument gear.
Compressors like these are usually good on Kiks. Nothing will ever compete with a Collins 26U on a thunderous thumping kik even beating out a Fairchild 660.
The attack is quite slow. I quite like it. It would be nice to have transients like that, I suppose.
This sounds gorgeous in solo compression mode
It's more like a gain rider than a compressor. Pretty cool!
I really dig this video, I'm going hybrid in my studio with analog gear, can you recommend any of your videos to watch to successfully set this up? I am a Patreon member and very thankful for the site.
$2600 during an economic downshift and pandemic? Man, I wish I had that kind of cash stash. Lovely piece of gear....
somebody should model this and release as a vst plugin, UAD hello?
I think it’s “Stay” Level.
Oof! That import fee. I bet some mods could be done to tune it if needed.
Its a bit stupid, but why not experiment with running signal true very long (bad) unbalanced wires, aluminium foil, metal meteorites, pencils and all kind of differend conducting materials ? Thats real analog distorsion where you are looking for. And combine or switch between these materials in serial and parallel ofcause. Sound degradation is simple i think.
Sounds awesome 👍✨
Really cool. Sad to hear about the f#ck up of the customs.
That import fee ooooof
Meh. When even Behringer will not clone it, forget about it.
:)) wtf, this comment was unexpected.
I'm waiting for the UB-Xa tho'! :D
Yup, sounds like a compressor
OKAY WEIRD ONE. I WAS WATCHING THIS VIDEO AND THE VOCAL WAS PLAYING BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT ANOTHER VIDEO WAS PLAYING AND IT WAS ANOTHER GATES COMPRESSOR DEMO (this one: ua-cam.com/video/6eWDMUDvg7g/v-deo.html) AND WEIRDLY ENOUGH THE TWO SOURCES MATCHED REALLY WELL LMAO AMAZING
I liked the sound best when it's still in the green.
Wow!!! Sounds amazing!!!
Interesting, sounds good! Was her vocal compressed before at all?
Nope
White Sea Studio great unit, sounds super smooth
Its pronounced STAY level
idk ...it is so slow :( not my cup of tea
Julia should make a feat on darude sandstorm.
I don't like the response of that thing. Seems more useful as a display piece.
hmm, it'd be faster to ride the faders :D