by Bryan Wray


So during the months leading up to winter I met Mike Congilosi proprietor of Lightning Boy Audio. This guy is a mad man, and by that let me explain. The business is all about creating analog audio units that give unparalleled sound comparatively to digital. What's really hard to convey is how great of a job he does and you can really hear it. The ridiculous amount of detail he pours into everything is something to behold. If that's not enough for you talk to him for a few minutes. If your heads not spinning from the amount of jargon and technical knowledge no worries. He'll break it all down for you with a simile and you will be better for it. (read the rest of Bryan's blog post here:
http://www.bryanwrayphotography.com/blog/2015/2/23/a-boy-his-lightning).

This is the 5th LA2A-style compressor I've built to date.  All the others have been sold off to happy customers, but each time it leaves me wanting another.  This one will finally stay here.  The first one was an exact clone of the legendary Teletronix LA2A from the 1960's.  Each preceding build added an additional new feature, while also offering a more transparent sound and lower noise floor.

This is the best sounding LA2A I've built so far and because of that, it has been justly named, "The Big Boy."  New features over the traditional LA2A:

• External power supply with tether for significantly lower noise
• modern Jensen input transformer and Sowter output transformer for extended frequency response over the limited technology of the original 1960's UTC transformers.
• Compression sensitive VU Meter backlight.  (the above photo was taken before I performed this modification.  I need to update that photo because the new backlight looks insane.) Its a bright LED backlight that pulses in intensity with how much compression is occurring.  The light is brightest when no compression is present and dims in time with the degree of compression as it occurs.  This is very useful when the VU meter is set to something other than Gain Reduction; allowing the user to monitor level and gain reduction at the same time!  
• Front panel meter control has an extra position to monitor input level before it hits the input transformer.  A very useful feature when driving The Big Boy with a mic preamp in front.  This will allow for a visual reference of how much input transformer saturation is occurring and/or if if enough signal is present to drive the opto-cell.  
• I freed up some amperage from the heater supply, which gives a bit more to the B+ as a side effect due to their shared power transformer.  That means more headroom, which is something I greatly enjoy hearing.
• Front panel has my vintage/modern switch, which was developed two builds before this one.  I now call that control by its proper technical name.  Normal/High-pass side chain.  On the high-pass side chain setting (modern), the compressor doesn't respond to low frequency content, which actually makes the lows bloom more and also helps to retain high frequency detail during compression.  This is now a 3-position switch, where the middle position bypasses the compressor.  Finally, an LA2A with a bypass switch! 
• As with all my builds, wired point-to-point with teflon insulated silver plated wire, my secret blend of silver solder, low noise resistors and beautiful sounding paper in oil caps.  Its my signature that I believe gives my gear a one-up on everything else out there and is definitely light years beyond 1960's technology.

How does it sound?  Well, compared to the legend it sounds equally as impressive, but for some different reasons.  The original LA2A had a very warm thick sound with a lot of that energy focused on the mids.  It didn't have much in the way of sub bass and had reduced highs.  That truncated frequency response is part of the appeal of a vintage LA2A.  How cool that may be, I have colorful compressors and some even more colorful than a vintage LA2A, but I've only come across a few as transparent sounding as this guy.  LA2A's have that warm mid-range color about them, but they also have a good deal of noise.  The Big Boy has a much lower level of noise than an LA2A because it has an external power supply, which removes a large portion of EMI from the equation. The last significant difference is the actual compression effect.  In a Teletronix T4B optical cell, the light source is green light, which works very well with the photo resistors used because those resistors are sensitive to green light.  However, myself and others have found those photo resistors are capable of creating a more musical sounding type of compression when they are exposed to blue light, as in The Big Boy.  The Big Boy is a bad ass compressor.  That is all.  

Recording at LBA Studios is an experience.  The more open minded you can be, the better your experience will be.  I'm a producer at heart and at soul and definitely in mind.  My goal is always to make the best recordings possible.  When set loose, I come up with interestingly creative and useful production ideas.  Things that can sonically set you apart from any competition.  I am interested in delivering my best quality always.  Are you?