Introduction: as a classic compressor the UA 1176 has been on countless big albums, can the Klark Teknik 76-KT hang with it's inspiration?
Pros: I've had this in the rack for a good while now and it's in regular use on vocals to tame the peaks and keep things sounding nice on the way into the daw it gives you all the functionality you'd expect of an 1176
and does everything you'd expect this type of compressor to do and has served me well,
It's also built like a tank which is a definite plus at this price
Cons: While it gives you all the functionality of it's inspiration
it will introduce some hiss if driven hard enough but set properly with a bit of common sense and good mics and preamps it's negligible in practice
Should you get one?
well I've used this regularly as an insert compressor both while tracking and on mixes and and have had many happy clients,
it makes my workflow much faster with less need for post processing after tracking through it and sounds great on vocals and acoustic instruments
given that it's an affordable and accurate take on
a classic compressor it's really hard to fault,
perhaps it's a touch more transparent than it's inspiration but this is being overly picky and a good thing in my view as more saturation can always be added in post
Overall: it's worth it,
countless plugin emulations exist but tracking through this will save you time and get you to the sound you want faster, the original will always be the most desirable version but this is very very close at a price that wont break the bank :)
