The TFPRO 538 500 series

[Ted Fletcher]

For the last 10 months I have been developing a ‘new’ (or is it ‘old’) compressor, trying to incorporate some up-to-date reliable components, but at the same time producing something that works exactly the same as the old SC2 V5 compressor; the same in every respect. After lots of testing and listening, it became clear that the secret of the extreme compression that was possible with the SC2 is the use of the old original optical cells….. and as it happens I have a bagful of them in my garage! The ones available new nowadays are not quite the same, and don’t have quite the same sound.

Without upsetting the original sound I have added the facility of variable ratio and also that extremely useful ‘variable width’ so that the stereo image can be adjusted from ‘mono’ to an extended ‘150% stereo’. As an experiment I wondered if it was possible to get all that into an API 500 series module….. The sketches looked so good, I kept on with it and decided to make it a product!

It’s now fully developed and the first production 538 is on test and sounding remarkably like an original SC2!

[Oaodewale]

Can’t wait to hear the samples from the demo or better still get to demo one myself

[Ted Fletcher]

IMPORTANT NOTE: The TFPRO538 is designed to fit 500 series racks that have ‘aux input’ and ‘aux output’ sockets; suitable racks are Bento 6S and Midas Legend L6 and L10. The TFPRO538 will not operate in stereo in the standard API or Neve rack due to lack of terminations.

The situation today (9th April 2019) is that I have the first 6 production 538 units finished and tested, and up to 30 will be available by the end of next week.

I’m going to offer these out on a ‘sale or return’ basis to serious engineers….. but please note my ‘important note’ above, otherwise it will only work as a mono unit!!

Please feel free to contact me on ted@tfpro.com.

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