YAHAMA GC2020 STEREO/MONO COMPRESSOR/LIMITER BLACK

(7th Module from top): Yamaha is best known in the studio world for digital reverbs and effect units* but the company made regular forays into other kinds of outboard gear. The GC2020 was a long-running item in their catalogue.

The unit has the usual quartet of attack / release / threshold / ratio controls, plus input and output levels, bypass switch and an expander / gate threshold. Gain reduction is shown on a 5-segment LED bargraph display and there is a separate LED for the gate. The stereo / dual mono switch is on the front panel by the power switch

Subtlety isn’t its strong point – it likes to grab, and grab hard. Slowing up the attack time and shortening the release can be used to create mammoth pumping effects with reverbs & background sounds being squashed by whatever is keying the compressor. Shortening the attack time mellows it out a lot and reduces pumping, so it can be polite when it needs to be

The GC2020 treads a fine line between compression & distortion but appropriate setting of the gain structure keeps the signal clean. The sound gets messy when a lot of gain reduction is used, but raising the compression ratio and backing off the threshold improves things markedly. The secret is not to use excessive gain reduction – and set the attack & release times carefully