The reason videos like this are irresponsible, is that you have a large following some of whom now believe that the Klark Teknik KT-76 aimed to sound like the Blue Stripe, but failed. This is not the case as the KT-76 is an clone/ emulation of the black face which it comes very close to. This has been pointed out multiple times, and you have failed to even acknowledge that you were misinformed about this product, & sadly it seems you are happy to pass on this misinformation (to followers who are willing to accept it as fact), while telling people to steer clear of the product & unjustly damaging the brand.
@@johndewitt9093 I'm not gonna knock him, some of his vids are good. But the title "DO NOT BUY THIS" helps no one and hurts the people that are trying to make a living manufacturing and marketing the product.
Anyone wishes to actually know about this product, can read a long thread on Gearslutz forum and get an idea of what is this KT76 actually capable of. This guy is overacting and video is an example of his sheer ignorance about KT76.
Its not meant to sound like a blue stripe, its a different circuit. Less color and lower noise floor. If you were to shoot it out against a black face rev the results would be closer
@@alexanderkhait exactly, even by improving distortion that was done with better components, opamps improved over time, revised power supply, fets etc. The circuit is still identical at its heart; a fet compressor.
I bought a KT-76 and have used the warm before. Do not be put off by this review, it is a fantastic compressor, very crisp and when you push it in all-buttons mode still sounds very respectable.
THIS GUY IS CLUELESS! The Blue-Stripe has a completely different affect on the sound. You're not comparing the right compressors. Blue-Stripes are used to really push the sound to the front of the mix. This is why the vocal seems so "present". It's actually the blue-stripes that are usually criticized because the affect is so different. This shootout couldn't have been any worse.
Why does he not just correct himself....sad. Everyone can make a mistake, that´s ok, but he should´ve gotten aware by now that he compared apples to pears really.
It's a fet compressor and should sound like one of it wants to be called an 1176. Pretty laughable that KT thought that could make one and then got it wrong
This is a respectful comment.. I would not trust anything this person says. This review is more of an attitude than a review... Well well well..... I have original 1176s and I purchased two of the klark 1176 for my own studio... at first you don't think you're going to like the Klark because how cheap it is.... I mean it's a knockoff right? But that's exactly what it is it's a knockoff... Is it EXACTLY the same of the original 1176? No.... Is it close? It sure is!! Are 1176's exactly the same when compared to themselves? No!!!!! AGIAN, ARE Original 1176 EXACTLY THE SAME WHEN YOU COMPARE THEM TO EACH OTHER????? NO THEY ARE NOT... Sometimes not even close. If you're on a budget and looking for an 1176 styled compressor you can't beat this. I've been Able to A/B gear my entire life.. IM old..... My creds are LA based working in all the Major studios in Los Angeles.....Cello, Sunset Sound Larabee, Capitol etc.. I guess it's the world we live in today anybody can post anything on social media. Wonder if this post will disappear..
I have pair of the KT76's and EQP's and though I have never owned a real Pultec or 1176, these units have made my tracks sound better than any plugin or hardware. Pleased and will buy more.
Yup the kt2a is amazing. I want to buy this to catch peaks and the eq to finish my chain. I used to add 17 plugins (exaggerated) to get the sound I want which ended up being harsh and now I only have 3 and its where I want it.
I own the 1176-KT and I'm a really big fan of it. I agree with some of the commenters below that we could be hearing the difference between the black and blue face model emulations. Regardless of my stance on this unit though, I must say that having an analog unit over a digital plug in will almost always feel and sound better to my ear. Not to mention you're totally getting your moneys worth when you think about all these damn yearly subscription fees and updates.
@@emanuelapascaritei8754 in this case it sound so transparent that id be curious to see what is the harmonics addition at an average level. Obviously any analog equipement if overdrive will generate saturation and consequently harmonic. In this case i'm curious to see (as we can't hear) the flavour of the midas transformer inside the toy.
I actually did an extensive comparison like that with a lot of hard- and software 1176 (sine wave as well as different types of vocals, very scientifically controlled with exactly matched mV readings etc.) you can find it on my channel. And the kt76 actually came out quite well
Pangeaner , and don’t forget warm audio, tube tech, Wes, aml, stam, bae, heritage audio, gap, and even Manley with their pultec...and the list goes on. That’s hardware imitating hardware. Does behringer have crap stuff?? A lot, but it also has some good stuff from time to time. I learned my lesson on keeping an open minded philosophy on everything.
The KT76 actually sounds really nice! This is probably a difference between the blue stripe and the blackface schematics. Blue stripes always have more harmonics and distortion compared to the newer blackface that are cleaner. But KT76 is more transparent that it should be.
I've got two Klark Teknik EPQ KT and I really like the way they sound . Bought the KT 76 cause all the videos I saw when comparing to software on vocals, this compressor sounded much better to my ears.Can't wait to use it and hear it in real life.
@@christopherdunn317 I don't think they are garbage at all. I think too many people compare it to the originals and diss many clones but not really take the time to really learn what you can use it for with the sound they have.
My two lovely kt-76 do what it suppose to do, for almost two years now. From lead vocals to all kind of bass, drums course, crashed room mics, choked, bluezzy, metal guitars, brass, choir, synth, you name it. Happy owner here.
He gives you all the reasons you SHOULD BUY THIS for tracking in the studio. This Comp is perfect for using in line when recording. For Example: Vox>Mic>Preamp>KT-76>Audio Interface. These KT-76 have amazing "grab". This makes them great for tracking. You could still use it as a plugin in your DAW and get great use of it. If you have a minimal outboard analog setup, this can do that, or add to it. And it does have "color". It is very subtle, but there. You can hear it in the high end. It really helps brighten with smoothness. Tube swap could add a tiny touch to that as well.
I've been using my 76-KT for over a year now on over 100 vocals now. It sounds amazing and beats out all of my other hardware compressors for vocals. I LOVE this thing. I can't believe how awesome it is.
do you ever stack it with another compressor for vocals? I have an RNC compressor that's extremely neutral amd extremely fast... I wonder how it would sound to use the RNC to round out the peaks, then into the Klark for the color / fatness...
@Levi Jesse Gonzalez I love the speed of the 76-KT. It levels vocals out really well on its own. But I have paired it up with a 2A-KT and it is really nice. I put the 2A-KT first to generally level out the vocals and then the 76-KT catches the details. I love setting the KT-76 release time as fast as it will go on vocals and it brings out details like magic.
it's still a very good compressor if you know how to use it. anyone expecting an close recreation of an actual 1176 is foolish. i use this compressor for vocals and it's excellent.
Yes, I thought it sounded great. I can understand that it may not be so useful for a mixing and mastering engineer. But I can definitley see this compressor being a great tool when recording drums and vocals. Since it's a low price unit one could connect one of these for each microphone in the drum rig without breaking the bank.
About the 10 second thing: A printed circuit board on an PCB/SMT line can be assembled in seconds with super fast robots and they do multiple boards at once. The rest of it is machined and assembled by hand as human hands are less expensive then automation in the country where this is made. After its assembled its then calibrated (kinda) and they test a couple of units per batch. A higher end piece of equipment will have each unit QA tested, burned in for a few days and calibrated so there is consistency across units (think of linking 2 Distressors for stereo material). I would be amazed even if that VU meter is calibrated.
first let me say that i am not a fan of klark or better said Behringer. Especially after their latest copy-clone projects i am fed up with this s..t. Just want to adress the concistency of high end gear. Yes its true but only in the more modern units. The older high end legendary hardware units are most of the time all over the place when it comes to measurements concistency. Hence the expression "No Compressor X sounds the same as another Compressor X" and same goes for synths like Moogs and everything else
American NAB specs only require 50-15 kHz ± 2 DB at 1% distortion at operating level. With a minimum of 45 DB signal-to-noise ratio. And about 15 DB of headroom above operating level. And so the meter only has to be within ± 2 DB of accuracy. And so why do you think all 76's sound different? That's why. I mean I suppose you could use nothing but precision ± 2 or 5% resistors, and it? Everyone has changed out there electrolytic capacitors at some point in time. With whatever capacitor brands they got their hands upon. It's a great low cost bargain version usable FET limiter. That's all that matters. Accuracy? What accuracy? Transparency? What transparency? They're all different. Every single last one of them. But if you know how to tweak them yourself. And all of the FET's are identical. You might get them real close. I have. I have gotten them very close. So close. That I've not needed, the battery-operated stereo adapter. And getting them that close. Requires that you get them well up to operating temperature first. And so I usually leave them on overnight.. Before I set out to tweak them during the day. And I don't take the top cover off. Until I am ready to tweak them. And I tweak them quickly. So as to prevent them from cooling down any. And if the FET's are closely matched. And you've got all new electrolytic capacitors installed. And the individual resistors are close in value. Even if they are only a 10% accuracy. You might be able to tweak them ultra close. Few people know how. I had to. I had to be the best at what I did, ya see. And I am. I've been doing this for over 50 years now. And I've learned a few things. That youngsters don't know. That youngsters, can't know. That you obviously don't know either. Not that I'm coming down on you mind you. You have to learn as you go. And I like to teach and mentor young engineers. Like I was. I like to pay it forward. I had a great couple of mentors when my career was just starting. And they were very special mentors. They weren't your average studio guys of that era. One had very high Department of Defense clearance. The other was the father of vertical hold for television when he was an engineer for Bell Laboratories after World War II. And they taught me more than I had even read in the library. Where you can get a college degree for free. Except nobody hands you a dead sheepskin with printing on it. Poor little sheep. And what's that supposed to mean? Dingdong the sheep is dead. And that's supposed to prove they learned something. RemyRAD
On Rose's vocal I actually like the online hardware and the Klark Teknik. Also if you want more color you can swap the input / output transformers for about 30 - 40 USD each.
the black revision (or revision C) is not suppose to add harmonics. if this KT-76 tried to emulate the revision C of Urei or UAD, your comment has no point at all.
Don't agree with this video. OK, the KT-76 doesn't sound like an old bluestripe, but very close to a new 1176LN. At the end I need an 1176-style compressor because of it's fast attack and release times to tame vocals and place them into the playback... and for this duty the KT-76 is a really great tool with a great price. What I can say is that it sound much better than the UAD 1176 plugin and doesn't cost more than a plugin. So why it should be useless???
I do agree with the idea that there are many plugin options for transparent compression, but it never hurts to have a transparent analog compressor in your arsenal for tracking purposes, especially considering it amounts the price of ~ 2-4 high end plugin compressors. Furthermore, it has Midas input and output transformers which is great value for the price, plus an input pad which is not available on the typical units. I'd happily buy one of these units if I worked in my own tracking space, appreciate the review!
One thing you have to be aware of is that the Stam and the Klark are different incarnations of an 1176. The Stam is the blue stripe version (Rev. A) while the Klark is the black face version (Rev. F) So there are sound differences!
yeah but the full silver face he starts with is either a G or an H revision, which is even cleaner than a D, and it's still way way way more aggressive than either of the clones, or the plugin.
I don't like the way you go to the extreme and telling people NOT TO BUY THIS! You can have your honest opinion without pushing too hard. Maybe your review is not the most accurate, maybe you are not testing it as it should, maybe one month and some tracks are not enough to suggest someone buying it or not.
His review is 100% based on being misinformed. He has had this pointed out multiple times, but has yet to acknowledge it. Yet he is happy to have a large percentage of his followers who will take his misinformed opinion as gospel decide against the product based on that.
I like this channel it has a lot of great advice but....I bought 2 of the KT76s and they sound fantastic. they work for distorted or clean guitar tracks. The transformers really fatten the sound. I totally disagree that they are useless.
I've had 3 of the Klark KT-76 units in use in 3 studios around the country for over 4 years and they are still performing perfectly. They are a bargain for the money and I highly recommend them! - Bob K - BOB K Sound & Recording
He literally compared it to an 1176LN in the video and it sounded completely different, lol. I've worked with that 1176 at Sound Vision Studio in the past and it's an absolute beast! :D If they start making a cheap version of that unit I'll buy a whole stack of them in a heartbeat.
The Behringer flaw was that they dropped the price. When KT cost around 500 (at start) the audiophile public praised him, and now cause it's so cheap they're gonna hate it :D I use mine as kinda limiter/level control for my synths. Works fine.
This will be my 1st 1176 hardware purchase. I want to turn a physical knob. From you comparisons that were expertly recorded, I've seen and heard that this is my 1st. Love your work sir.
HOLD ON! THIS 1176 FET COMP IS £200!!!! This could literally be the beginning of the democratisation of analogue hardware!! Its exciting stuff! This guy has compared it at a 4:1 ratio with other blue strip 1176's even though it is base on a LN, furthermore not even a mention of the !!! All-Buttons-In !!! mode, crazy! Worst of all the AB testing is way off, not allot of care has been put into this video and i strongly recommend people don't listen to what this guy is saying. Im buying one for sure!
@@FeJotaTakinOva No. Again: You did. The unit can't produce any sort of harmonic distortion or colour if you are going to be using a very low compression ratio.
@@JuanJacinto The 1176 produces harmonic distortion in 2 ways: Saturation on the input and quick attack and release times (produces by any compressor that allows you to have really quick attack and release times). What has been tested in this video was the input saturation, and is nowhere to be found. That will remain the same regardless the ratio you set. Some 1176 emulations even allow you to deselect every ratio so you can just crank the input and lower the output (and thus using it just as a colouring unit and not a compressor+colouring unit). Of course you will be able to obtain some harmonic distortion from this unit, but the point of the video was "you won't get THIS specific type of harmonic distortion". And that's the point being missed. I know the video is clickbait-ish in some aspects and not as scientific or in depth as it should be (for that kind of content I prefer different channels, such as Dan Worrall), but still he makes a pretty solid point.
No, they can't make it in 10 seconds, this is completely impossible, and many production steps are manual but highly optimised. They can however have one rolling off a single production line every 10 seconds, because the production steps are pipelined. I suspect they can get the manual steps to take only a couple minutes per unit, then they're golden.
@@christopherdunn317 There's a baseline of effort in making the most horrible of equipment. Something adequate doesn't have to be fundamentally much more expensive than a piece of garbage. It breaks my heart how much effort goes into producing landfill products every day.
Epithet Music Not directly. Used several versions including the UA hardware and plugins in the past and it compares very favorably in my opinion. Good for tracking vocals and bass here.
"Do Not Buy This" in the title, and "Useless" in the thumbnail is a little harsh I think. I've got one, and it is not as transparent as yours seems to be. Mine has plenty of character, and it's better than any of the plugins which are admittedly my only current point of reference.
Here's one reason to have a transparent analog compressor: you can't run a plugin between your mic pre and your converter; having a transparent compressor in between helps you maintain the sound coming from the pre while ducking down peaks that might clip the converter, basically a piece that makes gain adjustment way easier without introducing any unwanted tonal characteristics
Wrong. You literally just wanted to prove him wrong, but introduced a useless point of view. A recorded sound is already "Transparent". Adding a compressor of high enough quality is intended to add a tonal character to the sound source. The unit presented doesn't achieve that, so simply resulting to a plugin would instead of purchasing a useless piece of hardware.
@@ctrlaltcreate3827 Like literally, what are you talking about? A Hardware compressor of High end quality is mainly used to add color and variable harmonics to the sound source. What Audio Engineering school did you graduate from? This is common knowledge among industry Mixing Engineers. Ask Dave Pensado, Manny Maroquin or Chris Lorde to name a few famed Mixing Engineers; they all literally reinforce this concept. It's not about knowing how a compressor works, it's about knowing which hardware compressor adds what distinct sonic quality and color to the sound source. A prime hardware component of this concept is found in the compressor titled the 'FairChild' 660 engineered by "Rein Narma". By default, it adds a varied dynamic color to the sound source, compared to a clean sound absent it's use. This compressor is Joseph Jack Puig's favorite compressor. You still have much to learn. You're way too arrogant.
Wow, just saw this review and I have to say that normally your reviews are interesting and entertaining but, this review is borderline irresponsible. Of the more than 25+ mix and post rooms we deal with on a daily basis that use these units, literally none of them have reached this conclusion. In fact, most, if not all of them insist that they are nearly indistinguishable from the intended reference, the blackface URI models. Thats a lot of full time productions houses reaching that conclusion. This is starting to look a lot more like a youtube ratings grab than an actual review and thats a disappointing trend here, if thats the case.
The KT-76 has been a great addition to my studio so far, been using it on mono piano blocky chords and loved it so much i bought a second one today. Looking forward to trying the Andrew Scheps back buss trick with this pair of 76s, they're a steal at the price and sound fantastic. Great for learning about audio outside the box too. In response to this video i say DO BUY THIS!
I like the honesty! Your right it’s like a clone but without the character of a 1176. But I think for people starting to get into hardware maybe buying their first compressor for the price this would actually be a amazing piece. It sounds pretty good and can be hit pretty hard without distorting it seems like.
I just got one and it's great so far. I've bought/sold to many VCA compressors that just didn't sound good to me - as soon as I hook this one up on bass I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Super easy to set the controls.
Lighten up, Francis. I've got a pair of these comps and I love them. Plus, what the hockey sticks does a vintage Blue Stripe even sound like, considering how many times some baked intern has soldered them back together? I hope folks watching this vid don't abide by the advice. And while the KT's do seem fairly transparent when driven at moderate levels, I have NO problem overdriving them to get some hair on vocals / bass / etc. Hell, if you want character, slam the input FROM THE DAW (no indication of how hard the input was being hit in this vid) or mash all the buttons in. But stop pretending that a few low gain tests are enough to prove that some piece of gear has no character or sounds bad, especially when you admit that you are EQing first, which means that the comp is working against any subtractive EQ you used. And everyone else, buy the 2A that KT makes as well; quality stuff, IMHO.
Also be good if the levels were a little closer KT is down 5.7db to the Urei. Also KT is not a blue face be interesting to hear it against what its aimed at emulating.
The kicks was really different, and on the kick, the Klark Teknik sounded *most* like the Urei. The plugin always sounded worst. The hard driven Klark Teknik wasn't THAT different from the Urei, but yeah, the Urei gave the vocals a closeness and presence none of the other had. Very interesting.
I think there's an actual market and need for this, but it's very specific: first analog compressor for live tracking. While tracking, zero latency monitoring is very important. Even a little bit of latency can shift the phase relations in a headphone mix, and often this will alter the performance for worse. Of course separate DSP-processors or powerfull computers with super low latency interfaces will make this kind of product kind of useless, but there are a lot of people with systems that simply aren't powerfull enough for live tracking through plugins.
My background is as the controller of a large manufacturing company. People are mind blown by price And think there must be something wrong but this is really just how they are looking at price. If your price things based on how much you could get for it. Your market isn't very inclusive, but if your price the other way, based on your profit margin then your are ultimately going to sell a lot more units, drive cost efficiencies and have more money at the end of the day to put towards Uber quality items, like those $10k midas preamps
In case nobody else has said it (I'm sure they have) - a unit being completed every 10 seconds is very different from making one every 10 seconds, which is likely to be much nearer the truth. You just have to make them in parallel ... and even then only for as long as it takes to make that measurement - it will take much longer to complete each one ... you just start each one 10 seconds later! This is how mass producing works in industry. Sounds confusing at first I grant you ;)
Typical reaction from a guy who spends tons of money in overpriced Vintage/Boutique stuff. He would not recognise any of these units in a blindfold test! Enough Said...
You're right, the Urei had more harmonics. BUT even the KT had a few in your last test. And you asked, why someone should buy that thing. Well I think it's nice for tracking. And since I cannot open a door and step into Soundvision Sttudio :), like most people I have to pick up, what I need and can afford.
Out of all your videos this is the one that I have to disagree with. The black 1176 was never meant to add harmonics. Even so, I have found that mine (same 1176-KT) adds some character in the hi-mid freqs. I actually appreciate the transparency because I also use a U47 clone that already has its own character. Just as all other mics do. I wouldn’t say that it’s useless rather that it does an extremely job well done at what it’s intended to do - COMPRESS!!
Thanks for the demo. I tend to agree , if it doesn't have a form of character, I can already use something else like my dbx. Guess I'll start looking at the warm reviews next 😀
That's a shame, the kt-76 rules. Try it yourself before taking this guys advice. I just got one from GC used thinking I could return it. It's the best vocal compressor I now own. I have a Summit DCL-200 that will never be used on vocals again.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the transparent nature of the compressor, even when pushed, be perfectly suited as a cheap option for tracking vocals for example? That way you get control on the way in without having to worry much about distortion?
The odd part of all this is that modern compressors strived to become as transparent as possible and to remove harmonic distortion was considered a goal in past recordings, now we want it all to come back because our signal and gain is all super clean
I have the unit and i love it! On Bass and vocals or whatever you put into! Clickbait and very bad comparison. I love your channel but this video wasn't correct.
Really strange that it didn't sound good in this review because in the The Ultimate 1176 Shootout by Present Day productions it compared really well with many other renowned 1176's. 🤔
Anybody who comes out swinging saying a product is completely useless in all caps better back it up with some knowledge. Really missing the mark in that respect. the KT-76 isn't trying to be a Blue Stripe emu. Pretty lame to steer people away from gear you can't even illustrate competent usage of. Tried to find some of your stuff online and only tracked down a Soundcloud of overcompressed Moombah mixes. It's one thing to build a following off the back of hot takes and claims of snake oil, but it's straight up disingenuous to do that without even knowing what you're talking about.
@@triple_x_r_tard Not one of those mixes was exceptional. Sounds like pretty standard modern production. If that’s “fantastic” for you, I would suggest broadening your horizons and raising your bar for what a “fantastic” mix sounds like.
On the URI the kick sounded bigger than the rest. So if we say that "there isn't a big difference", probably when it will be used on many tracks of the song, these small differences will add up to make that 5% to 10% in the end and make the difference even more prominent or sound even better.
Not quite, that's if you assume that he nailed the relative settings for each compressor (the blueface/Rev. A compressors are literally diff models and sound quite different and more colored, so not really possible anyway) but he failed that badly anyways because he was getting on average about 7 dB GR on the blueface plugin, meanwhile the hardware was getting around either 3 or 5 dB GR, sooooooooo the differences in his settings alone (orrrr the differences between the hardware Rev. A clone he as and the UA/Urei Rev. A modeled plugin he has) are just not nearly scientific enough to say whether or not they're 1% or even 20% different.
yes do buy this comp. It sounded awesome despite the RUclips audio compression it applies and as a producer I can tell he wasn't pushing his DAW hard into the unit and to just say just" use the plugins"? the plugin was dog poo compared to the KT? even thou he had the KT sounding less distorted and I could still hear way more harmonics in a beautiful clean way from the KT. This guy must have awful hearing if he honestly thinks the plugin was better. So please get better at mixing and train your ears (research and knowledge not needed to be mention) before trying to give good advice especially as all of us producers, composers and audio engineers who clearly have why more professional ears beyond yours all say your WRONG. This is NOT fair on the company or for new people who still have not developed their ears yet or know anything about vintage circuits of analogue gear. I have extremely little knowledge of analogue gear as I come from psytrance (no vocal or live recording experience) background so im so glad so many comments from professionals in the comments have addressed this for me so thanks guy :):):) I do want a clean compressor one day so will defo look into buying this compressor along with colourful one. You have completely trashed talked a company by not even comparing it to similar sounding comps. If you have any honor you would take this video down as its not fair Klark Teknik or fair on any new engineers with false information. This comp sounded awesome
i agree. i have been using this compressor for about a year now, running mainly vocals and bass through it, and i can confirm that this compressor really delivers. it has very punchy clean lows and silky smooth highs, and the attack sounds very good on vocals. it makes everything i put through it sound cleaner.
There also something wrong with the plugin, it is compressing way less and with different A/R settings. There is no "tail" on drums, but i'm sure i can replicate time constant from an hardware comp to a plugin even if not it's clone! (i mean i can easily replicate time constants from a real 1176 to a Steinberg stock comp plugin by ears!). This video is useless, not the kt76....
"Use the ATTACK knob to adjust the amount of time it takes for the compressor to respond to audio that exceeds the threshold. The response time is slow when set fully counterclockwise and faster as it is turned clockwise. "
Ray Dolby Quotes and Sayings “To be an inventor, you have to be willing to live with a sense of uncertainty, to work in this darkness and grope towards an answer, to put up with anxiety about whether there is an answer.”
this thing looks like a good hardware base for modding and/or housing your own custom compressor circuit. nice solid housing with space to add more pots and buttons as needed.
got too much headroom to really drive it? start voltage starving any amp stages and watch the magic as op amp and transistor saturation starts setting in
Amazing how many reviews are slamming you for the lack of accuracy in this review. What would be wise is if you did an updated review of this compressor, clarifying your lack of information that you received, and comparing it against another 1176 that was clearly made for different purposes. It would do a lot to help your reputation. A little humility goes a long ways.
There is a desire for transparincy for some things, actually most things, and the desire for "destortion" or saturation for other things. I like the Klark BECASUE of the lack of coloration/distortion etc. I am not going to buy one because I am going to the ART, but that is because of a specific reason, and all other units are way beyond my budget.
I actually like it’s sound on the vocal. I’d buy one just for that alone. I’m partial to tubes, but this is actually a very good clean sound. I like a clean sound more than anything else. I wanna be able to manipulate it later if i so choose. Can’t do that if it’s already colored coming in.
DO NOT BUY INTO THIS REVIEW! So, this dude claims that the only purpose of an 1176 is the saturation you get if you drive it hard. My buddy bought two of these. I have 1176's and LA2A's in my work studio, and I can tell you that the basic compression quality of the KT unit is close to the UA 1176. DUH! That's what I buy a compressor for, not for the distortion that it adds to the signal. I mean, yeah, I get it. I like the saturation of the UA 1176. But it's not that huge a deal. I get saturation from my Neve 5024, SCA N72 and other hairy preamps. I use the 1176 for compression. This kind of clueless review from some dude who seems to have a following is sad.
You can hear the difference even through RUclips. The original unit has that certain character and bite but still keeps it up front the KT doesn’t. Not sure why others can’t hear it. Maybe they are trying to justify their purchase.
Heya. Big fan of your videos. However, the differences you're hearing here are EXACTLY the difference between the 1176LN circuit and the 1176A. I've just spent the last year with the 1176D, and that KT is behaving precisely as I'd expect. Historically, the 1176A is a micpre with a sidechain to attenuate driven from the output. UREI got a lot of complaints about the distortion, and developed the "low noise" (LN) circuit, which replaces the entire front end of the micpre circuit. The 76B/C are compatible with the LN upgrade, and the 76D has it build in. I have a 76A and 76D here, and the differences are precisely what you've found. I'd go a step further and suggest that if you haven't sold that thing, you could re-engineer it to 76A spec with an extra FET and some resistor changes. You'd get what you want from that. The circuit topology is really very different.
I have a pair of these . No issues , no noise , does the fast grabby FET sound well , lots of quick gain reduction on tap. I run them with a pro-vla II from 1073 style pre-amps , great sound for vocals and bass , lots of colour there when you need it and you can back off the vla and 1073 if you don't .
not gonna bash on your review.. I find them mostly coming from very much the right place and pretty much the same standpoint as myself..My studio is quite like yours all analogue 40ch Calrec desk.. K&H UE1000.. ADL1500 Summit etc etc.. I do think this reveiw is a little off.. the distortion on say an analogue 808 style kick through this .. is in a totally different ballpark from any of the plugs I tried.. waves etc.. the drive is smoother/darker and quite useable where the plugs souded dry and crunchy(not in a good way) and breaking up.. has to be said the impression you gave from the outset seemed to want to belittle the KT. persinally I really couldnt care about that.. just seemed not your usual standard.. perhaps not totally untrue about the cleaness.. but also not correct with plug in comparisons.
Since The Music Group acquired Klark Teknik as well as Midas, T.C Electronics and (gulp) Tannoy and of course the first company was Behringer they have been able to lower the price of gear forcing other companies to follow suit to compete other companies as well, starting with the digital console X32, and many other very inexpensive gear that allow beginners to go much farther with the money they have, even a decent 24 bit/192Khz 4X4 interface with 4 Midas designed pre amps and usb/midi connectivity for $200 Canadian, that's about $150 US. Also lighting, pa system , wireless guitar jacks and everything in between. I can't knock a company like that, and I wish they were around when I was about 18. Sometime since they are made in China but designed in Germany they get a few lemons, and will exchange it in a second with no hassle. I can't believe they own Tannoy now. I loved my old PBM 6.5's better than the Yamaha NS 10's. Try another if you don't think it is performing as it should. They have come a long long way since the old tiny mixers that fell apart, but they would just give you another with no questions asked. And I have heard amazing Midas consoles that are very low priced for the quality. Don't be so fast to condemn them just yet.
everything behringer sucks, so you all say, but it's definitely not true. The truth is that Behringer is gaining more and more popularity and credibility and you are just losing it
Hi and thanks for your efforts! I also did a shoot-out a few weeks ago comparing the Stam SA-76 to the Klark 76-KT. What I found is that the Klark distorts a little more in all-buttons in mode. That's why I ordered one myself to use it on snare drum in exactly that mode. For me it's doing a good job there - especially for the price. If you're interested, here's the comparison: ruclips.net/video/N4GvGLI6ruc/видео.html
On a side note, notice how different the plugin sounds from the real comps. It's like you have to crush it on a parallel comp as well with the plugins to get it like the real thing.
Makes complete sense. You can run a plugin across a handful of channels in the time it takes you to send one channel out to a hardware comp. Just my opinion...
LifeWhyz Music no it doesn’t. You do it with an insert plugin. It’s the exact same time. Less time maybe. Turning knobs is faster on hardware than with a mouse
Oh, White Sea Studio say not to buy a unit - that's a perfect reason to buy one. Thanks White Sea Studios for your reverse psychology endorsement.
true so true man!
haha so true
The reason videos like this are irresponsible, is that you have a large following some of whom now believe that the Klark Teknik KT-76 aimed to sound like the Blue Stripe, but failed.
This is not the case as the KT-76 is an clone/ emulation of the black face which it comes very close to.
This has been pointed out multiple times, and you have failed to even acknowledge that you were misinformed about this product, & sadly it seems you are happy to pass on this misinformation (to followers who are willing to accept it as fact), while telling people to steer clear of the product & unjustly damaging the brand.
Agree.
I struggle to find any video where this guy clearly illustrates he knows what he's doing with any toy he opens.
@@johndewitt9093 I'm not gonna knock him, some of his vids are good. But the title "DO NOT BUY THIS" helps no one and hurts the people that are trying to make a living manufacturing and marketing the product.
I´ve got this unit, and the KT2A and the pultec clone. Very happy with them. Happy I bought them before getting misinformed. They are excellent value.
Anyone wishes to actually know about this product, can read a long thread on Gearslutz forum and get an idea of what is this KT76 actually capable of. This guy is overacting and video is an example of his sheer ignorance about KT76.
Its not meant to sound like a blue stripe, its a different circuit. Less color and lower noise floor. If you were to shoot it out against a black face rev the results would be closer
Why would it be a different circuit and still call itself an 1176?
Because engineers tried to achieve lower distortion and lower noise floor with each revision. Read some history before you get smart.
@@alexanderkhait exactly, even by improving distortion that was done with better components, opamps improved over time, revised power supply, fets etc. The circuit is still identical at its heart; a fet compressor.
I bought a KT-76 and have used the warm before. Do not be put off by this review, it is a fantastic compressor, very crisp and when you push it in all-buttons mode still sounds very respectable.
THIS GUY IS CLUELESS!
The Blue-Stripe has a completely different affect on the sound. You're not comparing the right compressors.
Blue-Stripes are used to really push the sound to the front of the mix. This is why the vocal seems so "present".
It's actually the blue-stripes that are usually criticized because the affect is so different.
This shootout couldn't have been any worse.
Agreed
Yup
I unsubscribed
Why does he not just correct himself....sad. Everyone can make a mistake, that´s ok, but he should´ve gotten aware by now that he compared apples to pears really.
It's a fet compressor and should sound like one of it wants to be called an 1176. Pretty laughable that KT thought that could make one and then got it wrong
"do not buy this!" proceeds to list it on ebay for people to buy.
haha amazing
Crazy man 🤣
:-D.
"its a great unit! your gonna love it :) please buy it from me"
😂
This is a respectful comment.. I would not trust anything this person says. This review is more of an attitude than a review... Well well well.....
I have original 1176s and I purchased two of the klark 1176 for my own studio... at first you don't think you're going to like the Klark because how cheap it is.... I mean it's a knockoff right? But that's exactly what it is it's a knockoff... Is it EXACTLY the same of the original 1176? No.... Is it close? It sure is!!
Are 1176's exactly the same when compared to themselves? No!!!!!
AGIAN, ARE Original 1176 EXACTLY THE SAME WHEN YOU COMPARE THEM TO EACH OTHER????? NO THEY ARE NOT... Sometimes not even close.
If you're on a budget and looking for an 1176 styled compressor you can't beat this. I've been Able to A/B gear my entire life.. IM old.....
My creds are LA based working in all the Major studios in Los Angeles.....Cello, Sunset Sound Larabee, Capitol etc.. I guess it's the world we live in today anybody can post anything on social media. Wonder if this post will disappear..
I think his issue was he was comparing a blue face to the KT instead of the actual thing it was modelled on
I have pair of the KT76's and EQP's and though I have never owned a real Pultec or 1176, these units have made my tracks sound better than any plugin or hardware. Pleased and will buy more.
Yeah agree
Steven Hiers yes thats really better than plugins
Yup the kt2a is amazing. I want to buy this to catch peaks and the eq to finish my chain. I used to add 17 plugins (exaggerated) to get the sound I want which ended up being harsh and now I only have 3 and its where I want it.
Garbage
I own the 1176-KT and I'm a really big fan of it. I agree with some of the commenters below that we could be hearing the difference between the black and blue face model emulations. Regardless of my stance on this unit though, I must say that having an analog unit over a digital plug in will almost always feel and sound better to my ear. Not to mention you're totally getting your moneys worth when you think about all these damn yearly subscription fees and updates.
passing a sine thru it and using an analyser to see if it do add any harmonic at some point would have been interesting to see.
They add a lot. I already did this. And btw, all analog equipment will add harmonics at some point when driven.
@@emanuelapascaritei8754 in this case it sound so transparent that id be curious to see what is the harmonics addition at an average level. Obviously any analog equipement if overdrive will generate saturation and consequently harmonic. In this case i'm curious to see (as we can't hear) the flavour of the midas transformer inside the toy.
I actually did an extensive comparison like that with a lot of hard- and software 1176 (sine wave as well as different types of vocals, very scientifically controlled with exactly matched mV readings etc.)
you can find it on my channel.
And the kt76 actually came out quite well
Lasse Lammert where’s your channel
you can hear that it doesn't distort anywhere near as much as an 1176
2018: plugins that imitate hardware
2019: hardware that imitates plugins
We've reached the pinnacle lads
don't forget behringer - hardware imitating hardware
Pangeaner , and don’t forget warm audio, tube tech, Wes, aml, stam, bae, heritage audio, gap, and even Manley with their pultec...and the list goes on. That’s hardware imitating hardware. Does behringer have crap stuff?? A lot, but it also has some good stuff from time to time. I learned my lesson on keeping an open minded philosophy on everything.
Klark teknik is relayed to Behringer
we also have plugins emulating old pro tools plugins now
@@Breakbeat90s hey behringer got some good stuff though
Julia Roses voice was great but the review felt a tad incomplete without her singing to sandstorm from Darude.
woodstocktc it clearly was sandstorm acapella
The KT76 actually sounds really nice! This is probably a difference between the blue stripe and the blackface schematics. Blue stripes always have more harmonics and distortion compared to the newer blackface that are cleaner. But KT76 is more transparent that it should be.
I've got two Klark Teknik EPQ KT and I really like the way they sound . Bought the KT 76 cause all the videos I saw when comparing to software on vocals, this compressor sounded much better to my ears.Can't wait to use it and hear it in real life.
Klark Teknik EPQ KT complete garbage ! Oh are they (super charged) as well ?
@@christopherdunn317 I don't think they are garbage at all. I think too many people compare it to the originals and diss many clones but not really take the time to really learn what you can use it for with the sound they have.
My two lovely kt-76 do what it suppose to do, for almost two years now.
From lead vocals to all kind of bass, drums course, crashed room mics, choked, bluezzy, metal guitars, brass, choir, synth, you name it.
Happy owner here.
He gives you all the reasons you SHOULD BUY THIS for tracking in the studio. This Comp is perfect for using in line when recording. For Example: Vox>Mic>Preamp>KT-76>Audio Interface. These KT-76 have amazing "grab". This makes them great for tracking. You could still use it as a plugin in your DAW and get great use of it. If you have a minimal outboard analog setup, this can do that, or add to it. And it does have "color". It is very subtle, but there. You can hear it in the high end. It really helps brighten with smoothness. Tube swap could add a tiny touch to that as well.
Swap what tube? It's a FET compressor.
... Tube huh? Okay...
I have the KT-76 and I can tell you it distorts amazingly well with all ratio buttons OUT and the input cranked up.
Got mine yesterday and just thried this. Gorgeous! Thanks for the hint.
Awesome tip!
I've been using my 76-KT for over a year now on over 100 vocals now. It sounds amazing and beats out all of my other hardware compressors for vocals. I LOVE this thing. I can't believe how awesome it is.
do you ever stack it with another compressor for vocals? I have an RNC compressor that's extremely neutral amd extremely fast...
I wonder how it would sound to use the RNC to round out the peaks, then into the Klark for the color / fatness...
@Levi Jesse Gonzalez I love the speed of the 76-KT. It levels vocals out really well on its own. But I have paired it up with a 2A-KT and it is really nice. I put the 2A-KT first to generally level out the vocals and then the 76-KT catches the details. I love setting the KT-76 release time as fast as it will go on vocals and it brings out details like magic.
Thanks buying it now do it give the 3D vocal sound
it's still a very good compressor if you know how to use it. anyone expecting an close recreation of an actual 1176 is foolish. i use this compressor for vocals and it's excellent.
Yes, I thought it sounded great. I can understand that it may not be so useful for a mixing and mastering engineer. But I can definitley see this compressor being a great tool when recording drums and vocals. Since it's a low price unit one could connect one of these for each microphone in the drum rig without breaking the bank.
About the 10 second thing:
A printed circuit board on an PCB/SMT line can be assembled in seconds with super fast robots and they do multiple boards at once. The rest of it is machined and assembled by hand as human hands are less expensive then automation in the country where this is made. After its assembled its then calibrated (kinda) and they test a couple of units per batch. A higher end piece of equipment will have each unit QA tested, burned in for a few days and calibrated so there is consistency across units (think of linking 2 Distressors for stereo material). I would be amazed even if that VU meter is calibrated.
first let me say that i am not a fan of klark or better said Behringer. Especially after their latest copy-clone projects i am fed up with this s..t. Just want to adress the concistency of high end gear. Yes its true but only in the more modern units. The older high end legendary hardware units are most of the time all over the place when it comes to measurements concistency. Hence the expression "No Compressor X sounds the same as another Compressor X" and same goes for synths like Moogs and everything else
American NAB specs only require 50-15 kHz ± 2 DB at 1% distortion at operating level. With a minimum of 45 DB signal-to-noise ratio. And about 15 DB of headroom above operating level. And so the meter only has to be within ± 2 DB of accuracy. And so why do you think all 76's sound different? That's why. I mean I suppose you could use nothing but precision ± 2 or 5% resistors, and it? Everyone has changed out there electrolytic capacitors at some point in time. With whatever capacitor brands they got their hands upon. It's a great low cost bargain version usable FET limiter. That's all that matters. Accuracy? What accuracy? Transparency? What transparency? They're all different. Every single last one of them. But if you know how to tweak them yourself. And all of the FET's are identical. You might get them real close. I have. I have gotten them very close. So close. That I've not needed, the battery-operated stereo adapter.
And getting them that close. Requires that you get them well up to operating temperature first. And so I usually leave them on overnight.. Before I set out to tweak them during the day. And I don't take the top cover off. Until I am ready to tweak them. And I tweak them quickly. So as to prevent them from cooling down any. And if the FET's are closely matched. And you've got all new electrolytic capacitors installed. And the individual resistors are close in value. Even if they are only a 10% accuracy. You might be able to tweak them ultra close. Few people know how. I had to. I had to be the best at what I did, ya see. And I am. I've been doing this for over 50 years now. And I've learned a few things. That youngsters don't know. That youngsters, can't know. That you obviously don't know either. Not that I'm coming down on you mind you. You have to learn as you go. And I like to teach and mentor young engineers. Like I was. I like to pay it forward. I had a great couple of mentors when my career was just starting. And they were very special mentors. They weren't your average studio guys of that era. One had very high Department of Defense clearance. The other was the father of vertical hold for television when he was an engineer for Bell Laboratories after World War II. And they taught me more than I had even read in the library. Where you can get a college degree for free. Except nobody hands you a dead sheepskin with printing on it. Poor little sheep. And what's that supposed to mean?
Dingdong the sheep is dead. And that's supposed to prove they learned something.
RemyRAD
@@RemyRAD 👍
White Sea Studio: "Hello Klark Teknik-Team, can i have a KT-76 for free for my next review Video
Klark Teknik: "No!"
Review uploading 56%
Best comment I have read this month
🎯
On Rose's vocal I actually like the online hardware and the Klark Teknik. Also if you want more color you can swap the input / output transformers for about 30 - 40 USD each.
Are there instructions and specific parts you can list for some of us Newbs?
the black revision (or revision C) is not suppose to add harmonics. if this KT-76 tried to emulate the revision C of Urei or UAD, your comment has no point at all.
Arthur Melo Revision D, but exactly I agree
The warm adds harmonics right??
Don't agree with this video. OK, the KT-76 doesn't sound like an old bluestripe, but very close to a new 1176LN.
At the end I need an 1176-style compressor because of it's fast attack and release times to tame vocals and place them into the playback... and for this duty the KT-76 is a really great tool with a great price. What I can say is that it sound much better than the UAD 1176 plugin and doesn't cost more than a plugin. So why it should be useless???
Of course, you can use a plug-in on numerous channels… so one mono piece of hardware isn’t apples to apples when bringing in price. Fwiw
I do agree with the idea that there are many plugin options for transparent compression, but it never hurts to have a transparent analog compressor in your arsenal for tracking purposes, especially considering it amounts the price of ~ 2-4 high end plugin compressors. Furthermore, it has Midas input and output transformers which is great value for the price, plus an input pad which is not available on the typical units. I'd happily buy one of these units if I worked in my own tracking space, appreciate the review!
One thing you have to be aware of is that the Stam and the Klark are different incarnations of an 1176. The Stam is the blue stripe version (Rev. A) while the Klark is the black face version (Rev. F) So there are sound differences!
yeah isnt the black face version of the 76 way less aggressive
@@mfkrwill It’s a little cleaner and less noisy.
yeah but the full silver face he starts with is either a G or an H revision, which is even cleaner than a D, and it's still way way way more aggressive than either of the clones, or the plugin.
I don't like the way you go to the extreme and telling people NOT TO BUY THIS! You can have your honest opinion without pushing too hard. Maybe your review is not the most accurate, maybe you are not testing it as it should, maybe one month and some tracks are not enough to suggest someone buying it or not.
His review is 100% based on being misinformed. He has had this pointed out multiple times, but has yet to acknowledge it. Yet he is happy to have a large percentage of his followers who will take his misinformed opinion as gospel decide against the product based on that.
I like this channel it has a lot of great advice but....I bought 2 of the KT76s and they sound fantastic. they work for distorted or clean guitar tracks. The transformers really fatten the sound. I totally disagree that they are useless.
0:56 "I don't have a confirmed story, so I will pass on this information any way, to try and make this product seem bad"
I actually liked the sound. Good value at that price! And it looks great!! ;)
I've had 3 of the Klark KT-76 units in use in 3 studios around the country for over 4 years and they are still performing perfectly. They are a bargain for the money and I highly recommend them! - Bob K - BOB K Sound & Recording
Same. I’ve had 3 for 4 years now and they sound great
This unit is AWESOME, it's a clone of the 1176 LN, This guy is just a weird skeptic. It has a bunch of great reviews FOR A REASON.
Yeah, maybe that reason is that the people have never TOUCHED a real 1176 let alone used one?
Yeah, it's awesome! I love mine and use it daily on vocals.
He literally compared it to an 1176LN in the video and it sounded completely different, lol. I've worked with that 1176 at Sound Vision Studio in the past and it's an absolute beast! :D If they start making a cheap version of that unit I'll buy a whole stack of them in a heartbeat.
Klark is owned by Behringer. That says enough
The Behringer flaw was that they dropped the price. When KT cost around 500 (at start) the audiophile public praised him, and now cause it's so cheap they're gonna hate it :D I use mine as kinda limiter/level control for my synths. Works fine.
You’ve lost credibility
He lost credibility with me years ago. And honestly it started with his glasses shape
This will be my 1st 1176 hardware purchase. I want to turn a physical knob.
From you comparisons that were expertly recorded, I've seen and heard that this is my 1st. Love your work sir.
HOLD ON! THIS 1176 FET COMP IS £200!!!! This could literally be the beginning of the democratisation of analogue hardware!! Its exciting stuff! This guy has compared it at a 4:1 ratio with other blue strip 1176's even though it is base on a LN, furthermore not even a mention of the !!! All-Buttons-In !!! mode, crazy! Worst of all the AB testing is way off, not allot of care has been put into this video and i strongly recommend people don't listen to what this guy is saying. Im buying one for sure!
I think you missed the point...
@@FeJotaTakinOva i think you did. 4:1 is nothing. No matter how much gain you put into it. I got myself one and I'm very happy with it
@@JuanJacinto damn, you missed it as well...
@@FeJotaTakinOva No. Again: You did. The unit can't produce any sort of harmonic distortion or colour if you are going to be using a very low compression ratio.
@@JuanJacinto The 1176 produces harmonic distortion in 2 ways: Saturation on the input and quick attack and release times (produces by any compressor that allows you to have really quick attack and release times). What has been tested in this video was the input saturation, and is nowhere to be found. That will remain the same regardless the ratio you set. Some 1176 emulations even allow you to deselect every ratio so you can just crank the input and lower the output (and thus using it just as a colouring unit and not a compressor+colouring unit).
Of course you will be able to obtain some harmonic distortion from this unit, but the point of the video was "you won't get THIS specific type of harmonic distortion". And that's the point being missed.
I know the video is clickbait-ish in some aspects and not as scientific or in depth as it should be (for that kind of content I prefer different channels, such as Dan Worrall), but still he makes a pretty solid point.
No, they can't make it in 10 seconds, this is completely impossible, and many production steps are manual but highly optimised. They can however have one rolling off a single production line every 10 seconds, because the production steps are pipelined. I suspect they can get the manual steps to take only a couple minutes per unit, then they're golden.
Maybe that's true, but all i can say is its all garbage anyway !
@@christopherdunn317 There's a baseline of effort in making the most horrible of equipment. Something adequate doesn't have to be fundamentally much more expensive than a piece of garbage. It breaks my heart how much effort goes into producing landfill products every day.
I have the 2a and absolutely adore it
have you compared the kt2a to any other 2a compressors?
Epithet Music Not directly. Used several versions including the UA hardware and plugins in the past and it compares very favorably in my opinion. Good for tracking vocals and bass here.
It sounded better than the plug in at least. Have a unit in my studio, and I like it a lot.
"Do Not Buy This" in the title, and "Useless" in the thumbnail is a little harsh I think.
I've got one, and it is not as transparent as yours seems to be. Mine has plenty of character, and it's better than any of the plugins which are admittedly my only current point of reference.
Here's one reason to have a transparent analog compressor: you can't run a plugin between your mic pre and your converter; having a transparent compressor in between helps you maintain the sound coming from the pre while ducking down peaks that might clip the converter, basically a piece that makes gain adjustment way easier without introducing any unwanted tonal characteristics
Sure, uad!
Wrong. You literally just wanted to prove him wrong, but introduced a useless point of view. A recorded sound is already "Transparent". Adding a compressor of high enough quality is intended to add a tonal character to the sound source. The unit presented doesn't achieve that, so simply resulting to a plugin would instead of purchasing a useless piece of hardware.
@@whathuh6965 Or you just want to compress your vocals.. Your comment makes no sense. I’m almost certain you don’t even know what a compressor does.
@@ctrlaltcreate3827 Like literally, what are you talking about? A Hardware compressor of High end quality is mainly used to add color and variable harmonics to the sound source. What Audio Engineering school did you graduate from? This is common knowledge among industry Mixing Engineers. Ask Dave Pensado, Manny Maroquin or Chris Lorde to name a few famed Mixing Engineers; they all literally reinforce this concept.
It's not about knowing how a compressor works, it's about knowing which hardware compressor adds what distinct sonic quality and color to the sound source. A prime hardware component of this concept is found in the compressor titled the 'FairChild' 660 engineered by "Rein Narma". By default, it adds a varied dynamic color to the sound source, compared to a clean sound absent it's use. This compressor is Joseph Jack Puig's favorite compressor. You still have much to learn. You're way too arrogant.
@@whathuh6965 A compressor is used for compression. How are you arguing this?
Wow, just saw this review and I have to say that normally your reviews are interesting and entertaining but, this review is borderline irresponsible.
Of the more than 25+ mix and post rooms we deal with on a daily basis that use these units, literally none of them have reached this conclusion. In fact, most, if not all of them insist that they are nearly indistinguishable from the intended reference, the blackface URI models. Thats a lot of full time productions houses reaching that conclusion.
This is starting to look a lot more like a youtube ratings grab than an actual review and thats a disappointing trend here, if thats the case.
The KT-76 has been a great addition to my studio so far, been using it on mono piano blocky chords and loved it so much i bought a second one today.
Looking forward to trying the Andrew Scheps back buss trick with this pair of 76s, they're a steal at the price and sound fantastic. Great for learning about audio outside the box too.
In response to this video i say DO BUY THIS!
What about on vocals will it make vocals 3d
I like the honesty! Your right it’s like a clone but without the character of a 1176. But I think for people starting to get into hardware maybe buying their first compressor for the price this would actually be a amazing piece. It sounds pretty good and can be hit pretty hard without distorting it seems like.
But then you better buy a RNC compressor. Same price, a lot smaller and just amazing sounding.
I'm able to clip the heck out of the two I have.. !!
I just got one and it's great so far. I've bought/sold to many VCA compressors that just didn't sound good to me - as soon as I hook this one up on bass I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Super easy to set the controls.
Lighten up, Francis. I've got a pair of these comps and I love them. Plus, what the hockey sticks does a vintage Blue Stripe even sound like, considering how many times some baked intern has soldered them back together? I hope folks watching this vid don't abide by the advice. And while the KT's do seem fairly transparent when driven at moderate levels, I have NO problem overdriving them to get some hair on vocals / bass / etc. Hell, if you want character, slam the input FROM THE DAW (no indication of how hard the input was being hit in this vid) or mash all the buttons in. But stop pretending that a few low gain tests are enough to prove that some piece of gear has no character or sounds bad, especially when you admit that you are EQing first, which means that the comp is working against any subtractive EQ you used. And everyone else, buy the 2A that KT makes as well; quality stuff, IMHO.
Also be good if the levels were a little closer KT is down 5.7db to the Urei. Also KT is not a blue face be interesting to hear it against what its aimed at emulating.
Well said mate, i've got a pair of 76s myself. Happy trails.
Should've mentioned i love them too :)
The kicks was really different, and on the kick, the Klark Teknik sounded *most* like the Urei. The plugin always sounded worst. The hard driven Klark Teknik wasn't THAT different from the Urei, but yeah, the Urei gave the vocals a closeness and presence none of the other had. Very interesting.
I think there's an actual market and need for this, but it's very specific: first analog compressor for live tracking. While tracking, zero latency monitoring is very important. Even a little bit of latency can shift the phase relations in a headphone mix, and often this will alter the performance for worse. Of course separate DSP-processors or powerfull computers with super low latency interfaces will make this kind of product kind of useless, but there are a lot of people with systems that simply aren't powerfull enough for live tracking through plugins.
My background is as the controller of a large manufacturing company. People are mind blown by price
And think there must be something wrong but this is really just how they are looking at price. If your price things based on how much you could get for it. Your market isn't very inclusive, but if your price the other way, based on your profit margin then your are ultimately going to sell a lot more units, drive cost efficiencies and have more money at the end of the day to put towards Uber quality items, like those $10k midas preamps
This clown would complain about a free lunch. It sounds great. Is it an actually 1176- no but for budget it’s great.
I actually bought one after watching this video, & I already own an Original 1970's Urei & a WA76 !
In case nobody else has said it (I'm sure they have) - a unit being completed every 10 seconds is very different from making one every 10 seconds, which is likely to be much nearer the truth. You just have to make them in parallel ... and even then only for as long as it takes to make that measurement - it will take much longer to complete each one ... you just start each one 10 seconds later! This is how mass producing works in industry. Sounds confusing at first I grant you ;)
Typical reaction from a guy who spends tons of money in overpriced Vintage/Boutique stuff. He would not recognise any of these units in a blindfold test! Enough Said...
You're right, the Urei had more harmonics. BUT even the KT had a few in your last test. And you asked, why someone should buy that thing. Well I think it's nice for tracking. And since I cannot open a door and step into Soundvision Sttudio :), like most people I have to pick up, what I need and can afford.
And may I add, that on all buttons in mode, the KT can produce some nice harshness, for parallel compression quite nice.
Save your pennies and get quality man. Don't cheap out and end up with garbage like this Klark BS.
@@lightafluident.9950 I bought neither one :).
Don't listen to this reviewer people, i advice to DO buy it and decide for yourself
It doesn't sound like an 1176, but I think it sounds great
Out of all your videos this is the one that I have to disagree with. The black 1176 was never meant to add harmonics. Even so, I have found that mine (same 1176-KT) adds some character in the hi-mid freqs. I actually appreciate the transparency because I also use a U47 clone that already has its own character. Just as all other mics do. I wouldn’t say that it’s useless rather that it does an extremely job well done at what it’s intended to do - COMPRESS!!
It's such a shame he didn't do his research, how is he not aware of this????
Thanks for the demo. I tend to agree , if it doesn't have a form of character, I can already use something else like my dbx. Guess I'll start looking at the warm reviews next 😀
That's a shame, the kt-76 rules. Try it yourself before taking this guys advice. I just got one from GC used thinking I could return it. It's the best vocal compressor I now own. I have a Summit DCL-200 that will never be used on vocals again.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the transparent nature of the compressor, even when pushed, be perfectly suited as a cheap option for tracking vocals for example? That way you get control on the way in without having to worry much about distortion?
That's what I thought too! 👍
The odd part of all this is that modern compressors strived to become as transparent as possible and to remove harmonic distortion was considered a goal in past recordings, now we want it all to come back because our signal and gain is all super clean
I have the unit and i love it! On Bass and vocals or whatever you put into! Clickbait and very bad comparison. I love your channel but this video wasn't correct.
OMG the vocals on the UREI sounded fabulous. Never heard it before on vocals
Yes you have!
@@rogerheathcote3062 Oh yes!!!
On every single album ever made but ok 🙄😂
Really strange that it didn't sound good in this review because in the The Ultimate 1176 Shootout by Present Day productions it compared really well with many other renowned 1176's. 🤔
I have two and they are GREAT. The character of this thing is the way it does gain reduction on certain sound sources,
Anybody who comes out swinging saying a product is completely useless in all caps better back it up with some knowledge. Really missing the mark in that respect. the KT-76 isn't trying to be a Blue Stripe emu. Pretty lame to steer people away from gear you can't even illustrate competent usage of. Tried to find some of your stuff online and only tracked down a Soundcloud of overcompressed Moombah mixes. It's one thing to build a following off the back of hot takes and claims of snake oil, but it's straight up disingenuous to do that without even knowing what you're talking about.
Agreed. White Sea Studio is the Snake Oil Distributor (educated details never included)
@@triple_x_r_tard Not one of those mixes was exceptional. Sounds like pretty standard modern production. If that’s “fantastic” for you, I would suggest broadening your horizons and raising your bar for what a “fantastic” mix sounds like.
On the URI the kick sounded bigger than the rest. So if we say that "there isn't a big difference", probably when it will be used on many tracks of the song, these small differences will add up to make that 5% to 10% in the end and make the difference even more prominent or sound even better.
Not quite, that's if you assume that he nailed the relative settings for each compressor (the blueface/Rev. A compressors are literally diff models and sound quite different and more colored, so not really possible anyway) but he failed that badly anyways because he was getting on average about 7 dB GR on the blueface plugin, meanwhile the hardware was getting around either 3 or 5 dB GR, sooooooooo the differences in his settings alone (orrrr the differences between the hardware Rev. A clone he as and the UA/Urei Rev. A modeled plugin he has) are just not nearly scientific enough to say whether or not they're 1% or even 20% different.
My KT76 arrived, and it's far from transparent on... everything.
yes do buy this comp. It sounded awesome despite the RUclips audio compression it applies and as a producer I can tell he wasn't pushing his DAW hard into the unit and to just say just" use the plugins"? the plugin was dog poo compared to the KT? even thou he had the KT sounding less distorted and I could still hear way more harmonics in a beautiful clean way from the KT. This guy must have awful hearing if he honestly thinks the plugin was better. So please get better at mixing and train your ears (research and knowledge not needed to be mention) before trying to give good advice especially as all of us producers, composers and audio engineers who clearly have why more professional ears beyond yours all say your WRONG. This is NOT fair on the company or for new people who still have not developed their ears yet or know anything about vintage circuits of analogue gear. I have extremely little knowledge of analogue gear as I come from psytrance (no vocal or live recording experience) background so im so glad so many comments from professionals in the comments have addressed this for me so thanks guy :):):) I do want a clean compressor one day so will defo look into buying this compressor along with colourful one.
You have completely trashed talked a company by not even comparing it to similar sounding comps. If you have any honor you would take this video down as its not fair Klark Teknik or fair on any new engineers with false information. This comp sounded awesome
the plugin didn't belong in that comparison, it really was crap, but the KT was just a margin better. So who can say?
i agree. i have been using this compressor for about a year now, running mainly vocals and bass through it, and i can confirm that this compressor really delivers. it has very punchy clean lows and silky smooth highs, and the attack sounds very good on vocals. it makes everything i put through it sound cleaner.
There also something wrong with the plugin, it is compressing way less and with different A/R settings. There is no "tail" on drums, but i'm sure i can replicate time constant from an hardware comp to a plugin even if not it's clone! (i mean i can easily replicate time constants from a real 1176 to a Steinberg stock comp plugin by ears!). This video is useless, not the kt76....
Thanks for being honest... appreciate that
You'll learn to understand the compressor in the distant future.
that would be the best series ever!!
finding the cheapest best stounding 1176 and LA2A
"Use the ATTACK knob to adjust the amount
of time it takes for the compressor
to respond to audio that exceeds the
threshold. The response time is slow when
set fully counterclockwise and faster as it is
turned clockwise. "
Clickbait title. Still a great buy, in your own words "a great compressor" for 200€...
Ray Dolby Quotes and Sayings
“To be an inventor, you have to be willing to live with a sense of uncertainty, to work in this darkness and grope towards an answer, to put up with anxiety about whether there is an answer.”
Next one: KT-2A Please!!!
And the EPQ :)
the kt-2a is what i’m interested in too. i’ve read a lot of good things about it, even saw one buyer saying they preferred it to the sa-2a on vocals.
@@EpithetMusicTV There are also people who say that about the KT-76. But I would also like to see his opinion on the other KT clones.
kt 2a is really great kt 76 is noisy as hell (I have both)
Florian Masereel i love the 2a as well, but my kt76 are both super quiet.
this thing looks like a good hardware base for modding and/or housing your own custom compressor circuit. nice solid housing with space to add more pots and buttons as needed.
got too much headroom to really drive it? start voltage starving any amp stages and watch the magic as op amp and transistor saturation starts setting in
but having real Wytse fingerprints on it will make it a collecters item and thus more valuable than a new KT76
well,, the art pro VLA II this guy recommands sounds like garbage to me... so maybe i should just go against his advice and buy this unit
Amazing how many reviews are slamming you for the lack of accuracy in this review. What would be wise is if you did an updated review of this compressor, clarifying your lack of information that you received, and comparing it against another 1176 that was clearly made for different purposes. It would do a lot to help your reputation. A little humility goes a long ways.
There is a desire for transparincy for some things, actually most things, and the desire for "destortion" or saturation for other things. I like the Klark BECASUE of the lack of coloration/distortion etc. I am not going to buy one because I am going to the ART, but that is because of a specific reason, and all other units are way beyond my budget.
You're comparing the 1176KT (which is a clone of the rev-D black face) against the rev-A blue face units. Of course it's cleaner sounding.
I actually like it’s sound on the vocal. I’d buy one just for that alone. I’m partial to tubes, but this is actually a very good clean sound. I like a clean sound more than anything else. I wanna be able to manipulate it later if i so choose. Can’t do that if it’s already colored coming in.
DO NOT BUY INTO THIS REVIEW! So, this dude claims that the only purpose of an 1176 is the saturation you get if you drive it hard. My buddy bought two of these. I have 1176's and LA2A's in my work studio, and I can tell you that the basic compression quality of the KT unit is close to the UA 1176. DUH! That's what I buy a compressor for, not for the distortion that it adds to the signal. I mean, yeah, I get it. I like the saturation of the UA 1176. But it's not that huge a deal. I get saturation from my Neve 5024, SCA N72 and other hairy preamps. I use the 1176 for compression. This kind of clueless review from some dude who seems to have a following is sad.
You can hear the difference even through RUclips. The original unit has that certain character and bite but still keeps it up front the KT doesn’t. Not sure why others can’t hear it. Maybe they are trying to justify their purchase.
Kevin St Croix 😄 i feel so too, but sound is subjective too
Heya. Big fan of your videos. However, the differences you're hearing here are EXACTLY the difference between the 1176LN circuit and the 1176A. I've just spent the last year with the 1176D, and that KT is behaving precisely as I'd expect.
Historically, the 1176A is a micpre with a sidechain to attenuate driven from the output. UREI got a lot of complaints about the distortion, and developed the "low noise" (LN) circuit, which replaces the entire front end of the micpre circuit. The 76B/C are compatible with the LN upgrade, and the 76D has it build in.
I have a 76A and 76D here, and the differences are precisely what you've found. I'd go a step further and suggest that if you haven't sold that thing, you could re-engineer it to 76A spec with an extra FET and some resistor changes. You'd get what you want from that. The circuit topology is really very different.
I use one of these for recording bass. It’s sick. Regardless of what they cost, it’s a great sound.
I’ve now purchased two and they sound fantastic. Best purchase I’ve made in years!
I have a pair of these . No issues , no noise , does the fast grabby FET sound well , lots of quick gain reduction on tap. I run them with a pro-vla II from 1073 style pre-amps , great sound for vocals and bass , lots of colour there when you need it and you can back off the vla and 1073 if you don't .
not gonna bash on your review.. I find them mostly coming from very much the right place and pretty much the same standpoint as myself..My studio is quite like yours all analogue 40ch Calrec desk.. K&H UE1000.. ADL1500 Summit etc etc.. I do think this reveiw is a little off.. the distortion on say an analogue 808 style kick through this .. is in a totally different ballpark from any of the plugs I tried.. waves etc.. the drive is smoother/darker and quite useable where the plugs souded dry and crunchy(not in a good way) and breaking up.. has to be said the impression you gave from the outset seemed to want to belittle the KT. persinally I really couldnt care about that.. just seemed not your usual standard.. perhaps not totally untrue about the cleaness.. but also not correct with plug in comparisons.
Since The Music Group acquired Klark Teknik as well as Midas, T.C Electronics and (gulp) Tannoy and of course the first company was Behringer they have been able to lower the price of gear forcing other companies to follow suit to compete other companies as well, starting with the digital console X32, and many other very inexpensive gear that allow beginners to go much farther with the money they have, even a decent 24 bit/192Khz 4X4 interface with 4 Midas designed pre amps and usb/midi connectivity for $200 Canadian, that's about $150 US. Also lighting, pa system , wireless guitar jacks and everything in between. I can't knock a company like that, and I wish they were around when I was about 18. Sometime since they are made in China but designed in Germany they get a few lemons, and will exchange it in a second with no hassle. I can't believe they own Tannoy now. I loved my old PBM 6.5's better than the Yamaha NS 10's. Try another if you don't think it is performing as it should. They have come a long long way since the old tiny mixers that fell apart, but they would just give you another with no questions asked. And I have heard amazing Midas consoles that are very low priced for the quality. Don't be so fast to condemn them just yet.
everything behringer sucks, so you all say, but it's definitely not true. The truth is that Behringer is gaining more and more popularity and credibility and you are just losing it
What you get wrong here is that klark teknik doesn't mimic blue line compressor but black face and those are completely different beasts
Hi and thanks for your efforts! I also did a shoot-out a few weeks ago comparing the Stam SA-76 to the Klark 76-KT. What I found is that the Klark distorts a little more in all-buttons in mode. That's why I ordered one myself to use it on snare drum in exactly that mode. For me it's doing a good job there - especially for the price. If you're interested, here's the comparison: ruclips.net/video/N4GvGLI6ruc/видео.html
On a side note, notice how different the plugin sounds from the real comps. It's like you have to crush it on a parallel comp as well with the plugins to get it like the real thing.
Needs time to review hardware. Does not need time to review plugins.
FeelsWeirdMan
Makes complete sense. You can run a plugin across a handful of channels in the time it takes you to send one channel out to a hardware comp. Just my opinion...
LifeWhyz Music no it doesn’t. You do it with an insert plugin. It’s the exact same time. Less time maybe. Turning knobs is faster on hardware than with a mouse
It sounds pretty good to me. Thanks for the demo.
I like the video but you really need to get a different kick sound to use for these demos lol that one sounds like a wet fart
Yeah I was kinda cringing when I heard that kick too
SiREN-DRUMS Sounds like it was recorded through a mattress...with the mic in another room.
Your firts white FET is the best for my ears, it's very warm and subtle.
Guy tests a clone of a Blackface 1176; guy is disappointed that it doesn't sound like a Blue Stripe 1176. *facepalm*
I don't know which device you tested, but my KT 76 is a bomb 💣😂
the one in this video is ASS then.
Brilliant, I’m look for a super transparent compressor lol,
I’ll buy it for that, not as a 1176
This video makes me really want one, I'm gunna get one now!