Manley Manley ELOP^®+

Manley Manley ELOP^®+

STEREO LIMITER COMPRESSOR

With iron-balanced, transformer-coupled inputs, an all-tube audio path, and an electro-optical attenuation circuit, the Manley ELOP+ is a dual-channel compressor and limiter. It’s capable of achieving pleasing dynamic-taming results in the studio, especially when tracking vocals or instruments.

The ELOP+ follows in the footsteps of heralded studio levelers such as the UREI LA-2A, providing relatively few controls in comparison to many other compressors: there are no attack, release, or knee controls. Instead, you are presented with a reduction-control knob, make-up gain, and a button to switch between a 3:1 and 10:1 ratio—though these are approximations, as they are highly sensitive to the material fed into the compressor. These streamlined controls allow you to attain sonically desirable compression in a straightforward manner: Simply select a preferred ratio, set the threshold to achieve the amount of gain-reduction you’d like to effect (along with your ears, you can use the meters provided for a visual aid), and adjust the make-up gain to taste.

Both channels sport their own gain, ratio, bypass, and reduction controls, with each channel providing a high-pass sidechain button; this prevents frequencies below 80 Hz from effecting the signal. Both channels sport their own VU meters, which can be switched to indicate gain reduction or overall output level.

If you’re routing a stereo source through the ELOP+, you might want to make use of the stereo/link button, which will prevent your stereo image from wandering when one channel becomes louder than the other. The unit, occupying 2 RU of rack space, comes with its own internal power supply specifically calibrated to handle its complement of tubes. Suggested uses of this compressor include vocals, bass, guitar, brass, woodwinds, and synthesizers, upon which the ELOP+ can impart transparent and subtle dynamics-taming. The compressor is also suitable for room mics used to capture drum kits.