FEDERAL Compressor Limiting Tube Preamp Mods Amplifier Great 864 Am

( Brand: Federal ), ( Type: Vintage Tube Compressor Limiter ), ( Effect/enhancement: Compression/limiting ), ( Form Factor: Rack-mountable ), ( Number Of Channels: One ), ( Features: Sidechain Insert )

Review FEDERAL Compressor 864 Limiting Cool Tube Preamp Mods Amp Great Works

The Compressor 864 Limiting Federal Tube Preamp Mods Amp by Great Am is a remarkable piece of audio equipment that combines vintage charm with modern functionality. This tube preamp amplifier boasts a 864 compressor limiting circuit, which provides exceptional control over dynamics, ensuring your audio stays balanced and clear even in the most demanding situations.

The Federal Tube Preamp Mods feature high-quality vacuum tubes, carefully selected for their superior sound quality. These tubes bring warmth and depth to your audio, giving it a rich, full-bodied sound that is both classic and contemporary. The preamp section also includes a variety of tone shaping controls, allowing you to tailor the sound to your specific needs.

The amp section of the Compressor 864 is equally impressive. It delivers a powerful and punchy sound, with plenty of headroom to handle even the most aggressive input. Yet, it retains the warmth and character of the tube preamp, ensuring that your audio never loses its natural, organic feel.

The mods on this amp are not just cosmetic upgrades. They have been meticulously designed to improve the performance and reliability of the amp, while maintaining its unique sound character. From the hand-wired circuit boards to the custom transformers, every component has been chosen for its ability to contribute to the overall sound quality.

In summary, the Compressor 864 Limiting Federal Tube Preamp Mods Amp by Great Am is a versatile and high-performance tube preamp amplifier that offers a unique blend of vintage warmth and modern flexibility. Whether you're a studio engineer, a live sound technician, or a passionate home audio enthusiast, this amp is sure to become an essential part of your audio setup.

1. Tube Technology: The use of tubes in the preamp and power amp sections provides a warm, rich, and natural sound that is often preferred by audiophiles.

2. Hand-Wired Construction: The hand-wired construction of the amp ensures a high-quality signal path, which can result in improved sound quality.

3. Modifications: The preamp and power amp sections have been modified to improve the overall sound quality, including the addition of limiting circuits to reduce distortion.

4. Versatility: The amp can be used with a variety of speakers, making it a versatile option for different music genres and listening environments.

1. Cost: The amp is a high-end option and is therefore more expensive than many other amplifiers on the market.

2. Maintenance: Tube amplifiers require more maintenance than solid-state amplifiers, including regular tube replacements.

3. Size: The amp is larger than many other options on the market, which may be a concern for those with limited space.

4. Power Consumption: Tube amps tend to consume more power than solid-state amps, which may be a concern for those with high electricity bills.

The 864 Limiting Federal Tube Preamp Mods Amp is a high-end option that offers a warm, rich, and natural sound due to its tube technology and hand-wired construction. However, it is also more expensive, requires more maintenance, and consumes more power than many other options on the market. If you are an audiophile who values sound quality and is willing to invest in a high-end option, this amp may be a good fit for you.

If you are looking for a high-end tube amplifier with excellent sound quality, the 864 Limiting Federal Tube Preamp Mods Amp is a worthwhile consideration. However, if you are on a budget or have limited space, you may want to consider other options that offer similar sound quality at a lower price point or in a smaller size.

Details:

The frequency response is good. The red switch on the back takes it from internal modulation to external modulation. The back has a balancing pot for the gain reduction tubes. The 1/4 unbalanced jack on the back panel provides a path for an external audio signal to modulate the unit, even do side chaining effects.

This is nicely balanced and does fairly extreme gain reduction seamlessly. This is a low serial 58, it works and sounds very nice. The output is padded about 16db, as these have generous output that overloads most line levels.

Added on the front panel are attack and release controls. The ratio and threshold control on the back have knobs, rather than locking screw type, for easier adjustment. These are great on everything, from bass, ambient drums, guitars, vocals, etc. The original mica ones tend to, after 60 years, be a bit distorted and poor frequency response compared to polypropylene.

The schematic for the unit is fastened at the factory onto the bottom plate of the chassis. Diode set up on these.

Excellent working specimen. The caps in the audio path are Wilma's and Prague. The release in particular has a big impact on the response and performance. The highs roll off gently after 7000hz.

Cosmetically, it looks old and has a number of scuffs and paint wear on the front panel and shroud. This unit in the working and cosmetic condition i've described. You can experiment with sending the untreated audio signal as modulator source, very spank and unruly depending on your settings, or send the output of the limiter as the modulation source which is very smooth and transparent limiting, or send a kick drum or an LIFO or other audio sources and do side chaining and ducking effects. It can be reverted back to factory settings and the original, intact direct wire connection can be re soldered if desired.

Overall, the audio sounds full and open. The control called limiter threshold is actually the gain of the modulation signal, so this controls the amount of limiting in both internal or external mode. Federal am 864 u limiting compressor tube amplifier.

Very low serial. If no signal's present when it's set to external, then it's a linear amplifier, which is useful for instantly a being the gain reduced signal vs. You do lose some of the really low end 60hz, but it's still strong in the 95hz zone, and overall sounds great on bass. The rest is in clean shape and the circuit was tranquilized.

Check the pics for frequency sweeps of the unit under different ranging input levels. The attack is more subtle, at full counter clockwise it actually let's a bit of the modulating signal feed through due to the nature of the mod. About a 1/3 of a turn in is about the factory attack setting.

Regular amplifier.

specifications signalprocessorgo:

• brand: Federal
• type: Vintage Tube Compressor Limiter
• effect/enhancement: Compression/limiting
• form factor: Rack-mountable
• number of channels: One
• features: Sidechain Insert

Shipping signalprocessorgo:

• handling: 3 days
• type: Calculated

Ratings:

1. Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended. 08-19-16
2. Quick response and fast payment. Perfect! THANKS!! 07-27-16
3. Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended. 09-27-16
4. Great communication. A pleasure to do business with. 07-15-16
5. Great communication. A pleasure to do business with. 10-02-16

Payments signalprocessorgo:

• PayPal

Returns signalprocessorgo:

• policy: no returns

Offer signalprocessorgo:

• best offer: true
• # bids: 0
• Started: October 4, 2016, 10:17 pm
• # Sold: 0
• quantity: 1

Seller signalprocessorgo:

• zipcode: K8V 3W1
• city: Trenton, Ontario

General signalprocessorgo:

• Musical Instruments & Gear > Pro Audio Equipment > Signal Processors/Rack Effects
• condition: Used
• in stock: Yes

Federal Is Similar To:

• Am-447 Federal Compressor Limiter Amplifier Vintage Tube (44.6% similar) Also, someone added a speaker output transformer on the back. You can see from the construction, it uses heavy duty oil caps, etc. Federal AM-447ACOMPRESSOR limiter amplifier vintage 50S tube b heres a cool old for restoration. These are actually fairly full range frequency compressors, and as I ...(May 1st, 2018)
• Federal Am-864u Am-864 Compressor Stereo Restoration (54% similar) Brand: Federal us signal corps. This has been updated and modified as a stereo compressor. This giant will give you the compression from a classic era. Number of analog XLR outputs - refer to photos for visual detail. Vintage 1940S / 1950 Federal us signal corps AM-864 tube compressor. Condition: ...(August 8th, 2024)
• Transformer Corp Of America Bc-730-c Vintage Tube Audio Limiter Compressor Bc730 Cousin To Federal Television Am864 u (31.4% similar) I m not sure exactly what has been done, but the fuse holder is disconnected and there no on off switch present. Not sure if that was done to be able operate this remotely. This is a close cousin to the more well-known and common Federal television corp. Please see all photos. There appears to be a ...(March 8th, 2025)