Gates SA39 mod

Gates SA 39 mod:

This mod turns a somewhat unusable Gates SA39 limiter into one of the most impressive limiters ever!  Capitalizing on a fantastic design by the brilliant Gates engineers this mod eliminates drawbacks to practical use in the recording of music while preserving and even teasing out a bit more of the inherent impressive sound.  The result is a totally usable fat, warm and punchy sound equal to but not surpassed by just a few other similar units. It does improve the sound passing through it. It calls attention to the instrument or vocal being recorded.  It just plain impresses.  It wins.

This Mod came about at the request of some customers who noted the fantastic sonic characteristics of the Gates SA39 limiter, but found some significant drawbacks that prevented them from practical use of the unit in music production.

The Drawbacks  :

1. Way too much gain.  The SA39 has the gain of a mic pre….but we have mic pres for that.  
2. The excessive gain results in having to ride the input level control near the bottom of it’s travel where resolution is poor.  
3. The limit threshold is fixed, so to get more than just a tad of compression/limiting the gain must be turned up, resulting in way to hot an ouput level, as most of the excessive gain follows the gain reduction circuit.  
4. The output pad reduces output level, but not by enough.
5. The gain pot only varies gain by a small amount, usually not enough.
6. The recovery time switch is on the rear panel
7. The recovery time is too long

The Solution :

1. In place of the fixed output pad and gain pot,  a variable 600 ohm attenuator is fitted, allowing total control over output level.  
2. The recovery time switch and it’s nameplate is moved from the rear panel to the front in place of the headphone jack. 
3. The recovery time at each switch position is reduced to ½ it’s original value. 

See Details for more info.

(Price is for modification labor and parts.  Does not include unit to be modified.)

(Repairs not included)