via this auction
Quick note: this is obviously not a synth. I'm making the exception on this one as it came in from a reader of the site. Yes you can send your auctions in too. See the submit auction link in the More Stuff section on the right. Also I do feature effects now and then if 1) they are made from manufacturers typically associated with synths as it is interesting from a historical perspective, 2) the effect is used in a manner typically associated with a synth (filters, chorus, phasers, etc), 3) demos of effects using a synth rather than guitar, and 4) effects built as modules for the modular world.
That said here's the auction description:
'Original and extremely rare EMI converted Altec RS124 valve compressor/limiter.
Made famous as used on many early Beatles records, this compressor was recently immortalised as a plugin by Abbey Road themselves.
These units were not available 'off-the-shelf' as they were modified at Abbey Road Studios and as such are extremely difficult to find nowadays.
This one is in good working order, as you can see from the photos it is not 'mint' cosmetically and shows it has history!
I have tried this on many different sound sources and the effect it has sounds like the aural equivalent of pouring melted butter over the sound, it's really creamy and just sounds very, very, VERY NICE.
OK so to the functionality...
The two things worth noting are
1. The Output Attenuator knob is slightly loose, it works as it should when you turn it, but would need re-aligning and tightening so it matches up with the numbers.
2. The other thing, is below the 'BAL' sticker a control of some sort has snapped off, I have never known what this control was or did as the unit worked fine without it!
So for those two (easy to fix) reasons I would say this unit deserves a service form somewhere like 'Funky Junk', who have experience with Altec compressors.
HOWEVER, neither of these affected my use of it and I am only mentioning them for transparency in the description.
Everything else works, sounds and lights up as you'd expect."
