API 2500+ | VCA Stereo Bus Compressor under test

The Api 2500 plus is a Stereo Bus compressor, an evolution of the very famous api 2500.

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The feature that distinguishes the new version of the API compressor is the addition of a circuit called Blend , which allows two types of parallel compression, a truly unique feature for this type of outboard.

Watch the individual chapters of the Youtube video

• 0:00 Api 2500 plus, VCA Stereo Bus compressor
• 1:07 API 2500 "Compressor" section
• 2:17 Tone section, the detector.
• 3:26 Link section, the link between L and R
• 3:49 Compressor Output Section
• 4:35 Drum Compression Test
• 5:36 Compression Test on Acoustic Guitar
• 8:09 Mix compression test
• 10:37 Thanks for watching

Api 2500 plus is a VCA compressor, assembled on a single rack unit.

The API compressor is extremely versatile and easy to use thanks to the numerous controls mounted on the front panel.

The front layout is organized into four sections.

The Compressor Controls

• Threshold with an excursion of 40 dB, from -20 dB to + 20 dB.
• Attack with stepped potentiometer from 0.3 ms to 30 ms.
• Ratio control in steps with values from 1.5: 1 to ∞: 1
• Release with 6-position stepped potentiometer (from 0.5 sec to 2 sec), plus a seventh position that enables continuous release control, with values from 50 ms to 3 sec.

The Tone Section

The second section of API 2500, called Tone, is entirely dedicated to detector controls, in turn divided into three sub-sections:

• Compressor Knee Control (Soft, Hard and Medium)
• Thrust, a filter positioned before the detector for truly unique compressions.
• New (Feed Forward Compressor) and Old (Feedback Compressor) modes

The Link section

The Link section is used to control how much one channel affects the compression of the opposite channel.

The L and R channels can work independently or fully linked to each other.

Output section of the Api 2500+

The fourth section is dedicated to the Output controls: Output Level, Bypass and Blend circuit.

The level can be manual or automatic (Auto Make-Up).

The Blend circuit works in two ways:

• In the forst section, Dry signal can be mixed with the compressed signal.
• in the second mode the clean signal is always present at 100% and with the mix control it is possible to balance how much compressed signal is inserted.