Limiter NEVE 2254/R: the return of the legendary compressor

You've probably already heard of the Neve 2254, referring to the vintage version of the compressor in question designed back in 1969 which quickly became a legend thanks to discrete components, Class A design, and transformer-coupled circuits used in the input stage. In addition, the innovative design of the bridge driver, side chain and output stages ensure an absolutely unique sound.

The updated version Neve 2254/R (where R stands for "Recall"), retains the same features as the legendary model while making some improvements and more modern features.

Technical specifications of the Neve 2254/R

Going down to the specifics, the Neve 2254/R is a mono unit with two sections: Limiter and Compressor. The VU meter allows monitoring of the input signal, output and gain reduction. There is the possibility to bypass the machine completely or even just individual sections via the relevant backlit buttons.

It is a machine that, while not presenting many controls, is still versatile, capable of behaving aggressively, with fast tempos, or more moderately, with both slower release and attack times.

Speaking of attack time, very interesting is the possibility of switching from a fixed setting in the Limiter section, equivalent to 5ms as in the original vintage version, to a setting called Fast Attack which is infinitely variable between 2ms and 100microS.

Audio test results on the Neve 2254/R compressor.

As for listening to the machine, we performed audio tests on different sound sources, which you can listen to by watching our YouTube video.

From these tests we can say that the Neve 2254/R turns out to be a compressor with a vintage mold anyway with its own distinctive sound, super versatile and also suitable for creative use, having both Compression and Limiter sections.

This version is the newest and also has remote control, which is not really automatic as the potentiometers are not motorized, but rather could be called semi-manual.

Through the USB connection, it is also possible to view on the screen the settings of a given preset saved earlier: the software will recognize, one by one, the position of the potentiometers and show us the potentiometers that need to be returned to the correct position. The whole thing works excellently and also quite quickly.