Black Keys thumbs up for Unity compressor

The Black Keys have backed Unity Audio’s Lisson Grove AR-1 Tube Compressors, using them as part of their studio set-up. 

Patrick Carney, drummer for the popular rock band  The  Black  Keys,  was  looking  to  enhance  his  sound,  and  was  drawn  to Unity Audio’s Lisson Grove AR-1 Tube Compressors upon hearing them in his friend Gus Seyffert’ s  studio.  

Carney  purchased  two  compressors  to  use  across  his  mix-bus  and been using them ever since. “I  first  heard  the  Lisson  Grove  AR-1  at  Gus’   studio  and  I  was  immediately  impressedwith the sound of the unit on a variety of instruments,” said Carney. 

“The compressors really  shine  on  the  bass,  electric  and  acoustic  guitar.  The  impedance  control  is particularly handy and if need be, I am able to distort my sound in a pleasing way. Upon purchasing, it  was  recommended  that  I invest  in  two  AR-1s  to  use across  my  mix-bus and I am glad I listened to that advice. With these units, a little goes a long way and my mix continuously sounds amazing.”

Unity Audio’ s Lisson Grove AR-1 Tube Compressor is a vintage style tube compressor based on the classic Altec compressor that was used in the 1960’ s. It is hand-built but has  modern  day  upgrades.  Among  the upgrades are  the  compressor’ s  pot,  which  originally  had  an  output  of  only  200 ohms. With Unity’ s AR-1, the compressor’ s pot adjusts the output impedance of the unit, going from 600 ohms in the far right position, to 200 ohms (Dark) in the far left position. This allows for a variable tone without adding anything too bizarre to the circuit.

 “We  are  always  humbled  when  artists  of  Carney’ s  caliber  choose  our  products,” added Kevin  Walker,  managing  director  of  Unity  Audio. “Our  company  is  proud  of  the advances  that it  has  made  in  regards  to  this  classic  compressor,  while  staying  true  to the style of the 1960’ s. At Unity, we take a lot of pride in hand-building our units and are happy to continuously provide high-quality products to our customers.”

The  Lisson  Grove  AR-1  Tube  Compressors also possess  the ‘ Infinity’   control between each  of  the  six  recovery  settings.  In  effect,  this  control  position  results  in  an  extremely long recovery time. With the ‘ Infinity’  control, users are able to ‘ prime’  the unit before a take  and  prevent  an  increase  in  gain  during  silent  passages.  Unity  has  also  added  a quarter-inch jack on the back, to enable a footswitch control, for hands free operation of the unit.