Lindell Audio - LiN76 MKII Vintage Limiting Amplifier

The LiN76 MKII, designed by Lindell Audio, masterfully handles dynamics with a lively FET response, organic sound reproduction and a revised circuit that reduces noise, ensuring the clarity of the source material is preserved.

Its ratios, ranging from 4:1 to 20:1, cover several levels of compression, with an ‘all-on’ mode for radical processing – from subtle control to dense sound – depending on the desired gain reduction in each setting.

The balanced input stage and the bespoke Lindell transformer contribute to an expressive signal path, where settings can favour a clear sound or bring out more texture depending on the relationship between input and output levels, thereby broadening the range of textures available in the studio.

The attack and release times cover a particularly wide range, from 20 μs to 800 μs for attack and from 50 ms to 1,100 ms for release. This range handles both very fast transients and more gradual variations, with a response that is highly adaptable to the sources being processed. The continuous control further refines control over the dynamic behaviour and allows for precise adjustment of the desired response, even when the response needs to remain particularly responsive in the studio.

The control features an intuitive design, with a vintage VU meter to monitor the processing and a dedicated potentiometer for its calibration, whilst the true bypass facilitates A/B comparisons between the processed signal and the direct signal. This layout makes mixing decisions clearer and provides an immediate indication of how the compressor is affecting the overall dynamics of the signal.