Enhance Your Music with the Iconic Tube Compressor

It’s perhaps the most iconic piece of outboard gear ever. You’ve heard it on countless hit records — the legendary LA-2A. Patch your signal through it, and magic happens. First introduced in the early 1960s, the Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier fast became a staple in the racks of recording and broadcast studios large and small. Today, the Universal Audio LA-2A is crafted to original specifications in Scotts Valley, California, handwired point-to-point, with every component carefully selected for authenticity. Smooth, natural, and eminently musical, the legendary LA-2A’s tube-driven electro-optical attenuation circuit delivers instant gain reduction with zero increase in harmonic distortion, massaging audio like no other compressor you’ve ever used. Every serious studio needs at least one.

An audio legend at work

there’s no shortage of LA-2A plug-ins — testimony to the hardware unit’s enduring relevance, sonic appeal, and dynamics-control prowess. A studio staple for over a half century, the LA-2A continues to captivate new generations of retro-seeking audio pros with its uncanny ability to work its magic on synth bass and 909 kick samples, in addition to its decades-long dominance as the non plus ultra compressor for vocals, bass, drums, guitars, and anything else you might care to feed it. Its this program-dependent quality, combined with its 2-knob ease of use, that has made the ‘2A an intrinsic part of the very fabric of pro audio.

You can’t make it sound bad

Top artists, engineers, and producers prize the LA-2A for its subtle, alluring warming qualities. This compressor can be as transparent as needed on vocals, but you can also hit it hard for sizzling overdrive that will pump up a lackluster guitar like a dimed tube stack. It’s brilliant as a permanent fixture in your vocal compression chain. In series with another compressor (the 1176 is a popular choice), the LA-2A helps deliver silky-smooth vocals. Hit the ‘2A hard to smooth out the largest peaks, then run the signal through the 1176 to tidy up. Experiment by reversing the chain. It’s impossible to make the LA-2A sound bad.

Still going strong

In the early 1960s, Jim Lawrence, founder of Teletronix, started using photocells to control audio gain in an innovative, groundbreaking optical compression design that far surpassed the transparency and stability of earlier circuits. Universal Audio’s founder Bill Putnam later acquired the patented technology and continued to manufacture the LA-2A through the ’60s. These units became pro studio staples in the 1970s, and in 2000 UA released a reissue. Meticulously engineered to original specs, the acclaimed tube-amplified T4 electro-optical compressor reissue takes its place alongside the countless vintage units still in daily service in top audio facilities around the world. There may never be a more iconic dynamics processor.