MusicRadar

The Preceptor performs flawlessly as both a compressor and a limiter.

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• Review

Pumped

The Preceptor is impressively transparent and capable of adding density to a source in a flattering and musical way. Its effect is not necessarily invisible as it can easily pump like hell and remove any trace of transient life if you want it to, but it never sounds trashy or out of control.

The automatic response settings are well set up and make an excellent starting point, as well as coping extremely well with temporally complex sources such as stereo mixes and group busses.

The more time we've spent with this unit the more we've come to appreciate its abilities across the board, from instrument tracking and transient shaping (meaty drums to die for) to mix-buss and mastering duties.

For drum mixes and full stereo mixes in particular the HPF delivers all the low end back when you think you've gone a bit overboard with the dynamic range squeeze, allowing a healthy bass drum pump without killing the mids and tops.

Blended

Though we tended to use the compression setting more than limiting, the Preceptor performs flawlessly in both, with the limiting producing a more aggressive biting characteristic.

The compression is like brown sugar and can just be poured on endlessly - only when a rush of hiss comes in from the source tailing off do you realise quite how far you've gone.

The Blend function is essential with this kind of compressor/limiter and allows for some stunning parallel 'beef-ups' for all sources.

Impressed

With 'boutique' gear there's always the elephant in the room, and that is the price - which in this case puts the Preceptor shoulder to shoulder with the real big hitters.

The quality of the components and workmanship fit the (quite considerable) bill and the quality of signal path (exceptional low self noise and high headroom) in conjunction with the all-stepped controls make it a prime mastering candidate, a factor that always adds a premium.

The range of dynamic range manipulations this unit easily provides make it a highly flexible tool that can deliver excellent results in tracking, mixing and mastering environments.

We were particularly impressed by the lack of tonal colouring, a characteristic that is highly desirable and keeps it out of the one-trick-pony league.

The Preceptor is wide-ranging and yet definitively non-generic - this is what 'boutique' gear should be about.