Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm what you would call a big fan of Aquilar products.Their amps are simply exquisite works of visual and sonic art.As they branch out into other products - pedals, pickups etc, they seem driven to impress the same quality and care as they do to their amplifiers.And in most respects, the TLC delivers.It is an absolutely top-notch compressor, rivaling the quality of high-priced rackmounted compressors.However, the quality of the pedal is marred by a couple of curious and frustrating design decisions.Here's the breakdown:
CONTROLS / SOUND:
The TLC has four basic controls - level (overall volume), threshold (frequency range that activates compression), attack (how quickly compression activates), and slope (how much it actually compresses tone).I won't go too much into these controls - chances are you already know how they work (if you don't, go look it up).Here I'll just say that like any good compressor, the TLC is subtle.It does a very good job of smoothing and balancing your tone without sacrificing the integrity of the signal.You won't hear a lot of noise, nor will you hear the distinct waverings in signal output that lesser compressors tend to suffer from.Volume unity can generally be achieved around 12:00 which is nice (I tend to run mine at about 1:00).Simply put, this is a very good compressor.
CONSTRUCTION / DESIGN
The TLC is very well constructed.It feels very durable and I hear no rattling when I shake the pedal.The knobs turn very smoothly, and feel very solid.It's a bit larger than the standard pedal, but it should still fit nicely on your board. And design-wise, it is generally pretty good.The knobs are placed far enough from the switch that you won't accidentally adjust them with your foot, and the battery compartment easily slides out, which as far as pedals go is a remarkable decision on the part of Aguilar.
However, there are two design choices that are completely baffling, and frustrate me to no end.There is a lip that protrudes about 1/4" from the front of the pedal, covering the input jacks and the DC in from the top and sides.I can't for the life of me figure out the benefit to this design choice, but I can sure tell you the downside: most right-angle plugs simply will not fit into this pedal.Does your 9-volt adaptor daisy chain use right-angle plugs?Too bad.Is your pedal board tight on space, and you don't have room to have a straight plug sticking out of your already taller than average pedal? You're out of luck.It's completely infuriating, and made worse when your realize the lip is purely a cosmetic design choice and serves no functional purpose.The other problem is similar in nature: that same lip extends down the sides of the pedal, protruding about 1/8" beyond the bottom.With the rubber feet, there is no problem.But if you want to attach velcro to the bottom of the pedal to fix it to your board, that lip prevents the two pieces from connecting.To get it to work I had to cut out pieces of cardboard and affix velcro to them to act as risers just to get the thing to stay put.Again, this design choice was purely cosmetic and extremely frustrating.
SUMMARY:
Even with the infuriating design flaws, the TLC is still well worth buying.The quality of its compression is simply incredible.You'll have to pay a lot of money before you will find anything that matches it.
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Product Description:
The TLC Compressor™ is designed to give musicians the ability to control their dynamics in a flexible and musical way, making it an invaluable musical tool for both recording and live use.Our proprietary Trans Linear Control (TLC) circuit enables us to achieve unprecedented levels of performance in a small package. The TLC Compressor™ features a four-knob layout to provide a full set of important features. Using a wide range of attack times and variable threshold and slope levels, you'll be able to dial in just the right sound. Aguilar's TLC Compressor™ gives you a range of control usually found only in expensive studio compressors.
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