• Account
  • View Shopping Cart

Menu Search View Shopping Cart Call Us
desktop

Drawmer DL 251 Compressor - Used  From Drawmer

Stereo or Dual-Mono (Linkable) Spectral Compressor. In Used, Very Good Condition

Close

Buy Pre-owned from Sound Pure with Absolute Confidence

Sound Pure's dedication to pre-owned products is unprecedented in the industry. We are a small team of dedicated experts that buys, trades, and consigns. We are trusted by customers all over the world. Our curated collection, is thoroughly tested and inspected by some of the best in the business. Our inventory is constantly changing, ever-evolving, with some items sold before reaching the website. Looking for something specific? Have questions about this product's condition or history? Want more photos, or to simply chat with an expert who's had his hands on this actual piece? Contact us now.
Our Current Used/Vintage Collection »

Sound Pure's Consignment Program »

Luthier Certification for Used Instruments »

Drawmer

$435.00

"Experience the Difference"

Try Before You Buy

Close
Try Before You Buy
Call us now to set up a free trial in your home or studio: 888-528-9703. Our specialists will help you select the best fit for your needs and hook up your free trial for the ultimate peace of mind. Experience the Sound Pure difference!
View all eligible products »

Lifetime Support

Close
Free Lifetime Technical Support!
Our small team of dedicated experts is here to help the original purchaser for the lifetime of the product. Why? Because we care about building real relationships with our customers for life and stand behind every product we sell.
Ships Quick!
Usually ships 3 - 5 business days after order processed.
Payments as low as $38/mo.

Want a lower price?
Get Discount

Check your email inbox now!

Close

Our best price is too low to print,
but we'll email it to you immediately!

learn more »

How to get a lower price, instantly!

Why do we do this?

Some manufacturers have a "minimum advertised price", which restricts how low of a price we can display. By requesting an e-mail quote from us, you give us the ability to offer you a lower price than anywhere else on the web. A quote on the product will be sent instantly to the e-mail address you enter, and you can add the product to your cart at the lower price displayed in the e-mail.

Manufacturer's Description from Drawmer

It is well known that compression, in its basic form, tends to remove high frequencies from any material with a wide bandwidth. This is because material usually has less energy at high frequencies than it does at low frequencies and since single band compressors are not frequency conscious, the 'highs' are attenuated together with the 'lows'. Using a slow attack time improves matters to some extent, but signals containing many harmonics (eg: vocals, strings and brass) or dynamic signals with a powerful 'leading edge' (eg: piano, kick and snare drum) tend to lose some clarity which often requires further audio processing. It is a fact that many engineers who would like to use a compressor in a particular application, avoid doing so because they feel that the 'sound loses something'. The DL251 'Spectral Compressor', incorporates a variable 'Dynamic Spectral Enhancement' (D.S.E.) section which eliminates the problems associated with full band compressors by restoring the high frequency energy lost during the full band compression process. This enhancement circuitry is extremely effective where compression and limiting are employed for broadcast transmission, or across complete mixes in a stereo mixdown situation. 'Dynamic Spectral Enhancement' has many creative applications when recording individual components at the multi-track stage, particularly on such programme as acoustic guitar, piano, brass and vocals. Facilities available on the DL251 include: Compressor. The compressor section can be switched to provide either HARD or SOFT knee compression In both the HARD and SOFT modes a Ratio control is available In the S0FT mode the ratio increases gradually over a 10dB input level range until it reaches the ratio set on the front panel control, thus achieving a more natural sounding compression. Selectable manual or automatic Attack and Release times dramatically extend the application range and user scope of the DL251. Selecting the 'Auto' mode removes the need for manual adjustment and is particularly valuable when the programme being treated does not have predictable or consistent dynamics, such as on complete mixes, vocals or 'slapped and pulled' bass guitar. Under manual control the wide range of adjustment available gives the user the ability to create dynamic effects as well as normal compression. Enhance Level. A variable Enhance control can be used to 'dynamically' boost any high frequency energy lost during the full band compression process and has sufficient range to add additional 'Spectral Energy' to the programme material for creative processing. When no compression is taking place, the 'Dynamic Spectral Enhancement' circuitry is inoperative and so no change is made to the signal. However, as the signal level rises to the point where gain reduction is taking place, the Enhancement system 'kicks in' applying dynamic boost which is directly related to the amount of gain reduction taking place. A front panel switch offers an instant A/B comparison of this feature and a green LED indicates the amount of enhancement taking place. Metering. Comprehensive bar graph displays give 'at a glance' indications of gain reduction, and input/output signal level Gain reduction from 1 dB to -30dB is shown simultaneously with signal level from 20dB to + 15dB Other single LEDs indicate function status of Hard/ Soft compression, Auto Attack/ Release, Side chain monitoring, Bypass, Enhancement, Peak Limiting, Stereo Linking and Power on. Side Chain Listen. A front panel push button with LED status enables the monitoring of any external processing applied to the side chain access connections on the rear panel. Bypass. A fully balanced hard wire bypass connects the input directly to the output allowing signal to pass through the unit with no power applied. In bypass mode the output level bar graph displays the Input signal. Stereo Link. When processing stereo signals, linking should be used to prevent image shifting. This facility ties both channels together. Using channel 1 (Left) as the master channel removes the need to duplicate control settings for both channels. A rear panel switch allows the selection of 'Peak' or 'Average' stereo signal detection. Peak Level. 'Zero Response Time', 'Zero Overshoot' circuitry provides an absolute limit to the peak level of the output signal, adjustable from 0dB to +16dB above system level When set to the required level, any excessive peaks will be stopped and the gain momentarily decreased if necessary The 'Zero Response Time' is essential to avoid unpleasant distortion when mastering for CD or sending any signal to digital equipment. 'Zero Response Time' means that the DL251 provides complete protection from even the fastest and shortest signal 'spikes' (overloads), making the unit also ideally suited for speaker system protection in sound reinforcement applications. Operating Level. The operating level of the DL251 can be instantly switched, independently on each channel, for either +4dBu or -10dBu operation using a rear panel push switch. Input/Output. The DL251 is provided with balanced inputs and outputs on XLR connections.

Drawmer

About Manufacturer

The Beginning: The name Drawmer is synonymous with professional signal processing in recording studio, broadcast and live sound reinforcement environments. The company which is based in Yorkshire, England was founded by Ivor Drawmer whose passion was designing audio circuits. "The whole thing started in 1981," explains Drawmer. "I had been playing keyboards with bands in Yorkshire, but that wasn't going so well and also I wasn't getting any younger. With the encouragement of friends I built a small batch of stereo delay lines, which I called the Multitracker, and that was the start of Drawmer." The DS201 Gate: In 1982 Drawmer revolutionised gating by introducing the DS201 Dual Noise Gate, the world's first 'frequency conscious' noise gate. "It came about from working with a producer called Phil Chapman, who wanted me to build him a gate. Without doing any research I built this thing that switched on, held for a certain amount of time and then just switched off. In practice of course it was no good at all, so I then spent some time going around studios looking at how gates were being used. What really surprised me was how long engineers spent fiddling with gates trying to get them optimally set up and I realised very quickly that a better design was needed." The DS201's unique High-Pass and Low-Pass key filters, comprehensive envelope control and ultra-fast attack time has since made it the 'industry standard' gate throughout the world. The 201 transformed the gate from what had previously been a simple "on/off" device to a powerful creative tool playing a significant role in modern music production. "It was the kind of unit that people discovered uses for and it immediately enabled engineers to do the things they'd always dreamed of with minimum fuss," says Drawmer. Very little has changed to the design of the DS201over the years, and Ivor Drawmer claims it sells as well now as it did back in the early 1980s. "It's astounding where they all go, but to date we've sold tens of thousands of units," he says. The 1960 Mic-Pre/Tube Compressor: In 1984 Drawmer released the original 1960 Mic Pre-Amp/Vacuum Tube Compressor which combined two high performance mic pre-amps, two 'soft knee' tube compressors and an instrument pre-amp with EQ. The 1960 was the first self contained 'front end', and for many recordists who required only one or two microphone input channels it replaced the mixing console, assuring the user of a high quality signal path with a 'distinctive' sound. The concept of the 1960 was to combine the 'warmth and character' of eight active tube stages with the low noise and reliability of solid state electronics. The 1960 has been adopted by producers and musicians around the world and acclaimed as the ultimate direct interface between the sound source and the recording medium. Although the basic design and features of the 1960 remain the same to this day, periodic upgrades have been performed, the latest being the addition of high-pass filters and overload LEDs to the mic pre-amp. As the retro movement has escalated, Drawmer says there has been a dramatic surge in 1960 sales which now puts the unit on a par with the gates. Programme Adaptive: During 1989 Drawmer developed a new proprietary gating circuitry which it entitled 'programme adaptive'. This intelligent auto-circuitry was capable of analysing the dynamic content of the incoming signal and constantly optimising the 'attack', 'hold', 'ratio' and 'release' parameters thereby creating a much smoother gating action than previously available. The first products to incorporate Drawmer's 'programme adaptive' circuitry were the DL241 Auto Compressor released in 1990 and the DS404 Quad Noise Gate released in 1991. Also developed in 1989 was a new limiter circuitry which performed 'Zero Overshoot', 'Zero Response Time' transparent limiting. This was also included in the DL241 Auto Compressor and later the DL441 Quad Auto Compressor Limiter. In 1992 Drawmer took the innovative step of incorporating their newly developed 'Dynamics Spectral Enhancement' circuitry into a high quality compressor/limiter which enabled the user to dynamically boost any high frequency energy lost during the full band compression process. The resulting product, the DL251 Spectral Compressor was enthusiastically received by the mastering, broadcast and studio industries. The 1961 Tube Equaliser: With the new series of compressors becoming established amongst professional users Drawmer decided to expand its range of tube products and in 1994 released the 1961 Vacuum Tube Equaliser. An interesting 1961 design feature was the inclusion of a variable input level control on each of the two channels. This design approach allows the user to control the amount of 'warmth' by deciding how hard to drive the tubes giving a sound as 'clean' as the best discrete solid state designs or as 'hot' as the 'hottest' vintage tube models. The 1962 Digital Vacuum Tube Pre-Amp: The 1962 Digital Vacuum Tube Pre-Amp is a hybrid combining solid state, valve and digital technology. It comprises a high performance stereo analog pre-amp with 3-band EQ, low and high pass filters, low and high frequency dynamic enhancement, limiting and variable tube drive which feeds directly to 24-bit A/D converters. As well as analog outputs the 1962 is equipped with AES/EBU, SP-DIF and Tascam's TDIF or Alesis ADAT digital interfaces. "The concept is to offer very high quality analog with optional processing and tube warmth before converting to digital via the high resolution converters," explains Ivor Drawmer. The MX Series: In contrast to the 'high end' 1962, the MX30 Gated/Comp/Limiter and MX40 Punch Gate are low cost entry level dynamics processors bringing Drawmer's professional processing into a wider M.I. market place. The MX range has recently been expanded with the MX50 Dual De-Esser and MX60 Front End One. Digital Masterflow and Future Developments: Digital technology features strongly in Drawmer's future products, and the new Masterflow range of processing units translate some of Drawmer's existing designs into the digital domain. The company has also joined the growing list of manufacturers working on a series of TDM software modules for Digidesign's Pro Tools System and has recently developed a plug-in for the Mackie D8B Digital Console. Ivor Drawmer now works in conjunction with a team of highly qualified technicians with both analog and digital skills. Their design brief is to continue to create innovative and unique products based on feedback from the Sales and Marketing department and the Drawmer International Distributor network.

Specifications

INPUT IMPEDANCE 22K Ohm MAXIMUM INPUT LEVEL +21dBu (+17dB ref. +4dBu) OUTPUT IMPEDANCE 50 Ohm MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL +20dBu BANDWIDTH <12Hz to 25KHz -1dB CROSSTALK @10kHz Better than -80dB @20kHz Better than -70dB NOISE AT UNITY GAIN reference +4dBu Wideband 22Hz - 22KHz CCIR ARM IEC A Q-Pk CCIR AV -88dB -94dB -95dB -98dB -84dB RMS -86dB -92dB -93dB -96dB - DISTORTION (No Compression and Enhance Off) 100Hz 1KHz 10KHz Unity Gain, +4dBu Input < 0.09% < 0.03% < 0.08% +14dBu Input, 10dB G.R. < 0.15% < 0.15% < 0.15% POWER REQUIREMENTS 115Volt or 230Volt at 50-60Hz, 10 Watts FUSE RATING 50mA for 230Volt, 100mA for 115Volt CONFORMING TO BS EN 60127-2:1991 SHEETIII FUSE TYPE 20mm x 5mm, Class 3 Slo-Blo, 250Volt working CASE SIZE 482mm (w) x 44mm (h) x 200mm (d) WEIGHT (incl packaging) 3.4 Kgs