Description
This Symetrix 525 has had a full refurbishment & upgrade. The effect of recapping it has been dramatic – it sounds extremely clean and compression is almost imperceptible even with large amounts of gain reduction. It would stand up remarkably well against top-end bus compressors
The refurbishment includes:
- replacement of all electrolytic capacitors with high-quality upgraded Panasonic caps
- replacement of electrolytic caps in the audio path with Panasonic bipolar caps
- power supply upgrade with bigger reservoir caps and better decoupling
- replacement of all decoupling caps
Symetrix is an American company producing high-end Pro Audio gear. Not well known in the UK, but they have a strong reputation in the USA for cost-effective & well-engineered equipment
The 525 is a stereo / dual-channel VCA compressor / Limiter / Gate in a neat 1U package. Each channel has a dedicated Control Loop with a Send / Return jack, allowing external control of dynamics. The Return jack can be used as a key input for ducking, pumping & etc, or the loop can be used to eq the sidechain
Each channel has controls for Expander/Gate Threshold, Compressor/Limiter Threshold, Ratio and Output Gain plus an in/out pushbutton. There’s a separate Stereo switch to link the two channels for stereo tracking. Gain Reduction is shown via an LED meter
On test the Symetrix 525 sounds punchy & clean. Attack & release times are program-dependent and are well-chosen. The controls are all well-judged, which makes setting-up easy & accurate.
These models use the Valley People TA-101 VCA chips designed by Paul Buff, a man responsible for some of the juiciest compressors ever built. The TA-101 is responsible for part of the sound of the 525, but the rest is down to the design team at Symetrix. It’s the sidechain that really determines the sound of a compressor and Symetrix have done a great job here
“Guys: I simply LOVE my 525 on a mix buss!!!!!”
“In the meantime, I got a Symetrix 525, and I really enjoy it.
It’s very good on bass… in fact, it’s good on everything so far!”
“For rock snare/snare sample, 20:1 sounds great, drum bus crusher – great, just works”
“I’ve been enjoying mine on the parallel drum bus lately! It’s pretty easy to get it to pump, you just have to balance out the threshold and ratio knobs. If it produces any artifacts, they sound really harsh, but you can compress pretty hard with it without getting any artifacts, so it’s not generally a problem. It’s great for clean, crisp, drum sounds”
“For the money, it’s real hard to beat! It’s a versatile clean comp and a great drum comp. It’s especially nice as a parallel comp!”
“Go for it. I like mine, smashes up room tracks nice and sounds good on distorted guitar. Definately grab them. I use mine to totally crush the drum submix for parallel compression, and it sounds awesome”
“LOVE THEM ON ANYTHING, VOCALS, SNARE ARE MY FAV’S”
The 525 is built in a substantial steel chassis and the controls have a quality feel. It accepts both balanced and unbalanced inputs via the rear-panel jack sockets and has unbalanced outputs. The 525 sounds very clean and controlled and is incredibly easy to use. The LED metering gives a useful readout of Gain Reduction and it’s a compressor that can be setup and left to get on with the job
The Symetrix 525 may seem short on bells & whistles compared to some competitors but it’s easy to use, efficient in operation and it sounds great. To my mind it’s a far better choice than the alternatives from dbx, Behringer, Samson & etc
