Cali 76 coompressor

[WIDOWS]

A friend of mine keeps harping on about wanting a Cali 76 compressor by Origin Effects, but he's poor and doesn't have the 200 bones to buy one. I was looking around to see if I could find a kit or build guide anywhere but they seem to be a bit thin on the ground. It seems to be based on an old Urei 1176 studio comp.

Absolutely no idea on the complexity of the circuit but it'd be great if anyone could point me to some decent resources about it.

Thanks in advance

[Silver Blues]

Well I remember seeing Brett Kingman's video about it, and there's a gut shot where you can count 25 TO92 transistors (and there may be more hiding behind other stuff) so I'm gonna go with "pretty complex". I found this schematic for the 1176 with just a cursory Google. Might be doable on vero, but it'd be a biiiig board. It does sound really good, but perhaps you'd want to look into some other compressors if all he wants is a good compressor. There's lots of great projects that aren't nearly so large.

[Neil mcNasty]

200 for some high end studio gear that normally would cost 2000, in such a small size is pretty much bang for your bucks!
Tell your friend: "Just lay off the beer and weed for a month, and practice instead. Then you got the cash to get it! I'll cover for you in the meantime!"

Anyways, what I really was about to say:
Consider building the "Holly Roller" Limiter in the meantime, and make your friend try it!

It is a stripped down version of the (just as legendary) LA2A Limiter.
Totally unique in character, and it both sounds and feels quite like the real deal.
Like the Cali 76, it has it's own unique feel and sound to it, but is much simpler in design and features.
You'll never turn it off, once it's on!
My no.1 choice for compression/limiting on a pedalboard! (until I get myself a Cali 76)

It is also a pretty easy build as well...

[GrooveChampion]

Hey Neil, have you tried it on bass? I always had worries about some compressors not being able to handle active pickups.

[SpaceCommandant]

Neil,
Do you remember off hand what LED/LDR combo you went with?

[Neil mcNasty]

I've tried it with a bass, but only with passive pickups.
Sounds punchy as hell, making it pop trough the mix.
Having active pickups should not be any different than running a preamp pedal between the bass and the limiter, so I do not expect there to be any issues...

As for LED/LDR combo: I used a NSL-32 vactrol, if I remember correctly...
I think I posted something about it in the comment section (of the layout)

[GrooveChampion]

Think I can build one with TL072's and a Jfet with similar pinouts and specs?

[Neil mcNasty]

You'll find your info over here: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.no/2016/02/madbean-holy-roller-baja-optical-limiter.html