Aphex Dominator Model 700

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These are fairly good limiters. They get decent write ups by the pros on RAP and other places. The praise they get is not lavish but respectful. I saw one in incredibly good condition go by on eBay without selling for a "Buy It Now" price of $175 or so. The latest model of these goes for about $1,200 new.

I've got one and I have no plans to sell it.

The thing about Aphex was that their heydey was of an analog era when people actually wanted a clean sound without artifacts. They do this job incredibly well, but it's no longer in vogue. Thus the "tubescense" revisions.

You gotta love trends and fads for downgrading great bits of kit to really accessible price points. If you aren't doing anything very extreme, you will never hear the sound of the Dominator, just fewer extreme transients, which makes it a great piece for tasks you wouldn't use, say, an LA-2 for. Of course, you wouldn't expect the Dominator to do what an LA-2 does, either. That's the point in my mind - I've got stuff like the SC-50 for color, and a couple Aphex pieces for transparent dynamics chores.

Bear

I used the Aphex Dominator the last two days. The vocalist wanted to sound like Little Richard so I smashed his voice into the Dominator and voila we got there. Actually I think the vocalist naturally possesses one of those sort of voices anyhow but hitting the Dominator just brought it out. You could not hear the Dominator at all in terms of color or artifacts but you could hear it in terms of how it brought that snarl out of the singer's voice.

I've seen a couple of these go lately for $100. That's insane. Buy now.