In all of our quests in deciding to mix in or out of the box, we try different things. I wanted to try to get sheen, clarity and loud levels during tracking, so that I wouldn't need to rely on outboard gear as much during the mix. I wanted to avoid another cycle of conversion.

I did my homework. I listened to lots of shootouts. What I needed was an LA-2A. New or old those are going to start at $3k and go up. But what if you could buy a new one for a $1k and then spend an extra $200 to buy a teletronix opto cell, and then pop that into a TUBE LA-2A that fits in your 500 series lunchbox? Not possible right?

This little guy is built to be an easy swap of opto cells. All you need is a hex screwdriver to open the chassis. Then you just pop out the stock opto cell and replace it with whatever you want. It's kind of amazing actually. I love it.

I track everything through it. It adds sheen, transparent peak control, and a nice but subtle vibe.

The only feature that throws people off is there is no make up gain control. But once you get used to that its not an issue. It has tons of gain, more than you'll ever need, but it's just a question of getting used to the gain staging.

I highly recommend.