Klark Teknik 76-KT Classic FET-Style Compressor with Class-A Line Level Amplifier and Midas Transformers

Very good 👍🏻

Love the unit, have not compared it to UAD HW, but better than UAD SW emulation. great price

My first unit had a horrible noise floor issue after 18db output. I did some forum digging and found many units seem to suffer from this but the ones that said they got a good unit loved it. So I decided I would try again. My second unit arrived completely DOA. My first thought was maybe the VU meter was simply broken as this was another common issue discussed on the forums. So I plugged it into my chain... Well that was a huge mistake. Seems like it was a complete wiring issue internally. Presenting insane amounts of feedback from the unit. Even the couple seconds it was in my chain made me fear it damaged one of the much more expensive/sensitive audio products it was interfacing with. I guess thats what I get for trying to go with a budget product.I am sure if you get a functional unit it will be lovely but for how long that lasts who knows. Build quality and QC don't seem to be a concern for this brand but if you get lucky you may just get the bang for your buck that your after. I myself wont be trying a third time and for those of you trying at all... May the odds ever be in your favor.

I LOVE HOW IT WORKS AND SOUNDS, PERIOD.

So I know that most of you reading this are probably asking the exact question I did when I first found this 1176 clone: "is there any way this thing sounds and functions as an 1176 should at this price?" The answer, it seems, is yes! Let me preface my review by noting that I've used a modern hardware version of the UA 1176 as well as a couple of plugin emulations (UAD, etc.) and I have to say that I like the Klark Teknik better than any of these. I've not used the vintage Urei or UA hardware versions, but of course I don't have the money for something like that... few of us do. So, with that said, on to the actual review.Simply put, the 76-KT rules on everything I've run through it, from live vocals to drums to my old, finicky Yamaha CP-30. The controls are sensitive and work just as an 1176 should, with round, gentle compression at 4:1 and crunching, artifact rich beefiness with all-buttons-in. Signals come out warmer, fatter, and feel very "in-your-face" just as they should with a nice compressor. The attack/release knobs have a wide range to them, and while the attack CAN be very fast, you can dial in just about any setting you want from peak limiting to crushed transients, super punchy drums, etc. Overall the unit sounds "alive" no matter how you set it.As far as build goes, all the knobs feel really solid and smooth, the buttons lock and unlock crisply, and the meter seems quite accurate right out of the box (and it has a calibration trim in the back just in case, which is cool.) Ins/outs are on the back and KT has provided both TRS and XLR jacks for both. The chassis is solid and fits perfectly in your normal 19" rack. Finally, the amber colored power-indicator light is bright but not annoying- it looks very old school and adds some visual warmth.The Cons: The biggest con here is the lack of a stereo-link. You can send these in to be modified by a couple companies that will do it for you, and a modded pair go for around 1300 bucks on Reverb... but the stock version lacks this feature and that is a bummer for anyone hoping to use these for mastering purposes. One other minor complaint is the lack of a Bypass switch for A/B-ing signals when mixing, but that's not a huge deal and keeps the functionality more in line with the original, I guess.Overall I'm very happy with this unit, and I'm planning on adding another one soon. I also have a pair of the KT Pultec EQ clones and those are amazing as well. There's been a lot of discussion in the gear forums about the viability of KT as a company now that they are owned by Music Group (Behringer), but as far as I'm concerned KT and their engineers are turning out affordable gear that really ups the clone game for the small studio and commercial studio engineer alike. Nothing, in my opinion, sounds good enough to mortgage my house for, and the KT gets the job done for a reasonable price (499.00 usd at the time I'm writing this).

The Klark Teknik 76-KT is modeled on the classic UA 1176 compressor/limiter. It is a FET or transistor design, rather than a tube design. Tube compressors are great for adding color and warmth, while a FET style will generally give you a cleaner sound and a faster attack. I have been using it for compressing the signal before recording and I have found it to be excellent for acoustic instruments and voice. In particular, it makes a fingerpicked guitar sound even, clean and professional. Add a little reverb and you have heaven.There is a You-Tuber who has roundly criticized this unit because it doesn't distort the sound. If you see this review, read the comments. The commenters point out that very often, you don't want any distortion. Not every tool in your toolbox should do the same job. I prefer to distort when I want to distort and be clean when I want to be clean. For more color/warmth I use reverb, delay, EQ, tape effects, etc.The controls of the 76-KT are unorthodox, but I like them. Like most compressors, you can select various compression ratios - 4,8,12 & 20 in this case, or push the buttons to mash the signal into a delicious sausage-shaped waveform. Also like other compressors, you have attack and release knobs, with the attack starting at 25 microseconds. Fast attack and release are great for smoothing out the transients for fingerpicked (or just picked) guitar and voice. Now, for the UN-usual part: Rather than having threshold and make-up gain controls, the 76-KT has input and output knobs. But, it's easy to use. More input = lower threshold (or more compression) and output = makeup gain (or a louder output signal).I only gave the 76-KT four stars because it could have been put into a 1-unit size case and save some of my limited rack space. But, I understand that Klark Teknik wanted it to look like the original UA 1176. Other than that, no complaints.

Knobs twist a little too easy, but for the money this is totally worth it. Way better that a plugin 4.9 outta 5 I'd say

This is not a 76 comp. It's at most an imitation of an imitation. The sound characteristics are not there. The compression, I do have to say, is extremely transparent, even when maxed. The main issue is simply that the comp just doesn't have that color factor that most people use an 1176 for.