Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor

Chandler Limited RS124: First designed in 1960 by Abbey Road Head of Technical Bill Livy, Deputy Head Len Page and seasoned EMI Audio Designer Mike Bachelor, the Abbey Road RS124 compressor is one of the most desired and mysterious pieces of recording gear ever developed.

Born out of the insufficient Altec 436Bs acquired by EMI in the late 1950s for Abbey Road, the Chandler Limited RS124 compressor is most closely associated with recordings made by The Beatles at Abbey Road Studios. Present on virtually every Beatles session, the RS124 left its remarkable signature across most of the catalogue.

The RS124’s undeniably smooth character and ability to tame transients without muffling the sound at steep compression levels, quickly became popular with Abbey Road Studios engineers and widely used throughout the now historic studio, for tracking, buss compression, mixing, and mastering. They were so integral to the recording and mixing process that a pair can be seen in almost every control room photo in Abbey Road Studios during the 60s period.

The Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor was built for use at Abbey Road Studios and was never commercially available.

Through the years, from incomplete information and supposition, some have tried to recreate the holy grail of tube compressors, though never fully capturing the elusive Abbey Road RS124 in all its glory.

Schematics themselves only told part of the story, and access to Abbey Road Studios’ historic units and various handwritten modification notes would prove paramount towards understanding the true nature of the Abbey Road RS124 compressor and variances between units.

Many revisions were carried out since its inception, and as a result, the Abbey Road RS124 valve compressor has remained a mystery for decades, until now.

Available now, for the first time ever, the Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor harnesses the sound and personalities of Abbey Road Studios’ favourite historic RS124 Compressors (Ser. No’s 60070B, 60050A, and 61010B) still in use at the famed studio to this day, all in a single unit.

Along with features traditionally found on the original counterparts, Input control, Output attenuation, ‘Recovery’ (release) control and the unique ‘HOLD’ setting, the Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor includes modern facilities such as adjustable attack, selectable output impedance, and a special twist, dubbed the ‘SuperFuse’.