The Manley SLAM! is a stereo valve limiter and a class A mic preamp designed to increase the apparent loudness of your music to optimise your signal for digital recording.

The Manley SLAM! is actually two limiters in one; one Electro-Optical circuit (ELOP) and a really fast FET-base brick-wall limiter both design to provide the flavour of some of the most sought-after limiters keeping their ease of use ethos that have made those compressors highly desirable on vocals.

First on the SLAM! is a dual channel valve mic preamp with phase reversal, high pass filter, and +48V phantom power. The preamp delivers a hefty 60dB of gain before reaching the limiter which adds another 20dB. A variable input attenuator is also included to allow for the handling of loud sources. A DI input is also included which features a dual impedance system. Plug yout jack-in all the way and the input impedance is 100k Ohms, while if inserted halfway, the impedance increases to 20 MOhms. This reduces pickup loading and gives better handling of HF signals.

Following the mic preamp we find the Electro-Optical (ELOP) limiter which is a firm favourite for tracking vocals. It features a side-chain high pass filter to avoid unwanted rumble to affect the gain reduction. Like many other electro-optical limiters, the SLAM! uses the set-and-forget two knob approach, with controls over the Dynamics and Level. The Dynamics will control the amount of gain reduction while the Level will control the overall loudness. The ELOP limiter used in the Manley SLAM! is similar to Manley’s highly popular VOXBOX. A Line switch lets you use the line stage with outher sources while the High pass filter provides different settings, including a 200Hz which is tailored for vocals by removing unwanted low-end frequencies and add a subtle de-essing.

Following the ELOP is Manley’s implementation of the FET Limiter. Extremely versatile, the FET limiter can yield great results from clean and predictable to grungy and distorted. This quality is what made some FET limiters so desirable. By controlling the Release, you can add different colour and behaviour. A CLIP setting lets you add even more crunch and distortion. The attack control works in a very unique way adding some of the characteristics of attack on compressors while retaining a zero-overshoot tolerance found in brickwall limiters.

Metering is taken care of by two real VU metres providing visual feedback on input levels, final output levels and the ELOP gain reduction. The VU Meter features a three-way toggle switch to accommodate for the different levels 0, -3dB and -6dB. FET Gain reduction metering is included in the form of super accurate multi-colour LED Ladder peak meters.

Manley SLAM! Stereo Valve Limiter Specifications:

• Input Tubes: 2 x 12AT7A NOS GE specially selected by Manley Labs for lo-noise and stable bias
• Output Tubes: 2 x 6414W NOS USA dual triodes
• I/O: MANLEY transformer coupled Balanced Inputs and Outputs
• Micpre: Selectable 48V phantom power and PHASE REVERSE
• Gain: 60dB max Micpre, 43dB max DI, 20dB max Limiter Gain
• Input Impedance: 2000Ω Micpre, 1MegΩ DI
• FET Limiter: Attack: approx. 100μS; Release: 10mS to 2Sec; Ratio: better than 20:1
• ELOP Limiter: Attack: approx. 10mS for 6dB GR; Release: 2.5 Sec; Ratio: 10:1
• Frequency Response: 5Hz to 60KHz
• Maximum Output: +32dBm, +30dBm (into 1KΩ load)
• THD+N: <.05% @ 1KHz
• Dynamic Range: 115dB typical
• Output Impedance: 200Ω
• Power Consumption Slam! Analog:
• 0.480 Amps (480 milliamps = 480mA) @ 120V = 57.6 Watts
• 0.240 Amps (240 milliamps = 240mA) @ 240V = 57.6 Watts
• Outboard Power Supply: factory set for 100V, 120V or 220-240VAC operation for original destination country's mains voltage.
• Operating Mains Voltage: changeable with power transformer re-wiring via switch and fuse value change.
• Mains Voltage Frequency: 50~ 60Hz
• Size: 19” X 12” X 3.5” (occupies 2u)
• Shipping Weight: 25 lbs.