D.W. Fearn VT-9M Mastering Compressor

D.W. Fearn VT-9M Mastering Compressor is an all-tube, Class-A compressor built around modern pulse-width-modulation (PWM) gain control, with every parameter set on fully stepped, recallable knobs instead of continuous pots.

A setting you can rebuild to the click

On a mastering bench "it sounded right yesterday" isn't good enough — you need to come back to the exact same setting a week later, or hand it to another engineer. Threshold, Gain, Attack, Release and Shape all run on stepped controls, so a compression move becomes a documented set of numbers instead of a knob position you're eyeballing.

Tube signal path, no shortcuts

The sidechain carries two selectable high-pass frequencies, so low-end energy on a kick or bass doesn't trigger false gain reduction further up the mix. True hardwire bypass takes the compressor physically out of the signal path for A/B comparisons that need to be completely clean — no digital switching, no extra stage sitting in the chain.

KEY FEATURES

• Fully stepped, recallable controls on every parameter
• Sidechain high-pass filter — 2 selectable frequencies
• Independent Threshold, Gain, Attack, Release and Shape controls
• PWM compression in an all-tube, Class-A signal path
• True hardwire bypass
• Hand-built in the USA under the D.W. Fearn name

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Input: 600 Ω (nominal), balanced or unbalanced
• Input load impedance: 32k Ω, transformer balanced
• Nominal input level: +4 dBm
• Maximum input level @ 20 Hz: +25 dBm
• Gain: unity to +15 dB
• Frequency response: ±0.2 dB 20 Hz – 20 kHz, ±0.5 dB 11 Hz – 28 kHz
• THD+N: <0.05% (20 Hz – 20 kHz)
• Signal-to-noise ratio: 78 dB minimum
• Gain reduction range: 0–20 dB
• Output: low-Z, transformer balanced, 115 Ω
• Dimensions (W × H × D): 48.5 × 13.5 × 23 cm
• Weight: 9.55 kg
• Power: 120/220 VAC 50/60 Hz, 85 W