Ashly Audio CLX-52 2-Channel Peak Compressor/Limiter

While researching this product I couldn't find that many reviews, but the few I did find were all glowing; saying that it's a little known gem, a diamond in the rough, etc. So I was looking forward to trying it out.Almost as soon as I got it, I put it in my rack and tested it. One of the first things I noticed was that I was hearing distortion whenever compression would kick-in. "That doesn't sound right" I thought. As I played with more settings I noticed my input gain pot had a bad spot on it. I turned it both ways for a while hoping to grind away whatever was there but no improvement. "That doesn't sound right either" I thought. "This is not shaping up to be the incredible unit that people are saying it is... Maybe I actually have a buggy unit?" I called them several days later and spoke to their technicians. They were very nice and helpful. They tried to help me troubleshoot over the phone but when that didn't work they asked if I was okay sending it in to have it looked at. I was.They sent me an email saying that it did in fact have a bad pot, and that the threshold LED was referencing ground instead of the 18V rail (or something to that effect) causing distortion. I got it back and it has sounded great since. The stereo compression is perfectly balanced. The highs are compromised far less than my previous compressor, even under heavy compression. It's very smooth and clean sounding. Overall a fantastic compressor for its price range.