Thermionic CULTURE Phoenix Review
Reviewed by Pete Weiss for Tape Op

When given the opportunity to review Thermionic Culture's Phoenix 2-channel compressor, I couldn't help wondering how necessary another entry into the high-end tube compressor market was. But after using this British box extensively on a variety of tracking and mixing situations, my indy rock skepticism turned to audiophile enthusiasm. This is one lovely device.

The Phoenix's "Vari-Mu" soft-knee design is said to be based on the legendary Altec 436 circuit that Vic Keary modified for Pete Townshend back in the 60's. "Vari-Mu" or "soft knee" compressors are somewhat of a rarity these days -- surprising since this method of compression, which increases the compression ratio as the amount of input gain is increased, is incredibly smooth and can really glue sounds together with very few artifacts.

No expense has been spared in construction, save perhaps for its light guage metal housing. To be fair though, the housing is perfectly fine and scores points for its copius venting -- always a concern with tube gear. Speaking of which, the Phoenix's signal path is based completely around hand-picked, semi-esoteric tubes: PCC85's, ECC81's, and EB91's (less obscure tubes may be used for replacement/repair, according the spec sheet that came with it). Amazingly, the Phoenix uses no printed circuit boards nor IC's -- the inner workings are point-to-point wired by hand -- popping the top off reveals a beautiful layout of top-end components.

A handsome, tasteful-looking 3U black box, the Phoenix has the necessary controls and nothing more. The front panel is graced by pairs of knobs for input gain, attack and release times, threshold level, and output gain. Additionally there is a "link" switch for stereo operation as well as two discrete bypass switches. Oh, and I should probably mention the two HUGE square mechanical VU meters. These meters are not illuminated, which surprised me at first, but their sheer size and plain black-on-white color scheme makes them easily visible from across any room (and no bulbs to burn out and replace -- bonus!) Other surprises included the fact that most of the controls were not marked in any particular unit of measurement (time or dB for instance), but rather with simple and easy-to-read digits. This struck me as strange until I started using the Phoenix on music. Its compression and gain stages are so smooth, adjusting parameters became sort of a "listen and feel" thing. Really, nothing that went into the Phoenix came out of it sounding worse. And I'm not talking about "total tube saturation" kind of goodness; this is more of a very high fidelity kind of musicality. You kind of can't go wrong. Bass tracks took on a hugeness, electric guitars became thick but not ugly, vocals were creamy and glommy. Percussion and room sounds could easily be manipulated with high input gain and short release times to create a stylized pumping. And, as a mix compressor, the Phoenix is just about unbeatable. I mixed songs from Bow Thayer's new album through the Phoenix with just one or two dB's of compression and was very happy with the extra glue that it transparently imparted. Not an exaggeration to say it is Fairchild-esque as a mix compressor.

With its steep price the only scary aspect of the Phoenix, all I can say is that you do, indeed, get what you pay for.