15IPS Tape Saturation Colour

The compression, saturation, and tone of analog tape. (Everything but the hiss.)

For decades analog tape was the sound of records. Then the technology changed, but our ears didn't. Things tracked on tape just sound fuller, warmer, and more "finished" by default than things tracked digitally. Bring the sound of tape back to your recordings with the 15IPS Colour.

The sound of tape comes from three things—compression, harmonic saturation, and filtering—and the 15IPS does all three.

Compression

Tape has a "built-in" compressor; that is, it can only take so much signal and anything above that limit is compressed. The 15IPS' ladder of germanium and silicon diodes recreates this soft clipping, making sounds fuller and more present in the mix adding more volume.

Saturation

The "warmth" of tape comes from the harmonic saturation of both the tape itself and the electronics of the tape machine. The 15IPS' germanium diodes emulate the harmonics generated by the tape, while the discrete transistor circuitry creates the complex harmonics of a vintage tape machine.

Tone Filtering

Part of tape's distinctive sound is its non-linear frequency response: a low-end roll off with a "bump" at the cutoff frequency. The 15IPS features a 40Hz resonant high-pass filter that simultaneously makes the low-end tighter and larger-than-life.

MKII Improvements

In 2019 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Colour Format, we redesigned the first three Colours, the 15IPS, CTX, and JFT, to use only discrete, class-A transistor circuitry. You could think of this as the opposite of an update—we’ve reversed the technology of the Colours back to the late 60’s. The result is an authentic vintage character that’s more nuanced and refined.

For the 15IPS we also re-tuned the amount of saturation on-hand in order to widen the sweet spot of the Colour. The 15IPS mkII can still provide aggressive tape saturation when pushed hard, but is now much easier to "set and forget" than before.

FEATURES

• Tape-like soft limiting with NOS germanium diodes
• Multiple class-A transistor stages for richer, more complex harmonic saturation
• Resonant high-pass filter simultaneously clarifies and magnifies low end
• Compatible with the Colour format
• Yellow PCB
• Full, step-by-step assembly instructions and support

What the Pros are Saying

"Even a little bit of the 15IPS adds a warm vibe and a huge low end. Just switching it in can thicken up a kick drum, bass or even a whole mix. With more drive, 15IPS gives a great saturated tape-like squash."

-Paul "Willie Green" Womack
Wiz Khalifa, The Roots, Donnie McClurkin, Billy Woods

• Assembly Guide
• Schematic (PDF)