Acme Audio Opticom XLA-3 MKIII Tube Optical Limiter

From clean to mean

The XLA-3 MKIII’s forgiving handling of vocals and instruments makes it your reliable go-to for any source. With tones on tap that range from clean and transparent to harmonically rich to saturated and dirty, plus compression curves that range from slow and gentle to very fast and aggressive, the XLA-3 MKIII is incredibly versatile. Hit it hard for some extra harmonic bite, and you've got a sure-fire solution for cementing lead vocals in your mix.

From gentle to aggressive

The XLA-3 MKIII is armed with Normal, Fast, and Slow modes. In Slow mode, its traditionally gentle attack onset passes initial transients largely intact — key to the subtle transient enhancement and dynamics control you want from a conventional opto compressor. So yes — it does that. But the XLA-3 MKIII is so much more. Its proprietary triple optoelectronic circuit blends the most desirable characteristics of three different compression curves into a single unit. Combine that with a CineMag input transformer and you have a versatile high-speed optical limiter that can approximate the performance of FET designs.

Easy to achieve great-sounding results

The Opticom XLA-3 MKIII is certainly one of the most flexible optical limiters we’ve seen at Sweetwater. Whether your goal is to gently control the dynamic range of a vocal, add thickness and weight to a bass guitar, or mercilessly crush a drum track, you can effortlessly achieve it all. Indeed, the XLA-3 MKIII can produce a wide range of great-sounding, nonlinear dynamic effects to suit any musical setting.

Acme Audio Opticom XLA-3 MKIII Tube Optical Limiter Features:

• Normal, Fast, and Slow modes accommodate practically any type of program material
• Impressive tonal versatility, and retains sonic excitement even with high gain reduction
• The most desirable characteristics of 3 different compression curves in a single unit
• CineMag input transformer allows you to add harmonic richness and bite with high input levels