Recording - June 2018 - 28

Serpent Audio Splice MKII and Splice-500 MKII
280 Hz. There is a variable wet/dry Mix control,
and lastly a pair of chunky black buttons labeled
Input and Output Mode Select. Pushing in either
button lights a blue LED for Bluestripe mode; leaving
it out is Blackface mode, and from there you can
mix and match to taste. The unit's finished off with
a front-panel power switch, rear-panel XLR input,
output, and external sidechain I/O, and a pair of
1
/4" ins and outs for stereo linking.

Splice-500 MKII

All of these controls are crammed in miniature
onto the single-slot face of the 500 Series module.
While the original Splice-500 offered a mechanical
VU meter, this has been replaced on the MKII with
a 10-stage LED. All controls are laid out vertically
from top to bottom as silver knobs for Input, Output,
Attack, Release, Ratio, and Mix. Blue/Black mode
is selected by two small off-white buttons, and tiny
black toggle switches control Link, Slam, wet/dry
defeat, and 150 Hz fixed HPF (one of the few differences from the rack unit, whose Loading switch
is also absent). Two units can be stereo-linked via
an included ribbon cable that's attached between
them prior to mounting in the enclosure.
The Splice-500 MKII is remarkably heavy, and
internally it's absolutely jampacked with
components! I have seen dual-level circuit boards
inside single-slot 500 Series modules before, but
this is almost like a triple-decker city inside.

In use

I was sent two Splice-500 MKII modules and one rack,
which I set up alongside my vintage-2002 Universal Audio
1176LN with 600Ω T-pad input attenuator and 012 Magnetika
input transformer. (Let me just state for the record that having a
quartet of 1176-style hardware compressors at one time in my
studio was pretty freakin' awesome.)
Soundwise, this is where I tell you that Mike Pildis absolutely nailed it! In my mixes, it was darn near impossible to tell
the difference between the 1176LN and the Splice MKII in
Blackface mode. Soloing them on sources and getting microscopic, I will say that the Splice is a touch smoother with less
top end hair than the 1176LN, but that difference is tiny. The
only time I noticed a wider difference was when both units
were set to all-buttons-in/Slam mode. Here the 1176LN was
a tad thinner, jumpier, and more aggressive.
The big key to getting accurate matches is setting each unit via
audio signals vs. dial settings; the 1176LN requires a lot more
to drive the unit into gain reduction with the input controls at 11
o'clock or greater. The Splice starts to grab and compresses
similarly at a setting of 7 o'clock. Moving from the rack to the
modules offered zero sonic differences, and they both offer 45
dB of gain in soft bypass.
28

RECORDING June 2018

Am I Blue?

While I own a UA 1176LN and have worked
with C through F Blackface originals in many
studios, my only experience with a Rev A Bluestripe has been Universal Audio's 1176 Classic
Limiter Plug-In Collection (reviewed in our August
2012 issue). I love that plug-in and use it often on
guitars and drums when I need extra punch and
aggression. As such, I had at least a rough idea
of what to expect from a Rev A Bluestripe 1176.
The power, aggression, top end dirt, and grit
of the Splice MKII in Bluestripe mode is awesome.
It is about 6 dB hotter and does have an airy hiss,
but it's not noisy in a detrimental sense; it adds
a similar vibe as when most of us add the "air"
parameter in vintage-style plug-ins. There is more
noise, but it is "musical" noise if that's a thing.
The input stages of the Splice control forwardness
and ballistic aggression, while the output stages
offer a more subtle tonal difference. Think of the
Mode Select switches as being able to rough up a
Blackface or tame a Bluestripe.
I used the Splice MKII on all the usual sources
where I favor FET compression: rock vocals, electric
guitar, snare drum, toms, drum room mics (in Slam),
bass guitar (both DI and miked cabinet), and in
stereo on the drum bus. Every application sounded
great when used traditionally, but the Splice carves
its own path thanks to its modern extras. You can use
it on the master bus for subtle sources like acoustic
guitar and strings thanks to the 2:1 ratio. The sidechain is a great
addition, and the Mix control lets you literally Slam sources and
blend them back into the mix to taste.
In a world where there are dozens of classic FET plug-ins, the
boutique-level hardware of the Splice MKII quickly made itself
indispensable for live tracking. It's great for capturing vibe on the
way in; even simply running signal through it in soft bypass mode
or using a pair in soft bypass on the stereo bus was fantastic.

Conclusions

The Splice lives up to its name. It not only grafts together
two classic compressors, but also splices in everything we love
about modern compressor designs, creating a FET compressor
for the future. There are a lot of choices in this arena, but with its
sound and flexibility, the Splice MKII is hard to top.

PRICES: Splice MKII rack, $1499;
Splice-500 MKII, $999
MORE FROM: Serpent Audio,
www.serpentaudio.com; dist. by Wave
Distribution, www.wavedistro.com.

http://www.serpentaudio.com http://www.wavedistro.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2018