Recording - August 2019 - 38

REVIEW

Solid State Logic Fusion
A colorful and unique analog bus processor that's perfect for the modern studio

Vintage Drive

REVIEW BY PAUL VUNK JR.

ince 1969, England's Solid State Logic (SSL) has reigned as one
of the world's most respected manufacturers of high end recording
consoles. It's only a slight exaggeration to say that SSL is largely
responsible for the sound of recorded music from the 1980s onward. In
addition to their legendary large format consoles, over the past decade
SSL has been catering to the growing project studio market, launching
tabletop products such as the compact X-desk and the even smaller SiX
mixer (announced March 2019). SSL also offers straight-up microphone
preamps and signal processors housed in traditional 19" rack mount
units as well as 500 Series modules.
SSL Fusion debuted at AES New York 2019. Fusion is a bit of a departure for SSL as it's filled with fresh designs in a ground-up build. I'll tell
you right up front: this device ranks high on my Best of AES short list.

Meet the new SSL Fusion!

Fusion is a stereo analog bus processor that packs six distinct functions into
a single 2U 19" enclosure. The unit was
designed in the UK like all SSL products,
and manufactured in China.
Fusion is designed for stereo processing. A single set of controls affect both
the left and right channels equally. You
can of course process a mono source if
you wish, but you cannot alter the left
and right signals independently.
All connections are made on the backside of the unit, where there are two
pairs of balanced XLR I/O connectors.
One is for the main stereo ins and outs,
and the other addresses a flexible insert
point (explained below).
Fusion presents a synergy of six processes: Highpass Filter, Vintage Drive,
38 RECORDING August 2019

Violet EQ, HF Compressor, Stereo
Image, and Transformer. Processes
typically have no more than one or two
controls each. A grand total of 13 colored knobs, 8 backlit push-buttons, and
a stereo LED meter are conveniently arranged on a good-looking brushed gray
metal faceplate.
The Fusion signal path moves from left
to right, beginning and ending with I/O
level controls detented at the 12 o'clock
position, each providing ±12dB of gain.
A stereo input level LED glows when input peaks exceed +27dBu.

Highpass Filter

The input stage is followed by a
stepped highpass filter on an 18dB per
octave slope, with settings of Off, 30,
40 and 50Hz.

According to SSL, Vintage Drive is
a "non-linear harmonic enhancement
circuit" that adds harmonic distortion
and saturation to the signal. Two knobs,
Drive and Density, control the effect. The
Drive knob controls the overall amount
of the process. The Density knob at
twelve o'clock sets a balanced blend of
high and low frequency enhancement.
Clockwise favors higher frequency harmonic content, and counter-clockwise
adds thickening and weight. This section
has its own saturation clip LED as well as
a bypass button.
Vintage Drive can absolutely deliver
overloaded analog circuit-style saturation if you want it. However, this is not
your usual heavy handed, make-it-fuzzy
kind of process. It's more EQ-like and
sonorous, adding varied degrees of harmonic sheen and weight. Vintage Drive
is an addictive process. Once engaged,
you won't want to turn it off-somehow
the mix just sounds better-more gelled,
more exciting. Engaging the process
causes a volume boost; use the I/O controls to rebalance the signal, and use the
bypass button to level-match dry and effected signals.

The New SSL Violet EQ

It can be argued that SSL's single greatest accomplishment lies in the field of
console EQ. The debate over which EQ
is better: the Black or the Brown, resulted
in most modern SSL consoles offering a
choice of both! Fusion introduces SSL's

Recording - August 2019

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