LA Studio comp: Emphasis?

[BlueViolince]

What is it supposed to do, really?

[HonestOpinion]

What is it supposed to do, really?

 

I did a write-up of that function in my post about compressors. Just search for the word "Emphasis" or go down to the section in the post about the LA Comp.

http://line6.com/support/topic/23488-compressors-explained/?p=178763

 

Here is a link to the original manual for the Model LA-2A

https://media.uaudio.com/assetlibrary/l/a/la-2a_manual.pdf

 

My question to Line6 remains how did they actually implement it. The Emphasis control on the original unit this was based on was designed for compression in broadcasting and it essentially provided side-chained compression for making the compressor more sensitive to higher frequencies This was originally intended to counter a 17db boost at 15k in the broadcasting signal. This does not seem like a very useful area of sensitivity for a guitar so the question is "did Line6 move the center frequency for Emphasis down in the frequency range to where it is more applicable to guitar or did the Emphasis control on the original LA-2A compressor already start at lower frequencies"?

 

Worth noting is that on the original effect the Emphasis knob worked the opposite of what you might expect. Quote from the LA-2A manual: "turning it counter clockwise will result in compression which is increasingly more sensitive to the higher frequencies". This means that if the Helix modeled the LA 2A faithfully, the higher you turn the Emphasis up the less it should compress the higher frequencies.

[BlueViolince]

Interesting.  That could be useful, but I guess I would have to run it through a frequency analyzer to figure out how it changes the response.  And 15kHz isn't the most useful range for most live players.

[HonestOpinion]

Interesting.  That could be useful, but I guess I would have to run it through a frequency analyzer to figure out how it changes the response.  And 15kHz isn't the most useful range for most live players.

 

In the quick experiment I ran it seemed that turning up the 'Emphasis' did let more of the highs through uncompressed. That would be the same behavior as the LA-2A the model is based on but my mind may have been playing tricks on me as that is the way I "think" it should work (like the original). I would be interested in what your frequency analysis and others' ears are telling them.