SLAM! stands for Stereo Limiter and Micpre and SLAM! is a also a fairly accurate description of what this beast will do to most VU meters. Manley's design team had to put a switch on this to drop its internal VU meters down 3 & 6dB to keep the needles from bending. It gets LOUD and it gets LOUD fast (hence Manley's exclamation mark) And on top of being an amazing pair of (actually four) Limiters, and Class A tube mic preamps, it also has a masters degree in DI, PHDs in A/D and D/A, plus a doctorate in VU & PPM technology. As Americans though, Manley's design team wisely decided, design being their forte, that they'd leave the complexities of advanced audio-related acronym research to experts in that field. SLAM! was enough.

When it comes to classic audio gear, especially classic limiters, many engineers still go misty eyed at the thought of LA2s, 1176s, 2264s and others. Part of the design brief for the SLAM team came from posing a question "What if all those sounds could be achieved in one stereo tube unit?"

Manley decided to combine their favorite Electro-Optical circuit with a very fast FET based brick-wall limiter reminiscent of some of the old classics. They added a sidechain filter which can remove low frequencies, making it more useful for a variety of tasks, while retaining an easy, "it just works" quality that has made it a favorite for recording vocals in many studios. The FET-based limiter has different desirable characteristics that both optimise the signal for digital recording, due to the brick-wall capability, and let you dial in just how clean crunchy punchy loud and proud you want it. Manley Labs announce the arrival of their SLAM!

INPUTS: The SLAM! starts with tube Mic Preamps on both channels with switchable phantom power and phase reverse. There is plenty of gain in this new tube circuit, up to 60dB (with 20dB more in the limiter) which is plenty for soft vocalists using low output ribbon microphones. An input attenuator is right up front, acting like a variable pad, so a singer really going for it won't cause a problem either. You can also track direct with the DI input or bring line level inputs in too.
Digital Audio to deal with as well? No problem. The SLAM! has a rear slot for Manley's optional 24/96 Analog to Digital converter and 24/192 Digital to Analog converter card. This allows you to record directly to your computer or workstation and provides a convenient way to use a digital insert to jump into the analog realm and back. AES and SPDIF digital inputs receive stereo digital signal to convert to analog for processing by the SLAM! when the DAC input is selected. Or just take advantage of this wonderful sounding DAC and use the DAC Output for monitoring, listening, or to go out to some other analogue processor or tape machine.