This is the Flatline compress by John Hollis with some mods by Atomium Amplification. I’ve built a few of these and they all work well.
Flatline is a simple optical compressor built from a handful of easy to find parts. If you like compressors, want to build one yourself try this, you’ll probably like it. If you curious about compressors check out this post.
The mods from Atomium Amplification suggest a few parts changes and using an OPA2134 op-amp in place of the TL072.
I had designed a PCB for the Flatline and had them manufactured at PCBWay.com. Their prototyping service is $5 for 5 or 10 boards, since it costs the same I always get 10 boards! That left me with a few extra boards. Since I had the extra boards I thought I’d give the Atomium mods a try.
How does it sound? Sounds pretty good. The Atomium mods are pretty good. Not huge. These pedal has all of the same characteristics of the original Flatline but a little noise and feels like a little more headroom. These claims may not technically accurate but it’s how it feels.
For the cost, it you like compressors, and want to build your own, build this one! Simple, easy to build, easy to get parts, cheap, sounds great, what’s not to like!
Leave a Reply