Im looking to fill the last 2 slots on my 500 rack.

Currently in the 8 slots I have:
2 Phoenix Audio DRS EQ 500
2 Neve 1084 500 clones
IGS rubber Bands ME
Lindell 77x-500

My pre's are covered with 1u rack stuff: a dual TK audio and a phoenix audio dual pre.

Also my other compressors are a drawmer 1968 and drawmer 1978

I record and track a lot of instrumental stuff involving samples, guitar, percussion, synths and drum machines, think east coast new york style mid 90's hip hop and house.

On the short list are:
CAPI VC528 - Missing Link ML2
API 565
Looptrotter SAT 500

Any suggestions? Thank you.

A preamp, saturation, or filter ...

I am about to buy my 3rd API 565 - I think its a bit extra special compared to the vast amount of choices in the other categories.

API Mic pres or EQ's since you have some Neve stuff.


A combination of API's plus Neve/SSL channels and Tubetech MP1A is what we used to track "East Coast" samples/drum machines to 2 inch tape back in the day.

In that mix of gear, and given your stated recording flow, I'd probably look at a couple API 505 DI's. Here's a rack o' mine, you might like this site for playing module tetris ... https://modulargrid.net/a/racks/view/2445119

Thanks for the link and input, I already have my DI's covered with the dual channel TK audio and dual channel phoenix pre's, they both have D.I, I reckon I would need to sell one if I was to get the API 505's.

Of course having everything in a couple of 500 racks would be a little more ideal but the TK audio is versatile and drives so nicely and the phoenix DRS Q4 has EQ on both channels.

Modular grid is quite the rabit hole for sure!

Also seeing your rack reminded me of the kush audio electras and how badly I want a pair haha.

Oh dear....GAS outta control!!!

Using those on synths? IIRC you do.

I am trying to decide on the API 505 vs the API 535-LA and I am leaning towards the latter.

The API 505 has the "fatter" filtering however I will be pairing it with a an API 565 filter which I already have two of.

Not many users of the API 505 so I figured I'd ask what you think compared to the API 535-la.

I'm getting a lot more use out of the 505 than I thought I would. I use it for synths sure, the reason I got them. But recently been loving them on DI guitars, something about taking a Danelectro lipstick pickup direct is really nice. Works well on my rhodes too when I want to run a stereo trem, though I still prefer the tone of a tube DI for when I record mono. Haven't used the 535 line amp but was tempted when I compared them. I've got plenty of straight line amps though so the DI-preamp won out.

550a or 550b EQ? I don't know if I will need 6 EQ's but I guess you can never have enough? haha. A pair of 550b's popped up recently for a decent price.


The CAPI VC528 has the low pass and high pass filter with a fair few frequency selections, but I don't think it's a mic preamp?

I don't think I would miss the notch filter...also it's quite a bit cheaper than the 565.

But yeah, the 565 looks very interesting. Not many demos or soundclips around though.

I was also thinking about copping a couple of used FMR Audio RNC500's for kick and snare duties...hmmm

Best I can tell the CAPI VC528 has a fader with 12db of gain and sweepable LPF / HPF, though the LPF seems to stop at 9KHZ and I need to go way lower than that.

The notch filters help me tame my poly synths in unison that have strong resonant peaks in the mid frequencies.

The VC528 is DIY and the page instructions say it is one of their harder builds. I have a lot of experience with a soldering iron but not a lot of free time - I'll probably stick with the 565 though I do like that fader knob on the VC528.

550a vs 550b ... I have both (5500 for the 550b), I sometimes like the extra band of the 550b and sometimes like the extra mojo of the 550a but I am buying more 550A FWIW.

What do you feel like you're missing the most? That's probably the question I'd start with.

Whatever checks the boxes of what you are hoping to get sonically.

Well if you are tracking 6 things at once (like an MPC with 8 outputs), then 6 EQ's would come in handy.

That's a very good point. I guess overall I want to control everything with multiple stages of EQ and compression, shape and sculpt my kicks, snares, hats, baselines, synths and samples, sonically I want warm saturated crunch, hard hitting, thumping low end and biting mids.

The API EQ's are great if you want to bring out the knock and thump in your drums. Its why the Lunchbox became so famous in the studios in NYC.

Its +2b boosts and cuts, so either its right or its not (most of the time they are right though).

I wouldn't call them necessarily scultping EQ's more like "starters" to get things moving or "finishers" to subtly smooth out the overall tone.

Yeah, I ended up getting a pair of pre built CAPI VC528's on a deal that was too good to pass up, I'll let you know how they turn out.

Well I actually only had the IGS rubber bands and the lindell 77X until recently and it was a pain having to dub individual tracks through the rubber bands each time I wanted to print with the EQ. I feel like I'm missing everything except mic pre's.

Mono compressors for kick snare and hi-hat duties is high on the list.
Great, that's interesting to know.

I ended up purchasing a pair of API 550b's and CAPI BT50's. I think it's the only way to truly find out...


So next on the short list is to find some used mono comps for kicks, snares and percussion

I'm currently looking at:

API 525
APA Leviathan (is this an instant-buy @£350?)
Great River PWM-501
FMR RNC500

All currently popped up on the used market for pretty good deals

I'd gleefully use the API 525 on any other sources besides mics on percussion.

The API 525 is pure mojo however it lacks features that percussion typically needs such ratios besides 2:1 and 20:1, threshold and attack namely.

On percussion the API 527 is more often the choice - anything else is fair game on the APi 525.

Sorry I did mean the 527. I got mixed up/confused haha. Thank you.