Hard to find much on this compressor in the way of reviews.

For those who have used this 500 series compressor what are your thoughts on using this for vocals? How close is it to an 1176?

I built one of these not that long ago, though I haven't yet had the chance to use it in any real recordings. It's definitely in 76 territory, with pretty much identical controls. My experience with the 1176 hardware is very limited, though I guess I'd say it's in a similar vein as the UAD plugins I've used. I do have a Hairball FET/500 rev A (based on the blue stripe 1176), and that is much more aggressive and colored than the FC526, which stays more subtle until you start hitting it hard. It does offer the "all buttons in" thing, which is fun. All in all it's a nice unit that I'm glad to have and will reach for when I want fast compression that isn't so in-your-face as the Hairball rev A.

Thanks! This is really helpful and corresponds with what others have said about the Capi. I’ve also been eyeing the Hairball FET 500 rev D. Since there similar in price it seems like the hairball and Capi are two really good options. How do you like the Hairball REV A? I’m mainly looking for a vocal tracking compressor and I’m thinking the rev a may be a bit to aggressive on the way in.

Depends, if you want cleaner. definitely look into the revD or E. The A is really cool though and has a vibe but I wouldn’t want it on every vocal chain. The rev A also has a beautiful saturation. Personally Id have both options ( color or clean) and choose per song.

Agreed that’s where I’m at now. I like the sound of the Rev A but I don’t want to bake it into all my vocals in tracking.

I’m curious how the 1176 Rev D compares to the Capi FC526?

Seems like the Capi would be pretty ideal for tracking since it’s more on the clean side. I already have an LA2A clone in the chain so putting the Capi before the optical compressor would give me something similar to that Classic 1176>LA2A pairing to track with.

I haven’t used or heard the CAPI but from reading about it, it is based on the classic 1176 fet design but not a clone. It does have a lot of headroom though so it may be fairly clean at reasonable levels. When I had some capi pre amps I loved them so o would probably feel the same about the compressor.

Capi FC526 XFMR

Thanks I checked that out, useful but kinda limited in first hand experience. Since it’s been a while I figured I’d see if more people had experience.

It has a distinct sound, and it is extremely cool for the right things. It makes drums explode. I'm not sure it would be my go-to for vocals, though, unless I wanted the edginess that it brings.