is SSL Fusion WORTH IT in 2024??

IN DEPTH MIX TUTORIALS, Music Business advice, Live Q&A, Awesome Merch

Gear In This Video

My Gear:

Microphones

Rack Gear

Monitors / Headphones

Plug-ins

Instruments / Amps

Camera Gear

[ColtCapperrune]

Drop me a comment if you would like to see a shootout between this and any other units!

[Lillandon]

Did you not find out about the secret extra color? Push and hold the HF comp IN button for 5 secs, and it becomes a SSL LMC circuit, really really cool!

[bigmike]

Great review Colt! I ended up selling my Fusion and bought a pair of RND 542s, SPL BIG along with the SSL Bus+ and absolutely love this on my mix bus. Keep those videos coming! 👍🏻🔥🔥

[anthonygettig]

Colt. Dude. For real. This is one of the BEST reviews you’ve ever done. Hearing the differences was nucking futs. Really man. Well done. This is now HIGH on my my wishlist at Sweetwater.

[ooyy]

Yooo!! Love your vids Colt, so cool to see you're using my music in the intro!!! ✨🙏🏼

Keep up the great work!

[MikeVlcek]

I have a Fusion that I use every day. It was my first serious piece of outboard gear, and I love it. Now I've also have an EL7 Fatso that I insert on the Fusion (mostly Pre-EQ). The thing about the Fatso is the Warmth control, that allows me to control high freq transients even better than the HF Comp on the Fusion. 

The best way I've found to use the Fusion is swapping the comp mode to LMC and adjusting the threshold whilst on 50-50 blend with the original signal. If I see need for the HF compressor, I simply insert the plugin version, which is great and, to me, indistinguishable from the hardware module. 

If you haven't tried the LMC comp mode on the Fusion yet, try it. Blending it with the dry signal makes wonders to mixes. My 2c. Cheers.

[thewhitedude]

This single unit helped me learn so much as well as made my mixes better. It caused me to think differently about music. I love this thing!

[groovedealerfeaturing-ashl]

Had mine for years now, still love it!
It doesn't just live on the main bus, i use it for tracking through, the drive is great for adding character, the tranny either makes things sound better or worse, HF comp as well as drive can tame upper mids and highs... it's a handy bit of kit and really useful!!
I like your use of 'grainy' too, i used ti at The Neve factory last year when chatting with their Marketing Manager and couldn't think of a better word at the time, but it IS the right word, totally agree there.
The LMC1 is a nice bonus too. 😁The Mid/Side functionality of the insert point is pretty nifty too to add an EQ to EQ in M/S.

[ColinMatchack]

Thank you actually TURNING the knobs on this review!!!! Most people barely tap on it… Let’s

[CreativeMindsAudio]

I really enjoyed the space it gave and the subtle crunch. But it’s way more subtle than the mbt.

[GrumpyGrg]

Got one for quite few years now, still love it. Never use the drive, do not like it much, but all other elements are, to me, very cool. It's a very good all in one box as a first ever intro into hardware world.
The Mid/Side matrix inside it definitely top aswell. I'm planing to get a pair of saturators in 500 serie and use them as M/S saturation on the insert slot. The LMC feature is also a great color tool.
To me this definitely a great "mix finisher". Sure we can find better with more budget, but the matrix itself and the little moves we can go on are very fine for the price even tho I still think this could cost slightly less.

[goodshade]

Hey Colt after watching this and the MBT video, if you were to choose one for the Mix/Master bus, which would you prefer? Ive (eventually whenever its ready) got a Stamchild and Stereo Pultec on the way and wanted to know which would work best with those. Thanks!

[puppet-m]

had it in my studio, we called it the confusion could'nt figure out if it was making the mix sound worse are not! to I finally figured it out it was the gain staging on it sux!! thin sounding to.

[wynton]

1:45 Im always headbanging to this everytime i hear it!!!

[cristianomoro_music]

Great video! Would you buy a Fusion or a bus compressor first for your mixbus?

[Reggi_Sample]

Man I've wanted one for a long time. Isn't in the budget so I've made do with an analog heat I know completely different level and slightly different purpose, but I make it work. I'm glad you finally got one bro, let's put it to work!

[Simbabhebhe]

What it does at the stereo image stage is phenomenal

[jasoncrossmusic]

I’ve had mine now for about 3 years and it sits on my mixbus for nearly everything. It is in the more “subtle” range unless really pushed and your description of the saturation is the best I’ve heard and concur completely. As with nearly all analog gear, gain staging is crucial but having the separate input/output trims makes it easy. My next stop is something that gets the “creamy” side a bit more, but I don’t think I’m parting with mine any time soon.

[ProducerStefanSchnabel]

awesome video about the ssl fusion! Thank you very much.

[jerrodflusche]

Thank you for such an in depth review! Nice jam! Curious to hear it with the neve mbp!