Chandler Limited: Abbey Road TG12345 MKIV EQ and TG Opto Compressor

Chandler Limited, based in the unassuming city of Shell Rock, Iowa, is the company that makes spot-on recreations of vintage EMI/ Abbey Road recording gear. More importantly, Chandler is the only company in the world that is authorized by Abbey Road Studios to be able to do so. If the words “Abbey Road recording gear” mean nothing to you, I’m not sure we can be friends... but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt: these are reproductions and new designs inspired by the gear used at Abbey Road Studios in the 1960s and 1970s on sessions by the Beatles, The Hollies, Pink Floyd, and more. How’s that for a pedigree?

Abbey Road’s gear was custom-built by EMI engineers for use only at EMI facilities. That gear, as well as the latest Chandler creations, can largely be distilled into two series based upon two recording desks. The REDD series is based on circuits from the tube-based 1950s/1960s REDD console; the solid-state TG Series console was first commissioned in 1968, and used on the classic albums Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon.

Chandler’s founder and chief designer Wade Goeke launched his TG series in 2001, with REDD valve (tube) based products following in 2015. Just last year Wade had the honor of creating the first new EMI-authorized microphone since the 1930s with the REDD microphone, which I reviewed in February 2017.