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legendary Bill Putnam's company, Studio Electronics Corp shortly before he changed the
company’s name to UREI®. Three different versions of the LA-2A were produced under the
auspices of these different companies before production was discontinued around 1969.
Developing the 1176
It was Bill Putnam himself who, in 1966, was responsible for the initial design of the 1176.
Its circuit was rooted in the 1108 preamplifier which was also designed by Putnam. As is
evident from entries and schematics in his design notebook, he experimented with the
recently developed Field Effect Transistor (F.E.T.) in various configurations to control the
gain reduction in the circuit. He began using F.E.T.s as voltage variable resistors, in which
the resistance between the drain and the source terminals is controlled by a voltage
applied to the gate. His greatest challenge was to ensure that distortion was minimized by
operating the F.E.T.s within a linear region of operation.
After several unsuccessful attempts at using F.E.T.s in gain reduction circuits, Putnam settled
upon the straightforward approach of using the F.E.T. as the bottom leg in a voltage
divider circuit, which is placed ahead of a preamp stage.
The output stage of the 1176 is a carefully crafted class A line level amplifier, designed to
work with the (then) standard load of 600 ohms. The heart of this stage is the output
transformer, whose design and performance is critical. Its primary function is to convert the
unbalanced nature of the 1176 circuit to a balanced line output, and to provide the
proper impedance matching to drive the line impedance of 600 ohms. These two jobs are
accomplished by the primary and secondary windings whose turns' ratio defines the
impedance ratio.
This transformer is critical due to the fact that it uses several additional sets of windings to
provide feedback, which makes it an integral component in the operation of the output
amplifier. Putnam spent a great deal of time perfecting the design of this tricky transformer
and carefully qualified the few vendors capable of producing it.
The first major modification to the 1176 circuit was designed by Brad Plunkett in an effort
to reduce noise--hence the birth of the 1176LN, whose LN stands for low noise. Numerous
design improvements followed, resulting in at least 13 revisions of the 1176.
Legend has it that the D and E blackface revisions sound the most "authentic".
More Than a Vintage Fad: Classic Sound
Both the 1176 and the LA-2A remain in daily use. Busy engineers’ and producers’
comments about both the 1176 and the LA-2A demonstrate their impact on the industry:
Mike Shipley
Mike Shipley (Def Leppard, Shania Twain, Blondie): "I grew up using 1176s --- in England
they were the compressor of choice. They're especially good for vocals, which is also what
I primarily use the LA-2 for. Most anything else I can do without, but I can't be without at
least a pair of 1176s and an LA-2A. For example, on the Enrique Iglesias project I'm