Overstayer Recording Equipment Saturator NT-02A Harmonic Distortion Processor

The Overstayer Recording Equipment Saturator NT-02A is a comprehensive harmonic distortion and saturation processor designed to add analog color and character to virtually any signal in a modern production environment. A sweepable resonant high-pass filter, discrete op-amp gain stage, soft-clipping saturation circuit, and a 3rd-order harmonic emphasis path (Shape 3) can be engaged independently or together, covering a range from barely perceptible tape-style warmth all the way to extreme, intentional distortion. A Blend control mixes the processed and dry signals for parallel processing, and an In switch provides master bypass for both channels. Drums, bass, synths, loops, vocals, and full mix busses are all well within the Saturator NT-02A’s intended scope.

Key Features

• Low Cut filter (bypassable) — 12dB/octave (2-pole) high-pass filter sweepable from 30Hz to 4.7kHz; shapes the frequency content entering the distortion and saturation stages downstream
• RES (Resonance) — controls the resonant peak at the Low Cut frequency; high resonance at low frequencies adds substantial low-end energy while attenuating sub content below the cutoff; at maximum, the filter can be driven into self-oscillation and tuned to a target frequency for kick drum enhancement, dub-style bass, telephone filter effects, and self-oscillating harmonic content
• Boost — engages a fixed clean gain stage followed by a compensating pad; raises low-level signals and/or overdrives subsequent stages; functions similarly to a clean boost on the front end of an amplifier circuit
• Saturation (bypassable) — controls the amount of non-linear amp saturation and soft clipping from subtle harmonic sweetening to extreme analog saturation; bypassing this section still allows access to the filter and Shape 3 circuit
• High Cut — fixed 6dB lowpass filter at 6kHz; engageable to tame high-frequency content in high-gain applications
• Gain — discrete op-amp providing primarily clean gain; can be clipped via Boost engagement or high-gain settings
• Shape 3 — activates a pre/post emphasis filter that adds 3rd-order harmonic saturation across the full circuit, functioning similarly to tape saturation; can be used independently or in conjunction with the Saturation section
• Blend — controls the balance between the processed (wet) and source (dry) signal for parallel processing applications
• Output — sets final output level post-Blend
• In — master bypass switch for both channels

Specifications

• Channels: 2
• Low Cut Filter: 12dB/octave (2-pole) HPF, 30Hz–4.7kHz sweep, with resonance control
• High Cut Filter: 6dB LPF, fixed at 6kHz
• Gain Stage: Discrete op-amp
• Saturation Type: Non-linear amp saturation and soft clipping (bypassable)
• Shape 3: Pre/post emphasis, 3rd-order harmonic saturation
• Blend: Wet/dry mix control
• Bypass: Master In switch (both channels)