Rupert Neve Designs 5254 Shelford Dual Diode Bridge Compressor

Two channels of iconic diode bridge compression, thoughtfully improved and refined for modern tracking, mixing, and mastering.

Since the early 1970s, Rupert Neve’s early diode bridge compressors have been revered for the punch & glue they bring to drums, instruments, and the mix buss – but these desirable characteristics were unfortunately accompanied by inflexible controls and fairly limited versatility. Rupert Neve Designs created the 5254 Dual Diode Bridge Compressor to capture the soul of these coveted compressors while providing modern updates including advanced timing control, significantly lower noise, fully stepped controls throughout, higher voltage power rails, and internal parallel processing capabilities.

Made for Tone
Unlike our VCA compressors, which are built for exacting clarity, the harmonically rich tonality of the Dual Diode Bridge Compressor is built to produce a wide range of colors – and built to help you make a statement with your music. Based on the dynamics circuit originally developed for the acclaimed Shelford Channel, the 5254 is outfitted for dual mono or stereo use with Rupert Neve Designs’ custom transformers and class-A electronics, tailor made for a compact 1U 19” enclosure.

Classic Diode Bridge Tone
Capture the punchy, larger-than-life tone used on countless hit records for the last 50 years.

Advanced timing controls
Custom-shape your compression envelope with the unified timing control, which enables a much wider range of responses than vintage units or clones.

Custom Transformers and Class-A Line Amplifiers
Vintage warmth meets the improved headroom and precision of Rupert Neve’s updated transformer-coupled line stages.

31-Position Detented Controls
Accurately recall and match your settings with precision and speed.

Built-In Parallel Compression
Internal blend control enables you to subtly dial in more dramatic compression settings for color as desired.

Full-Wave Sidechain Detection
Enhanced from the vintage units’ half-wave design, the updated sidechain detector provides substantially more accuracy.

Stereo Linking
Run your compressors in either dual mono or stereo configurations.

Internal Universal Power Supply
EIC connection for world-wide AC power from 90-240V embedded in the 1U rack-mountable chassis.

US and EU parcels ship via UPS, ETA 1-7 working days from pickup day zero. That also applies to most locations worldwide.

All shipments are fully insured.

Bigger shipments requiring pallets or custom made crates ship to US, CA, JP, CN, AU and other outside of EU locations via DHL Air Freight, ETA is normally approx. 7-14 working days from pickup day zero.

Big shipments inside EU ship via different freight companies, recently mostly via ACE Logistics. Freight forwarders can use different courier companies for deliveries to final destinations.

Palletising and crating time can vary depending on the size of the shipment and packaging queue. We pack all our shipments with great care.

You are most welcome to pick your order up yourself from our Retrosonic Pro Audio showroom, studio and warehouse in Tallinn, Estonia.

We ship worldwide – contact us for a personal shipping quote or any other questions.

VAT (Value Added Tax) can be deducted if you have a company with a valid EU VAT number or if you're based outside of the EU. Non-EU buyers pay all and any import tax and duty as regulated by their local customs.