Gainlab Audio: 25% off B-Stock sale, 15–30 August

Gainlab at 25% off doesn’t happen often

Gainlab Audio is running a limited B-Stock sale from 15 to 30 August 2026. Five units from the Hungarian manufacturer drop to 25% off their usual list price: the Dictator and Dictator DM compressors, the Empress equaliser, the Governor optical compressor and the Wizard saturator.

These machines almost never go below catalogue price. On valve gear assembled in small batches in Budapest, a quarter off genuinely changes the equation — an Empress at €1,815 excl. VAT is a two-channel passive valve EQ for the price of a good solid-state one.

What “B-Stock” means at Gainlab

A B-Stock unit is an official, factory-inspected device that may show slight cosmetic marks — a hairline scratch on the front panel, a handling mark on the chassis. In practice:

• These are not second-hand products: they have not been used in a studio.
• They arrive complete, in their original packaging.
• Same components, same valves, same transformers as a brand-new unit.
• Same measured performance, with no exceptions.

The difference is therefore purely cosmetic, and often invisible once the unit is racked.

The five units in the sale

Dictator — stereo vari-mu valve compressor

The Dictator works on the same principle as the great vari-mu units, the Fairchild 670 and the Gates STA-Level, with proprietary circuitry called “mu-follower”. Its two channels track in sync across the whole transition curve, which gives particularly smooth gain reduction. Very sensitive to gain-staging: subtle when worked lightly, it turns into a genuine saturation unit when pushed.

€2,124 incl. VAT (€1,770 excl. VAT) instead of €2,634 incl. VAT — see the Gainlab Dictator B-Stock.

Dictator DM — the dual-mono version

Same machine, with the option to unlink the two channels and treat them independently. Useful when mastering unbalanced programme material, or for handling two separate mono sources in a single 2U.

€2,124 incl. VAT (€1,770 excl. VAT) instead of €2,699 incl. VAT — see the Gainlab Dictator DM B-Stock.

Empress — two-channel passive valve equaliser

A modern reading of the Pultec: the characteristic boost and cut curves in the lows and highs, plus a parametric mid band the original Pultecs never had. Two channels in 2U, which makes it an equaliser equally at home in tracking, mixing and mastering.

€2,178 incl. VAT (€1,815 excl. VAT) instead of €2,599 incl. VAT — see the Gainlab Empress B-Stock.

Governor — dual-slope optical valve compressor

The Governor grew out of the Bishop’s dynamics section, which became so popular that Gainlab turned it into a unit of its own. Its dual-slope design and two thresholds allow very fine dynamics control. It runs in stereo or dual-mono, accepts an external side-chain with a built-in filter, and its valve output transformer brings the saturation already appreciated on the Empress. The display replaces the classic VU meter with an indicator that reads signal state changes far more clearly.

€2,601.60 incl. VAT (€2,168 excl. VAT) instead of €3,259 incl. VAT — see the Gainlab Governor B-Stock.

Wizard — stereo valve saturator

Gainlab started from an observation: across its range, the most-used function was the Tube Boost. The Wizard turns it into a dedicated unit. Input and output controls set the amount of saturation, the Feed function removes the clean signal from the output to refine the setting further, and the Bias control shapes the tonal character through a high-pass filter and a three-band equaliser with presets. The Pressure control adds a vari-mu style dynamic component, with its own dedicated indicator.

€2,691.60 incl. VAT (€2,243 excl. VAT) instead of €3,438 incl. VAT — see the Gainlab Wizard B-Stock.

Gear you’ll find on stage and in the studio

Gainlab Audio grew out of Gainlab Studio in Budapest before becoming an independent manufacturer specialising in high-end analogue processing. Its units are used by engineers working with Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, The Killers, Queens of the Stone Age and Lorna Shore — in the studio as well as in touring racks, which says a lot about their reliability.

Availability

The sale runs from 15 to 30 August 2026, while stocks last. Quantities are very limited and allocated in order of purchase.

Prices shown including VAT contain 20% French VAT, as for a new product. Depending on your status and delivery country, the applicable VAT may differ — do get in touch for a business order or a delivery outside France.

Any questions about these units, or want advice on which one best suits your chain? Drop us a line, we answer.