Hi,

The Waves L2 hardware is nice for the price.
The Manley ELOP.
For about $650 more you could go for the Cranesong STC-8.

Richard

A decent sounding limiter?

I don't think that the Manley(can that catch overs?) will do the trick if you don't want "old school"... and what are your definition of "old school"?
Do you want it analog or digital?

Hopefully you can call some firms so you could talk with them about what you need and maybe try out some of their units.

Try to contact these:
Maselec/Prism
Waves
Daniel Weiss, maybe a little over your budget though...

Do you get a lot of denoising projects? is that why you've aded Sonic Studio HD? or is there another reason?

Best regards

As far as compressors go. Look for a used GML 8900 or a Manley Slam. Both amazing comps. Another one is the Crane Song STC8.

All 3 are great for mastering and would sound amazing.

wasn't he looking for a Limiter?...

Yes, I've got a decent compressor at the moment. What I'm interested in is a brick wall limiter. I've got an all digital mastering system and I'm now trying to build a mostly analog rig. I had an excellent opportunity to purchase a Sonic HD system inexpensively and so I'm building my system around a Sonic I/O. That way I can get the best of both worlds as far as analog and digital (the Sonic EQ sounds really great and I really like what I can do with NoNoise).

Jeff

Jeff,
I suggest the Waves L2. It has Manley converters if needes. Several dither and quantizing choices. And sounds very good when used properly.
Joe