With a big, bold preamp, a swept high-pass filter and the powerful saturation control of variable Silk, the 511 Mic Preamplifier combines legendary Rupert Neve tone with 500 Series value.
One of the key features of the 511 is the Silk / Texture control. The Silk circuit was initially developed for the original Portico series mic preamplifiers, and was only a single switch – on or off – that added a specified amount of musical, pleasing harmonic saturation to the unit’s output stage. Taking this concept one step further, the Texture knob is designed to adjust the actual amount of harmonic content from the source material. By reducing negative feedback across the output transformer and adjusting this feedback’s frequency response, the Silk / Texture circuit provides the sweet, musical saturation found in Rupert’s legendary vintage designs – but with complete & precise control over the amount of classic tone you want.
Rupert Neve 511 Features
- 12-way precision rotary switch controls gain from 0 to 66 dB (in 6 dB steps)
- Continuously variable +/-6 dB control to fine-tune level
- +48V phantom power on microphone input can be engaged
- 8-segment LED bar-graph meter displays output level (pre-Silk)
- Push button inverts the polarity of the signal path, and illuminates when engaged
- High pass filter is continuously variable from 20-250Hz and engaged by the HPF switch
- Silk Red circuit can be engaged to enhance harmonic content
- Texture manipulates the amount of Silk from almost absent to well beyond the coloration present in vintage units
- 511 500 series mic preamp1
- Noise
- Measured at Main Output, un-weighted, 22 Hz - 22 kHz, source impedance 150Ω balanced. Noise performance can vary depending on the 500 series and / or interference from stray magnetic fields
- Unity Gain: better than -103dBV
- Gain @ +66dB: better than -60dBV
- Equivalent Input Noise: -125dB
- Frequency Response (main output, no load)
- +/- 0.1 dBu from 10 Hz to 31.5 kHz
- -2.6 dB @ 120 kHz
- Max. Output Level+23dBu
- THD and Noise
- No Silk
- @ 1 kHz, +20 dBu output level, no load: Better than 0.0025%
- @ 20 Hz, +20 dBu output level, no load: 0.025% Typical (2nd and 3rd harmonic)
- With Silk Engaged (@ 100 Hz, +20 dBu input level, no load)
- TEXTURE @ min: 0.015%, mostly 3rd harmonic typical
- TEXTURE @ max: 2%, mostly 2rd harmonic typical
- Gain (unity up to +66dB in 6dB steps)trim continuously adjustable from -6 dB to +6 dB
- Phantom Powersupplied by the 500 series rack power supply; switch selectable on faceplate
- High Pass Filter (continuously variable swept frequency from 20Hz to 250Hz)slope: 12dB/octave
- Power Requirements@ +/-16VDC, 100mA
