Drawmer 1960 Dual Vacuum Tube Compressor/Mic Pre-Amp

Full Description

Authentic vintage flavour

There is little doubt in the minds of many engineers and producers that vacuum tubes possess a unique sound quality, providing a warmer and more alive sound than digital preamplifiers. Combining eight active tube stages and the low noise and reliability of solid state electronics, the Drawmer 1960 provides the ultimate direct interface between the sound source and recording medium. Many musicians have already discovered the unique range of suonds available through the auxiliary section of the Drawmer 1960. From a warm and clean tonality to the classic overdriven soft clipping tube sound, the 1960 has the scope to enhance the performance of guitar, bass, electric piano and many other instruments.

Versatile compressor and preamplifier

As the Drawmer 1960 Vacuum Tube Compressor/Pre Amp operating as a soft knee type, it requires very little in terms of its controls. The Threshold range is continuously variable between infinity and -24DB, the theory being that the signals below the threshold are essentially unprocessed and the signals exceeding this threshold are subjected to increasing amounts of gain reduction dependent on by how much they exceed the threshold.

Harking back to earlier precedents the attack and release times of the Drawmer 1960 are switchable rather than being continuously variable. The attack offers a choice of slow, medium and fast whilst release is comprised of six settings. Positions of one to four have fixed release times whilst positions five and six are two different programme release modes making the unit ideally suited to programmed material with complex dynamics such as complete stereo mixes and vocals.The VU meters on the 1960 Vacuum Tube Compressor/Pre Amp may be switched to monitor either the amount of gain reduction taking place or the output signal level and the two channels may be used either independently or as a stereo pair, depending on the setting of the stereo link switch.

Features

• Two ultra-low noise vacuum tube microphone preamplifiers capture your audio source with stellar detail
• Ideal for studio recording, live shows, location recording and post-production
• D.I inputs are suitable for a wide range of signals including electric guitars, basses, electronic synthesizers or drum machines
• Up to +60dB of gain on the microphone preamps
• Preamps include 48V phantom power to use with your favourite condenser microphones
• Switchable high-pass filter between 50Hz and 100Hz to eliminate unwanted rumble
• Full set of controls to dial in the perfect amount of compression including Attack and Release time, Threshold and Makeup gain
• Accurate and fast VU metering that can be set to output level or gain reduction
• Variable input gain, sufficient enough to provide sustain effects with a swithcable gain boost up to +40dB
• Variable bass and treble equalisation with switchable high-frequency boost
• Bass boost of +15dB at 40Hz, Treble boost switchable from +10dB at 2kHz to +18dB at 16kHz
• Create stereo effects by routing your Aux input to both compressors and taking two mono outputs from each compressor
• Set different compression characteristics per each channel for true stereo processing
• Can be pushed hard into overdrive for creative effect on aggressive vocals or guitar performances

Specifications

• Connectors: Mic/Line Balanced XLR, Aux Input 1/4 Unbalanced
• Input impedance:
  • Line: 20k Ohm
  • Mic: 150 - 600 Ohm
  • Aux: 47k Ohm
• Maximum input level: +16dB (+20dBU)
• Mic pre-amp noise: -129dB, dynamic range: 150dB, headroom: +21dB
• Output impedance: 50 Ohm
• Maximum output level: +18dB
• Frequency response: 20Hz - 24kHz (+/- 1dB)
• Crosstalk: Less than -80dB at 10kHz
• Compressor noise: -88dB between 22Hz - 22kHz
• Distortion: Unity gain +4dBU, input less than 0.15% at 100 - 10kHz
• Power requirements: IEC connector, 115 or 230V (-15% to 10%) at 50-60Hz, 38W
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 482 x 88 x 250mm
• Weight: 6.6kg
• Product code: 1960