Rupert Neve Designs Portico 511 500 Series Mic Pre with Texture

With a big, bold preamp and the flexibility of variable Silk/Texture, Rupert Neve designed the 511 to combine classic sonics with 500-series value. Incorporating the 517as powerful preamp, the 5012as universally useful sweepable high pass filter, and the transformer-saturating power of a variable silk circuit derived from our flagship Portico II Channel, the 511 is a Rupert Neve-designed micpre for the masses. While it's challenging to design 500-series modules that are equal to their non-500 series counterparts, the team at Rupert Neve experimented with a number of different transformer and circuit designs so they could achieve the same presence and sweetness that is found in the standard Portico Series modules making them perfectly suited for the highest caliber studio environments.Input SectionInput signals may be derived from Mic or Line sources (make sure 48V is off for line sources!). The input has a 10K a non-reactive input resistance that handles a full 22dBu signal without the need for a pad. The pre-amp is a TLA non-reactive design that precludes the loading of microphones with limited driving capability. A primary gain control provides 66dB of gain in 6dB increments for easy recall, with a +/- 6dB trim for fine adjustment. For condenser microphones and powered DIs, there is +48V phantom power. A transient-optimized HPF continuously covering the range from 20-250Hz is included to tame rumble and proximity effect.TextureOne of the key developments in the 511 is the Red Silk / Texture control from the Portico II Channel. Building on the "Silk" mode found in the Portico Series mic pre-amplifiers, Texture is designed to adjust the actual amount of harmonic music content from the source material, in effect, providing wide range of tonal options for the preamplifier. Like the original Portico Silk, the Silk Red / Texture works by reducing negative feedback on the output transformer and adjusting the frequency response to more closely resemble Mr. Rupert Neve's v