Rupert Neve Designs 5211

Simple and elegant, the 5211 is the natural evolution of what is arguably the most famous gear in audio recording history: Rupert Neve's microphone preamps. 

With two channels of the classic tone you know and love, 72dB of gain, sweepable high-pass filters for precise control, and the power of Mr. Rupert Neve's dual-tap transformers with variable Silk saturation, the 5211 delivers a versatile, flattering, and uncompromising front end for any signal path. In short, it's everything a mic preamp should be.

One of the key features of the 5211 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. 

So how does it work? 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. And when the level is driven to the edge of its headroom, the Silk effect is multiplied.

The 5211 has a custom transformer output stage with a balanced main standard line level output. Additionally, a separate -6dBu XLR output can compensate for high levels of input and Silk harmonic saturation, enabling engineers to fully drive the 5211 to achieve more transformer harmonics without clipping the next device in the chain. Both outputs are active and can be used concurrently.