Rupert Neve Designs 545 Primary Source Enhancer

Based around the circuitry in the acclaimed Portico 5045 - which has benefited countless tours, arenas, houses of worship and broadcast stages worldwide - the 545 is exceptionally useful at reducing feedback without negatively impacting the sonic integrity of the source.

The 545 effectively increases the level of a live microphone signal by up to 20dB before feedback occurs.

The 545 shares some traits with conventional "noise gates", but operates on a different principle. One common aspect is that both reduce the gain during the absence of signal - or more specifically, both begin to attenuate when the level of a signal falls below a certain user-defined threshold. The 545 senses when someone is speaking or singing into the mic and allows the signal to pass through, and senses when the person has stopped talking or singing and reduces the gain appropriately, thus reducing the system’s tendency to feed back.

Importantly, the 545 does not utilise filtering or digital processing to achieve its significant benefits. Built around Rupert Neve Designs' custom input and output transformers, its all-analogue circuitry provides superb control and sonic performance without compromising the integrity of the source material. This makes the 545 the most intuitive, natural-sounding and effective method of feedback reduction available on the market.

With a minimal control set, the 545's ease of use makes it ideal even for circumstances where a full-time or experienced engineer is not readily available, and allows for rapid adjustments on-the-fly even during performances.

The 545 is an absolutely indispensable addition to any setup where feedback or reverberation are problematic, and it (and the 5045, its 2-channel brother) are used every night on the biggest stages all across the world.