Retro Instruments creating unique and innovative recording studio gear that sounds, looks, and feels vintage and state-of-the-art in equal measure.
Marek Stycos from Audio Alchemist presents the Retro Instruments POWERSTRIP.
It’s a channel strip with an outstanding mic preamp based on vintage RCA broadcast consoles.
There are three main sections on this channel strip: a Class A tube mic preamp, an inductor-based EQ, and a variable-mu compressor.
Telefunken Elam 251, Telefunken U47, Neumann M149, AKG 414.
No eq or compression, just some reverb from Tonstudio Metzingen.
Vintage King LIVE vocal / music DOUBLEWIDE II review
Since 500 Series has grown in popularity, the Retro Instruments DOUBLEWIDE has been one of the best selling modules here at Vintage King. Watch our new demo of its successor, the DOUBLEWIDE II.
The long-awaited successor to the original 500-Series DOUBLEWIDE tube compressor featuring faster attack and release time, advanced stereo linking capabilities, and improved signal to noise ratio.
https://vintageking.com/retro-instruments-doublewide-ii
Dual-Channel Tube Compressor Recalls the Vintage Audio Gear of Yesteryear
Retro Instruments’ Revolver is the company’s latest all-tube processor, having started out as an experiment back in 2011. It seems that Retro’s Phil Moore was not satisfied with it as a viable product until the 2018 Winter NAMM Show, when he showed the first units. Revolver fits perfectly into the Retro Instruments product line and upholds the company’s unwritten mission of building—to the highest-quality standards—the “new classics” that recall the most coveted and vintage audio gear of yesteryear.
Revolver’s ratios range from a 1.5:1 (full CCW) to 5:1 (full CW). A good starting point is to set the Dual Threshold knob fully CCW so that the compressor’s threshold is least-sensitive. By using the input level control and driving more level into the detector, not only will you control the saturation of the fully differential tube path, but be able to compress to any amount using a low 1.5:1 ratio. As you turn the Dual Threshold clockwise, you get more compression at higher and higher ratios, although it may require readjusting the input gain control and the unit’s output level.
The entire detailed review you can find here.
https://www.mixonline.com/technology/review-retro-instruments-revolver-dual-channel-tube-compressor
Brandon Shock @ Higherhz.com
“The Retro Instruments 176, which is an attempt to not only bring this coveted tech to the masses, but to expound upon and heighten its capabilities.
Why you should trust this review
I’m a producer, composer, and audio engineer with a decade’s worth of experience with a wide range of gear and recording techniques.”
“I think the Retro Instruments 176 is the best vocal compressor ever made! It combines the tone I love in a great vari mu compressor with the speed similar to a FET. It’s truly the best”of both worlds to me”.
More information on Seawell Studios
The 500PRE is Retro’s third 500 Series module, joining the original DoubleWide I and the updated DoubleWide II–both dual-slot, single-channel tube compressors. The 500PRE incorporates the same basic double-balanced Class-A circuit topology as in the company’s Sta-Level limiter.
WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?
The 500PRE works both as microphone preamp and line-level amplifier; it has an input operating range of -72 dB to +12 dBu. The output clips at +18 dBu, with maximum output at +24 dBu. The 500PRE has two switchable gain ranges: high gain at 75 dB using all three of its TAD 12AT7 tubes, or low gain at 48 dB using just two of the tube stages.
SOME TECHNICAL DETAILS
The total slot current drain for the 500PRE is 160 mA. This exceeds the allowable current drain in the API Audio VPR Alliance specification of 130 mA for a single-slot module. A check in a tube manual shows that the 12AT7 requires 150 mA filament current each, and there are three.
Taking an idea from old ’50s tube television sets, the three tube filaments are wired in series and powered directly from the 500 rack’s +/-16-volt rails, or 32 volts total–that’s nearly 11 volts DC for each tube. The tubes’ plate voltage is supplied by the 48-volt phantom power supply, and the current drain is just 3 mA.
If your Lunchbox or rack does not have phantom power, the 500PRE will still work, albeit with reduced headroom as the plate voltage will automatically switch over to the +/-16-volt rails.
I ran the 500PRE in an API 8P High Current 500 rack (250mA per slot) and..
Finish reading this detailed review @ Barry Rudolph’s website: https://www.barryrudolph.com/mix/retro_500pre.html
INTRODUCING THE NEW RETRO 500PRE
We took the circuit topology of the Sta-Level and packed it into a single width 500 module. The Retro 500PRE three tube gain stage exhibits the same detail and depth. As with all Retro products, the feeling of the musical performance is delivered with the Retro Instruments 500PRE.
Distortion, Noise and Frequency Response of the Retro 500PRE are outstanding; but overload characteristics are not generally revealed by standard measurements.
The Retro 500PRE tubes gracefully limit the signal at +18 dBu. Whether you’re just going for clean gain or pushing the 500PRE into overdrive, it won’t ever sound plastic and brittle like solid-state amplifiers can. Transient detail is unrestrained The Retro 500PRE doesn’t sleep when you’re done tracking. Use the 500PRE as a high-energy limiter during mix-time. The 500PRE design purposely has the limiter effect of tube amplifiers. You’ll love to use it as a limiter to fatten all kinds of tracks.
The Retro 500PRE works within API 500 rack power limitations. Each 500PRE consumes 160 ma of power, slightly above the 130 ma VPR-compliant allocation. We recommend racks with quiet linear power supplies like the API models. When power requirements are observed, the rack and 500PRE will provide years of reliable service.
The Retro 500PRE uses three 12AT7 tubes that are readily available as new production or new-old-stock. A user can select from a wide variety. Your unit uses the new production TAD 12AT7 and these tubes are expected to last for a very long time under the 500PRE operating conditions. We use soft-start circuitry that minimizes stress to the tubes and power supply. The Retro 500PRE takes less than a minute to warm up and perform.
Since the 500 Series format became en vogue, the Retro Instruments Doublewide has been one of the best selling modules at Vintage King. As its name implies, the DOUBLEWIDE takes up two rack spaces offering premium single channel compression with huge, tube-powered punch via your lunchbox.
Late last year, Retro Instruments announced a new successor to the compressor, the Doublewide II.
This new version features faster attack and release time, stereo linking capabilities and a greatly improved signal to noise ratio. The Doublewide 2 still features the signature Single and Double timing modes that made the original such a favorite on drums, bass and well… Just about everything.