Vintage King Review Retro Instruments 500PRE

First Listen: Retro 500PRE

When Retro Instruments first announced the brand’s new 500PRE ($799), we knew we were in love before we ever even heard it. After all, what’s not to love about bringing the Sta-Level design to the 500 Series world and packing three tubes into that compact module. Little did we know, we had something to do with the inspiration for it.

“It was inspired by the Vintage King April Fools’ Day post on the 500 Series Fairchild 670,” says Retro Instruments Owner/Designer Phil Moore. ““The performance of the 500PRE exceeded my expectations. It’s based on professional tube console program amplifiers from the era of the Sta-Level and 176. It’s got 75 dB of gain and no compromises.”

While the 75 dB of gain will make the 500PRE a great tool for tracking sessions, the 500 Series module can also be vital during the mixing process.

Read the rest of this review @ https://vintageking.com/blog/2019/11/retro-instruments-500pre-module