Drawmer 1960 Stereo Microphone Preamplifier/Compressor/DI Box

Drawmer 1960 Stereo Microphone Preamplifier/Compressor/DI Box

Combining three essential tools for a true studio Swiss-army knife, the 1960 from Drawmer is a hybrid vacuum tube/solid-state 2-channel rack processor that combines a warm, eight-stage soft-knee tube compressor with an ultralow noise microphone preamp and DI box. This 19 , 2 RU rack unit is incredibly versatile, providing up to 60 dB of gain on its whisper-quiet mic pre, flexible passive EQ and brightness control on its auxiliary DI section, and simple yet surprisingly versatile compression via its switched attack and program sustain.

With stereo link, the 1960 can be operated as a dual-mono or full stereo processor, and the side-chain input allows you to patch in EQ for frequency-dependent compression or de-essing. The two fully analog, moving coil VU meters can be used to monitor the gain reduction or output signal level, and output gain control provides an additional 20 dB of make-up gain to compensate for any gain lost during the compression process. This unit comes with an AC power cord and an internal, universal power supply for global compatibility.

Simple Yet Versatile Compressor

Because the compressor is a soft knee type, it requires few controls. The Threshold range is continuously variable between infinity and -24 dB, the theory being that signals below the threshold are essentially unprocessed and the signals exceeding this threshold are subjected to increasing amounts of gain reduction dependent on by how much they exceed the threshold.

The attack and release times are switchable rather than being continuously variable, with attack simply offering a choice of slow, medium, and fast, while release has six settings. Positions one to four have fixed release times while positions five and six are two different program-dependent release time modes, making the unit ideally suited to program material with complex dynamics, such as complete stereo mixes and vocals. Interestingly, the attack times are further modified by the choice of release setting, so the range of choices are wider than it might first appear, and selectable high-pass filters at 50 or 100 Hz deliver further flexibility.

Low-Noise Microphone Preamp

The solid-state microphone pre features a balanced input with up to 60 dB of gain and selectable 48V phantom power. This low-noise, balanced microphone input allows engineers to exploit the full potential of high-performance condenser microphones, such as recording direct-to-digital live classical music without using a mixing console.

• Two balanced XLR mic inputs and two balanced XLR line inputs
• Balanced XLR outputs
• 1/4 inserts for FX send and return

Powerful Direct Instrument Input

In addition to the balanced microphone and line inputs on the rear of the unit, an auxiliary input on the front panel gives direct access for guitars or electronic instruments. Equalization and brightness control are provided, along with sufficient gain to overload the tube preamp for sustain effects. The Aux input is a valuable addition as it combines the virtues of a DI box and passive equalizer with the compressor, allowing the instrument to be simultaneously processed and routed to the mixing console or directly to the recorder.