Rupert Neve Designs Portico 542 500 Series Tape Emulator

The Rupert Neve Designs 542 is a single slot, mono 500-series version of the highly popular Portico 5042 Tape Emulator designed to provide the thick and musical colouration associated with working with tapes.

The Rupert Neve Designs 542 features a "true tape" circuitry which brings out 3rd-order harmonics as well as the rounding and compression associated with the sound of tape. The RND 542 is the ideal companion to your digital recording setup helping breathe life and round harshness often associated with digital audio. The "true tape" circuit uses a small magnetic "record head", coupled with a correctly equalised replay amplifier. This hardware emulation works in the same way as true tape; as the voltage increases on the "record head", so does the saturation. An additional soft-clipping circuit emphasises 2nd-order harmonics rounding off higher peak transients and can be used tame harsher sounding sources.

The Rupert Neve Designs 542 is extremely flexible and offers many options to change the sound such as a 15/30 IPS switch which emulates the sonic characteristics of tape speed, from the punchy low-end of the 15IPS to the beautifully clean 30 IPS. A pre/post-tape blend control allows you to control the amount of tape distortion is used, and a variable Silk/texture circuitry found in the Portico II series that allows you to fine-tune the harmonic relationship and tonality of the output transformer imparting a tonal colour very reminiscent of early Neve's vintage class A designs.

• Single-slot mono 500-series Tape Emulator
• Line Amp Noise Measurements with tape circuit disengaged): Measured at Main Output, un-weighted, 20Hz-22kHz, Input Terminated 40 Ohms. Unity Gain Better than -100dBu
• Frequency Response: Measured at +10dBu, trim at unity. Main Output +/- 0.25dB from 5Hz to 60Khz -2dB @ 120KHz, Maximum Output Level 23.25dBu
• Total Harmonic Distortion and Noise:@ 1kHz, +20dBu output level Better than 0.0025% @ 20Hz, +20dBu output level 0.07% Typical (2nd and 3rd harmonic)
• Tape FX Noise: Measured at Main Output, un-weighted, 20Hz-22kHz, Input Terminated 40 Ohms. Saturation @ minimum Better than -100dBu Saturation @ maximum Better than -100dBu
• Tape FX Frequency Response:
  
  • 15 IPS, Input @ -0 dBu -3dBu @ 28kHz Saturation @ minimum 0dBu @ 10Hz +5dBu Peak @ 60Hz
  • Saturation @ maximum -3dBu @ 20kHz -3dBu @ 12.5Hz +2.4dBu Peak @ 60Hz
  • 30 IPS, Input @ -0 dBu -3dBu @ 120kHz Saturation @ minimum -3dBu @ 10Hz +3.15dBu Peak @ 125Hz
  • Saturation @ maximum -3dBu @ 100kHz -3dBu @ 12.5Hz +1.3dBu Peak @ 110Hz
• Total Harmonic Distortion and Noise
  
  • Refer to sweeps on page10 15 IPS, Input @ -0 dBu 0.4% @ 3kHz to 1% @ 175Hz typical
  • Saturation @ minimum Greater than 1% below 175Hz typical
  • Saturation @ maximum 1% at 6kHz typical 0.3% @ 1kHz to 3% @ 50Hz typical
  • 30 IPS, Input @ -0 dBu 1% at 1kHz typical
  • Saturation @ minimum 0.6% @ 400Hz 5% @ 20Hz typical
  • Saturation @ maximum 1.5% @ 20kHz to 0.4% @ 1kHz typical 0.4% @ 1kHz to 2 %@ 50Hz typical
• Power requirements: Supplied by 500 series rack with 110-125 mA @ +/- 16V DC

This item, like everything we supply, comes with the complete support of our expert team. Our excellent technicians have been specifying, building and supporting studios for over twenty years. If you have any problems with installation, setup or everyday use, they’re never more than a click away, and always happy to help.

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