Rupert Neve Designs 5025 Dual Shelford Mic Pre

The Rupert Neve Designs 5025 Dual Shelford Mic Pre is a dual-channel microphone preamplifier that is a definitive evolution of Rupert's classic modules like the 1073, 1064, and 2254. Thoughtfully advanced and refined for the 21st-century studio, this preamp offers an exceptional audio experience.

The Rupert Neve Designs Dual Shelford Mic Pre is a two-channel version of our flagship preamplifier, which has become an indispensable tool for countless engineers and musicians. It is the recipient of the TEC Award, offering the sonic excellence of two Rupert Neve Designs Shelford mic preamps in a single rack space with an internal power supply. It provides two channels of the finest microphone preamplification available worldwide.

The Transformer Gain Mic Pre:

Drawing inspiration from Rupert's earlier designs in Little Shelford, the Dual Shelford Pre employs a custom step-up transformer on the microphone input that imparts the initial 15 dB of gain. Combined with the surrounding class-A circuitry, this specially crafted transformer plays a pivotal role in the amplifier's distinctive mid-focused magic that graces thousands of classic recordings.

While most of the harmonic richness in Rupert's designs emanates from the output transformer and surrounding class-A amplifiers, this input step-up transformer introduces a unique musical enhancement. The technical reasons for this enhancement are primarily due to the reactive impedance characteristics of the input transformer and how it interacts with the connected microphone, resulting in subtle, non-linear harmonic enrichments in the low frequencies and a remarkable sweetness in the high frequencies.

The goal in creating the input stage for the Shelford Channel and Dual Shelford Pre was not mere replication but advancement. It combines the vintage technology's unmistakable sound with a wide-bandwidth frequency response, consistent amplifier performance across all gain settings, and exceptionally low noise operation. Custom transformer designs were meticulously optimized, and complete MuMetal shielding of the input transformer was implemented, resulting in a preamplifier that remains flat from below 10Hz to above 60kHz, offering the purest possible tone and unparalleled versatility.

What is Silk?

The exclusive Silk & Texture circuit on the Dual Shelford Mic Pre empowers you to fine-tune the harmonic content in the output stage. This means you can adjust your signal from transparency to settings that produce nearly ten times the amount of sonic character as Rupert's vintage modules, all in two distinct modes. Silk Red enhances the harmonic content generated by the highs and high mids, adding a sparkling sheen to the top end. It's often ideal for vocals, snare, strings, pianos, and other acoustic instruments. On the other hand, Silk Blue enhances harmonics from the lows and low mids, providing a substantial low-end boost, making it great for drums, bass guitars, heavy electric guitars, male vocals, and synthesizers.

The Dual Output Level Transformers:

Complementing the Silk circuit are custom-designed output transformers utilizing Rupert Neve Designs' distinctive dual output topology. These transformers offer Main (+26 dBu) and -6dB (+20 dBu) outputs, allowing you to fully drive the preamps into classic transformer saturation without clipping converters and other downstream devices.

The main outputs maintain a pristine sound at high levels, avoiding nonlinear colouration of the output stage. The -6dB outputs enable you to drive the Shelford fully, adding dynamic tone with those sought-after nonlinear "colourations" without clipping most professional interfaces. On drums, vocals, guitars, and other instruments, these outputs let you effortlessly hit the transformer's sweet spot, bringing a recorded performance to life in a way that other preamps cannot match.