Phoenix Audio Ascent One is a Class-A microphone preamplifier and DI in a 1U half rack chassis. A transformerless mic input works into a DSOP-2 output stage with a custom-wound DB694 transformer.
A 70 to 400 Hz sweepable filter instead of one switch
A typical high pass filter offers a single frequency that either suits the source or does not. The Ascent One gives you two independent tools: a push-button 80 Hz filter at 12 dB per octave, and a separate filter sweepable from 70 to 400 Hz on a twenty-one position stepped control. Tracking a vocal in a room with traffic rumble, you place the corner exactly where the rumble ends and the chest register begins, then write the position number into the session.
Microphone and instrument with one character
The microphone input runs at 10 kOhm, chosen for ribbons and dynamics, with gain stepped in 5 dB increments and another 10 dB on the output fader. The instrument input sits at 10 megohms with no FETs in the path and offers up to 30 dB of gain. Both inputs end in the same Class-A stage, so a guitar recorded through the DI and a microphone on the cabinet sit together in the mix instead of drifting apart tonally.
KEY FEATURES
- Class-A microphone preamplifier and DI
- Transformerless, true balanced microphone input
- 10 kOhm impedance chosen for ribbons and dynamics
- Microphone gain stepped in 5 dB increments
- Another 10 dB available on a detented output fader
- Instrument input at 10 megohms with no FETs in the path
- Up to 30 dB of gain on the instrument stage
- 15 dB input pad
- High pass filter at 80 Hz, 12 dB per octave
- Sweepable 70 to 400 Hz filter on twenty-one positions
- Phase reverse and 48 V phantom power on push-buttons
- DSOP-2 output stage with DB694 transformer
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Microphone input impedance: 10 kOhm
- Instrument input impedance: 10 megohms
- Maximum gain on the instrument stage: 30 dB
- Pad: 15 dB
- Microphone input: -0.4 dB at 40 Hz, -0.3 dB at 25 kHz
- Instrument input: -0.3 dB at 40 Hz, -0.5 dB at 25 kHz
- Output stage response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz (±0.5 dB)
- Maximum output: +26 dBu at 1 kHz
- Headroom on the mic preamp stage: +26 dB
- Noise floor: -90 dB (20 Hz to 20 kHz)
- Format: 1U half rack, optional 19 inch rack kit
