Retro Instruments Powerstrip is a tube recording channel in a 2U chassis that puts three devices in one path: a transformer-coupled class A tube microphone preamplifier, passive Pultec-style equalization, and a British tube compressor built on a variable-mu tube. Gain headroom covers every microphone and instrument you can put in front of it, and a balanced line input lets the same path serve at mix time. The rear XLR microphone and line inputs and the line output are fully floating and transformer balanced.
The whole recording chain without patching
A standard path from microphone to converter takes three units, three pairs of cables and three level matches, and every connection is somewhere headroom can be lost or hum picked up. The Powerstrip runs that chain internally, on one power inlet and one output to the interface. Compressor and equalizer have independent bypass switches, so the order of decisions stays with the engineer: track through the preamp alone, add equalization at mix time, or work the full path.
Instrument in at the front, amp feed at the back
The front-panel quarter-inch instrument jack loops to a rear jack intended for a stage amplifier, while a separate low-level balanced output carries the processed signal. That lets one channel handle a guitar or bass in the studio and a stage rig where the signal has to reach both the system and the cabinet. The equalization section offers ten high-frequency boost centres from 1.5 to 16 kHz, four low centres with simultaneous boost and cut, and a subsonic filter coupled through the interstage transformer. The compressor provides six selectable time constants and a highpass sidechain filter at 90 or 250 Hz.
KEY FEATURES
- Transformer-coupled class A tube microphone preamplifier with phantom power
- Passive Pultec-style equalization with authentic curves and control scales
- British-style variable-mu tube compressor
- Six selectable compressor time constants
- Highpass sidechain filter at 90 or 250 Hz
- Independent bypass switches for compressor and equalizer
- Front-panel quarter-inch instrument jack looping to a rear stage-amp output
- Subsonic filter coupled through the interstage transformer
- Hundred-position knob scales and phase reversal switch
- Tube changes require no alignment
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Type: 2U tube recording channel with preamplifier, equalizer and compressor
- Low-frequency boost: 20, 30, 60 and 100 Hz
- Low-frequency cut: 20, 30, 60 and 100 Hz
- High-frequency boost: 1.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 kHz
- High-frequency cut: 5, 10 and 20 kHz
- Compressor: variable-mu, six time constants, 90 or 250 Hz sidechain filter
- Inputs: rear XLR microphone and line, front quarter-inch instrument
- Outputs: XLR line plus a low-level balanced output
- Balancing: transformer, fully floating inputs and outputs
- Front-panel meter zero adjustment
- Power: IEC inlet, 120/240 VAC, 50/60 Hz
- Chassis: steel, manufactured in the USA
