A-Designs Audio has re-released its JM-3001 mic preamp/EQ/DI as the Ventura, recognising the Quad Eight console that inspired its three-band parametric EQ.
In addition to its new name, Ventura features a new panel that gives improved visibility in low-light environments and a lower proce tag.
The single-rack-space unit featuring a transformer-coupled mic preamp, instrument input and parametric equaliser. The separate quarter-inch instrument input section is designed to enhance the response of any active or passive guitar/bass pickup or other instrument with a high impedance output. This feature is very useful during direct tracking or as a front-end preamp for live performances.
The heart of the Ventura is a discrete transistor operational amplifier designed by Carl Johnson. Operating on high voltage rails, this opamp is a high gain, fast-slew, stable audio block with virtually no DC offset over the audio spectrum. It is used in the microphone preamp, instrument input amp, and main output/EQ stages. The mic preamp, itself, is a single-stage, transformer-coupled design with balanced I/O and is equipped with phase reverse, a -20dB pad, +48V phantom power with LED indicator, and a conductive plastic gain control pot. The preamp section feeds both the EQ section and a preamp output mult simultaneously.
The Ventura’s three-band parametric equalizer is a unique design featuring 33 frequencies with three bands of overlapping ranges from 50Hz to 15kHz. Both the frequency selection and the ±12dB boost/cut controls are stepped for precise, repeatable settings. Each band has a Q switch with three fixed positions – sharp, wide and narrow. The low and high bands are peak/dip, but flipping the shelf switch changes their characteristic to shelf type. The shelving switch disables the Q feature on high and low bands only. When in the up position, the high/low filters insert the fixed 12dB/octave high- and low-cut filters, which work whether the EQ is in or out. The equaliser’s input/insert return also provides direct input to the EQ, bypassing both the mic preamp and instrument input.
Separate from the mic pre is the instrument input section – a single-stage, single-ended, high-impedance preamp that also benefits from its own discrete opamp and includes a front-panel quarter-inch jack and gain pot. This section also feeds the EQ and preamp output mult simultaneously via the input selector switch for extra flexibility in the studio or live applications.
‘Lest anyone worry that our JM-3001 is gone, rest assured – the Ventura features the exact same microphone preamplifier, equaliser and instrument input circuitry and controls that many producers, engineers, and artists have grown to love,’ says A-Designs Audio’s Peter Montessi. ‘We’ve simply given it an appropriately memorable name, enhanced its cosmetics for both aesthetic and utilitarian reasons, and reduced its price. That can’t be a bad thing, right?’
The Ventura carries US MAP price of US$2,095.
More: www.adesignsaudio.com
