Red 1 500 Series Microphone Pre

Focusrites Red Range was a direct development of Rupert Neves designs created for Sir George Martins AIR studios in 1985. The range rapidly gained legendary status following its release in 1993 and the Red 1 soon became a sought-after mic preamp in the worlds top studios, thanks to its ability to get the best from almost any microphone and its unique, signature Focusrite sound.

Featuring the same circuit topology and components (where available) as the original transformer-based 1993 Red 1 mic pre, based in turn on the original designs for AIR Studios, and proudly made in England, the Red 1 500 Series Mic Pre offers the same performance as the original Focusrite Red microphone preamplifier “ but in an increasingly popular format: the 500 Series, or œLunchbox portable modular system. Its ideal for mobile/location use as well as in the studio.

If you love the Lunchbox format and you want to bring that special Focusrite Heritage Sound into your studio, then Red 1 500, with its signature red anodised aluminium front panel, is for you.

Red 1 500 offers a compact interface to digital recording systems or for location recordings as well as convenient access in any control room, with a Lundahl LL1538 input transformer, just as in the original; switchable phantom power; polarity invert; and an illuminated classic porthole VU meter. The output stage of Red 1 500, with its custom Carnhill transformer, will easily drive long cable runs without loss of quality “ ideal for remote recordings. Mic gain is switched (with a Grayhill gold-plated military-grade switch) in 6dB steps from -6 to +60dB, for accurate, precise channel matching and recall.

The unique Focusrite mic preamp topology provides superb common mode rejection, excellent overload margin and, with its shared gain structure, (14dB from the transformer and up to 46dB from the amplifier) a very low noise floor, combined with the traditional wide bandwidth of the original Red series (10Hz to 140kHz). This exceptional level of performance is maintained over a wide range of impedances applied to the input, making the Red 1 500 suitable for almost any microphone “ ribbon, dynamic or condenser.

Red 1 500 Series Mic Pre “ Focusrites signature sound in a popular, versatile form factor.