/ Review

nice and linear as one would expect and the unit provides a good front end for recording. Dynamic, condenser and ribbon mics behaved Roger Mayer RM456 well with the unit and it sounded good with a variety of source material. As we push up into RUSSELL COTTIER tries some 456HD Analogue Tape the distortion area of the pre-amplifier, the higher frequency harmonics start to creep in as Simulation from this 4-channel mic pre one would expect, and it is possible to create some controlled transients in the tracking oger Mayer was there at the bleeding allow accurate recall, and the knobs feel good process without any audible artefacts, on edge in the dawn of rock music. In to use. There are buttons for Phase, Line input sources such as snare drums and acoustic guitar. 1964 he started building effect pedals and engaging the 456 circuitry, with an LED Moving on to the 456HD processing, it’s Rfor . Mayer also designed indicator adjacent to the switch.The ferrite noticeable this mode added some noise floor and built pedals used by , Jeff transformers in this unit are all hand would in increase to the output, up to 3dB. However this Beck and session guitar legend Big Jim the UK and each channel has a separate Mic, was not too noticeable in use, and certainly Sullivan. After a year working for Olympic in Line and Output transformer all with linear added a little tape vibe. The aim of the 1968 Roger Mayer moved to the US and phase, and frequency response up to 80kHz processing is to create the colouration of started his own company building limiters, EQs apparently. The rear of the unit sports gold Ampex 456 playing on a Studer A80, without and recording consoles. plated Neutrik XLR connectors for I/O and the the inconvenience of tape and without any Roger Mayer now offers a wide range of unit is supplied with a multi-region switched- latency. The unit can be used to apply this guitar pedals and studio hardware. The 456HD mode power supply that connects via a two effect live during tracking or as a hardware series presents a tape saturation emulator and pin collared screw fitting. insert. Notably the 456HD process treats the comes in a variety of formats. The 456 4 In operation there are a few settings of which positive and negative phases of the signal with Channel Mic Pre has four channels of mic we need to be aware. Firstly, the unit should be different circuitry and a definite asymmetry pre-amplification and 456HD tape saturation calibrated, and trim pots are accessible via could be seen in printed audio. Compared to a emulation as well as an option for Line Level small drilled holes in the front panel stickers. host of tape modelling plugins and an actual input. There is also a two channel version of this This is essentially to trim the output level so as A80 the unit did not give that exact ‘tape unit available that can be retrofitted with an the unit cannot send a level that will cause sound’ I was expecting, however it did do additional two channels later. digital clipping in your ADC, and to optimise the something rather nice to the input signals, in Looking at the 2U brushed steel rack it’s input level for the applied tape-style dynamic that they could be easily calibrated to not clip clear this is a short run boutique-type unit. The compression. The justification being that digitally, and the dynamics are gently massaged choice to implement labelling via plastic coated certain ADCs and DACs are calibrated to on the way in. labels rather than a conventional screen print is differing dbFS values for 0dBVU. It’s worth As tracks start to add up with this unit you unusual but perhaps suits the lozenge recesses noting that the VU meter can be set to different get some dynamic coherency, but it’s very in the front panel that house the controls for position in the signal chain. However this is set much a workflow choice as to whether you each channel. Illuminated VU meters top the via an internal jumper. For a unit targeted at want to do this on the way into the DAW or at control panels and it’s worth noting at this professional users it would perhaps have been the mix stage. point that these kick off a fair bit of heat, the prudent to add a toggle switch to allow At £6,000 for the 4-channel version this is casing has no ventilation so can get a little hot metering pre and post the 456HD processing. no impulse buy but it might just solve a problem to the touch. that exists in your workflow. The ultra linear high-speed Class A discrete Analogue tape simulation preamplifiers are based on Roger Mayer’s In use without the 456HD processing the circuit originally designed in 1968. The 22-way preamplifiers are nice and clean and give a low VERDICT stepped potentiometers for Gain and Output noise clear output. Frequency response seems

PROS Clean, discrete preamplifiers. Simple easy to use controls. Avoids clipping on ADC inputs.

CONS Perhaps mislabelled as a tape simulator — it’s something else altogether. Complex calibration process. Internal VU jumpers are not ideal.

www.roger-mayer.co.uk • www.kmraudio.com / Mic and line ins and outs on rear panel

October 2018 / 21