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Phoenix Audio Ascent Two EQ

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Phoenix Audio Ascent Two EQ ON TEST Phoenix Audio Ascent Two EQ BOB THOMAS Dual-channel Microphone hoenix Audio’s roots lead back to their foundation in England P in 1996, as a service company Preamplifier, DI & EQ specialising in pre-1980 Neve consoles. With ex-Neve designers David Rees Though a great recording front-end, this and Shaun Leveque at the helm, it was versatile and characterful processor could just almost inevitable that the company would expand beyond building the replacements as easily find a home on your stereo mix bus... for vintage Neve output stages that made their name, to creating their own range the solid-steel chassis and the linear 0) is set to illuminate solidly at 0dB (PPM of Class-A all-discrete preamplifiers. The power supply’s toroidal transformer 4), and the other, which is yellow and first of these, in 1999, was the DRS-2 dual mean the whole ensemble adds up to marked 8, turns on on at the US broadcast microphone preamplifier, and with the a hefty package. Internally, the two sets reference level of +8dB (PPM 6), a level success of this and other new products of channel electronics sit on separate but that’s well below the Ascent Two EQ’s came challenges and opportunities. identical PCBs, each dominated by three +26dBu output capability. Consequently, under new ownership in large, resin-encased discrete op-amps and A switch-controlled TRS jack DI input 2009, Phoenix Audio moved to a new an output balancing transformer. Internal is next in line, followed by the four-band manufacturing and distribution base construction overall is of an extremely EQ’s detented rotary controls and in California’s Costa Mesa, where they high quality, as are the switches and other frequency selection switches. Sitting remain, while still maintaining their electronic components. below these is a bank of seven latching English roots and design heritage. With The Ascent Two EQ is a two-channel button switches, the first of which, Rees and Leveque leading the company’s variant of Phoenix Audio’s Ascent One the EQL (equaliser) in/out, sits slightly circuit design from 1996 to the present EQ, and its red-anodised, Neve-ish separated from the rest. The remainder day, Phoenix Audio have developed an knobbed controls are identical to those activate: the DI (bypassing the mic/ impressive range of products, the latest of of its single-channel stablemate, as are line preamp); the 6dB/octave 80Hz which is the recently-released Ascent Two the rear-panel I/O connectors. Each high-pass filter; Phase (polarity inversion); EQ, a rackmount, dual-mono combination channel carries a large, switched, rotary 48V phantom power; the mic/line of Class-A microphone preamplifiers, mic/line gain control covering a range input’s -15dB pad; and, finally, a chassis instrument DI and gyrator EQ. of -30dB to -70dB. That is followed ground lift. The first six buttons each immediately by a smaller, detented, have an associated indicator LED that It’s Heavy, Man! rotary output level control. Above this sits illuminates when the switch’s function is The first thing you’ll notice about the the minimalist two-LED channel output active, though there’s a curious anomaly, Ascent Two EQ is its overall weight — level meter — one green LED (marked which is a hangover from previous 106 March 2019 / www.soundonsound.com Phoenix products that have employed this unusual for a transformer-balanced output decreasing the amount of cut or boost circuitry — the pad LED is illuminated in stage, as it comes from distortion derived widens the filter’s bandwidth, reduces mic/line mode irrespective of whether the from the way the output transformer loads the focus on the centre frequency and pad is engaged or not, and only goes out and biases the output circuitry, rather than by comparison has a greater effect on when the DI mode is selected (the pad from the transformer itself. adjacent frequencies. This characteristic, only acts on the mic/line input). often referred to as ‘proportional Q’, Ascent To Tone Heaven applies to LRC filters whether they contain Secret Circuits The Ascent Two EQ’s equaliser is real inductors or gyrators, and it was an With the Ascent range, Phoenix Audio a gyrator-based four-band EQ, with each important aspect of the EQ character of have aimed to produce preamplifiers band being able to deliver up to ±16dB many classic mixing consoles. that can deliver both extreme clarity of gain at three separate frequencies — and the warm saturation associated with Low (Shelf): 40, 80, and 130 Hz; Low-Mid In Use vintage UK consoles. Central to this is (Peak): 200, 400 and 800 Hz; High-Mid Since its minimalist output metering Phoenix Audio’s electronically balanced, (Peak): 1.6, 3.0 and 6.0 kHz; High (Shelf): doesn’t tell you all that much, working transformerless microphone input stage, 10 and 15 kHz, plus ‘Sheen’ (25kHz). In with the Ascent Two EQ mandates that which has an essentially flat frequency addition, its 80Hz 6dB/octave high-pass your ears become your de facto meters. response (-0.4dB at 40Hz, -0.3dB at (or low-cut) filter helps to clean up any And because the Ascent Two EQ can 25kHz). The microphone input’s gain low-end rumbles and handling noise. deliver an output level of +26dBu, range of 30 to 70 dB (in 5dB steps) can Although unscaled, these four knobs’ 21 Phoenix Audio feel that, in normal use, be extended by an additional 10dB detents (approximately 1.5dB per detent) it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll actually available from the output level control. Its make it very easy to recall their positions. high (10kΩ) input impedance, together If you haven’t encountered a gyrator with the 80dB of total available gain EQ before and you’re wondering what Phoenix Audio and a -90dB noise floor, is designed to all the fuss is about, the explanation is Ascent Two EQ £2310 work well with both ribbon and dynamic (relatively) simple. Early equalisers were PROS microphones, as well as capacitor models. based on LRC (inductor, resistor and The DI’s input impedance is a healthy capacitor) filter circuits. An ideal gyrator • Great-sounding microphone/DI 10MΩ. Not only does this avoid loading is a passive device that can simulate input stage. • Gyrator-based EQ sounds musical and is down electric guitar and bass pickups, but an inductor, but in audio circuits, the very effective. it also really helps out piezo transducers, behaviour of a gyrator can be reproduced • Class-A output stage can deliver pristine since it presents a load large enough to by a small op-amp circuit, and this circuit clarity, saturation-driven warmth and even flatten their inherent mid-range peak (the can be used to replace the inductor in crunchy distortion. • Versatile, with potential applications in root cause of the dreaded ‘piezo quack’), an LRC filter, removing that inductor’s both recording and mixing. thereby maximising the potentials of both biggest drawbacks — its size and weight, types of pickup. its susceptibility to stray magnetic fields, CONS As with other Phoenix Audio products, and the relatively high cost. • None. the Ascent Two EQ’s output stages are The main characteristic of an LRC SUMMARY driven by Phoenix Audio’s proprietary filter is that the bandwidth around its A combination of a high-performance DSOP-2 Class-A discrete output centre frequency narrows as the amount microphone preamplifier, a gyrator-based amplifier, coupled to the company’s of cut or boost increases, so that with EQ and Class-A electronics, the Ascent custom-wound DB694 output transformer bigger boosts or cuts they become more Two EQ is an impressive and flexible — a combination that defines Phoenix focused on the centre frequency, with performer that adds up to more than the sum of its parts, and could be used in a range Audio’s ‘signature sound’. The way in less of an effect on the frequencies on of different recording and mixing scenarios. which this design acquires its character is either side. The reverse holds true too — www.soundonsound.com / March 2019 107 ON TEST PHOENIX AUDIO ASCENT TWO EQ The balanced analogue outputs are presented on both XLR and TRS jack sockets. be able to clip the unit’s outputs; if you’re hearing distortion it’s more than likely to Two EQ’s DSOP-2 Class-A output stage saturation-driven warmth into crunchy be occurring earlier on in the signal path. comes into its own, with a smooth, rich, guitar-tone territory — is something The Ascent Two EQ’s microphone warm-sounding saturation that can be that I’ve not encountered before. It’s preamp is, to my ears, a thing of sonic pushed harder to add an attractive crunch well suited to tracking duties, of course, beauty. Used, shall we say, sensibly, to a DI’d electric guitar. Personally, I can’t but I could also definitely see a role it handled my pair of AKG C414-ULS think of many vocal, instrumental or for this device as the gain stage of capacitor microphones and my vintage percussive sources where I‘d never think a passive summing mixer or a stereo-bus Bang & Olufsen BM-5 stereo ribbon with of using this aspect of the Ascent Two insert processor, in which roles its equal aplomb, delivering the combination EQ’s operation to some extent or other! flexibility could really open up the sonic of transient detail, clarity and the sense Then there’s the four-band equaliser options in a mix.
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