Future Music
Jon Musgrave

Portico™ 5032


Over the years various designers have put their name to classic pro audio. From the component-led design of a Pultec EQ to the creative beauty of a Moog synthesizer, you instantly know and trust the people behind the gear. In pro audio circles, no name is more renowned than Rupert Neve’s.

Over the years he’s not only been responsible for some of the best audio designs ever created, he’s also built up his fair share of companies, including Neve Audio, Focusrite and t now Rupert Neve Designs (RND). At 80 years of age you’d have thought a happy retirement would be uppermost in his mind, but as the latest Portico modules indicate, it’s clearly not.

This modular range of units (along with his new analogue mixing desk) are the fruits of his latest factory in Texas. Modular As you can see, the Portico units are small half-rack modules. There are seven units in the range including mic pres, EQs, compressors, a tape emulation line driver and a stereo field editor. The range covers a lot of ground in various different ways, with the ‘true tape’ line driver probably the most innovatory product. Thanks to Sonic, the UK distributor, we have three of them to try out – the 5032 single channel mic pre/EQ, the 5042 twin channel ‘true tape’ line driver and the 5043 twin channel compressor.

Before looking at the individual units, it’s worth considering the overall design concept Neve has applied here. First up, like the great designs from the ’70s, these are discrete transistor-based circuits (so no valves), using single-sided (or Class A) amplifier designs. All units use new custom-designed input and output transformers and have balanced ins and outs on XLRs. This combined with the independent power supplies, and magnetically shielding steel enclosures means your Portico is about as isolated from ground loops, noise and interference as possible.

The 5032

      A Rupert Neve mic amp is always a wise choice. With vintage 10xx series modules still changing hands for silly money, and AMS Neve re-issues costing over a couple of grand, a new mic pre/ EQ design from the man himself has to be considered. The 5032 is a single channel mic/ line level design with three-band EQ. It employs the typical Neve TLA (transformer-like-amplifier) with stepped mic gain. This is followed by an input transformer and a post transformer level trim (+/-6dB). The EQ section occupies the other half of the panel space. You’ll notice that there’s no additional output or fader level. There’s also the mysterious ‘silk’ button but more on that later. For some reason (maybe given the transformer design), I was expecting the 5032 to sound coloured. It doesn’t, and actually sounds as open as any mic amp I’ve heard in recent times. It certainly lacks the sense of low mids ‘congestion’ you sometimes get with mic amps. As you’d expect, the EQ and filter are also fabulous, offering the musical boost you expect from a traditional Neve design.

So what about the ‘silk’ control? According to the manual, this circuit reduces negative feedback. To my ears it sounds like a very subtle enhancer, especially for the low mids. I have to say it’s a tough call, because the 5032 sounds great in either mode. I guess my only slight beef is there’s no dedicated instrument DI input (something which you do get on their 5016 unit).

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