The Color and Punch Generator for the Modern Studio
Massive, warm, sweet, musical, and punchy are adjectives professional recording engineers, producers, and music artists have ascribed to the sound produced by Rupert Neve pro audio equipment — a legacy that began with the renowned designer’s legendary large-format consoles of the 1970s. Ever since, custom audio transformers have been the cornerstone of Mr. Neve’s circuit design philosophy. Transformers have the power to enhance program material with an enticing array of delectable sonic flavors. And now there’s a piece of kit exclusively designed for just that purpose. The Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer is a unique, innovative, all-analog 2-channel device that can completely transform your audio. It works wonders on in-the-box productions that can sound cold and sterile — broadening, sweetening, and punching up iron-poor tracks, stems, mixes, and masters. Unleash the Master Bus Transformer, and you’ll be astonished as you hear your recordings blossom into professional, radio-ready product that blasts right out of the speakers.
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Quickly shape signals with Shelf EQ
Bookended by Class A input and output amplifiers, the Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer comprises six sections that can interact with each other to produce a virtually unlimited range of tonal colors. Starting from the left, we have the Input section with a trim control, a variable highpass filter sweepable from 20Hz to 350Hz, and a pair of input-level LEDs. RND’s fabulously useful 2-band Shelf EQ is next. With its gentle slopes, negligible phase shift, and 9dB of boost/cut per band, this simple but elegant equalizer circuit lets you quickly shape signals to your liking. Detented LF and HF hinge frequency selectors offer 31 choices each. The LF band, ranging from 30Hz to 240Hz, is ideal for accentuating or attenuating the low end to give program material the perfect amount of weight. The HF band offers a broad selection of frequencies from 3kHz all the way up to 24kHz to polish tracks with clarity, vibrance, and a spacious sense of air. However you set it, Shelf EQ always delivers highly musical-sounding results.
Control dynamics and add verve with Color Comp
The Color Comp optical compressor takes center stage on the Master Bus Transformer’s front panel. Color Comp leverages the inherent colorful sonic characteristics of its bespoke opto cell to infuse sources with depth and verve. The Ratio push button selects between 2:1 for gentle, subtle level control and 5:1 for heavier compression. A variable highpass sidechain filter with a sweepable range of 20Hz to 350Hz dials out low frequencies from the compressor’s sidechain circuit, allowing low-end information to pass through the compressor unaffected while the rest of the signal gets compressed, thus reducing the influence of bass-heavy material on compression action. A handy inclusion is the Blend control, which allows you to mix the compressed and uncompressed signals to taste. A powerful technique top engineers use, parallel compression is great for dialing back harmonic content, narrowing dynamic range, or squashing transients from extreme compression settings.
The Threshold control is a 31-detent potentiometer ranging from 0dBu to +24dBu. A gain reduction LED illuminates when the signal passes the threshold. But the Color Comp also adds audible nonlinear harmonics even with just a hint of gain reduction, so we’d recommend auditioning a signal with the Color Comp engaged but with no visible gain reduction in order to hear the amount of tonal color that it imparts. The euphonic nature of the harmonic content will be ever more audible as compressor settings become more extreme. Release, controlled with another 31-detent pot, is variable from 100mS to 1.5S. By setting a high ratio and a fast release, you can make the Color Comp pump with the attacks; conversely, slower release times will cause it to function more unobtrusively. Finally, we come to the Color Comp’s Makeup Gain control with 31 detents providing 0dB to 20dB of Class A gain. This control is not only handy for matching pre- and post-compression levels, but also for driving the interstage transformers in the Super Silk section for even greater harmonic enhancement.
Deploy Width for stunning dimension
The Master Bus Transformer’s Width section is all about increasing the perceived stereo spread without losing bottom-end focus. The Width circuit in the MBT is derived from the Stereo Field Editor Width section of RND’s award-winning Portico II Master Buss Processor, but it differs in two key ways. First, it’s additive only and offers a greater range for more extreme operation. Secondly, it features a variable highpass filter ranging from 50Hz to 800Hz for adjusting the width content so that low frequencies remain more centered (and hence, focused) in the mix, even as the mids and highs spread out to create more spaciousness. There’s also a subtle high-frequency tapering of the width content so as not to overemphasize any HF shrillness that may be present.
Add harmonics with Super Silk
Super Silk is the latest iteration of RND’s famous Silk circuit, long lauded for bolstering content with fatness, sparkle, and punch. Offering only a simple off/on switch when it was introduced in the mid-2000s, Silk later evolved to include selectable Red and Blue modes and a variable Texture control. Today’s Super Silk adds proprietary Harmonics and Zener Drive controls, taking harmonic manipulation to a new level in the Master Bus Transformer. Until now, the Silk circuit circuit affected only a unit’s output transformers. However, in developing the Master Bus Transformer, the design engineers wanted to give users even more control and flexibility. So, to that end, Super Silk includes an extra set of transformers driving the input of the Super Silk circuit for greater dynamic saturation and transient clipping while also letting you attenuate the signal after Super Silk for optimal gain staging via the Output Trim.
The Silk Red mode emphasizes harmonic content generated by the source’s high and middle frequencies, adding a glimmering sheen to the top end. You’ll find Silk Red perfect for vocals, pianos, strings, snare drums, and other acoustic sources. Silk Blue, conversely, works off the harmonics generated by the low and low-mid frequencies. This makes it ideal for beefing up signals such as bass, drums, male vocals, heavy electric guitars, and synthesizers. The new Harmonics control boosts the overall harmonic content by saturating the MBT’s custom interstage transformers. This setting interacts with the settings for both Silk Red and Silk Blue, so we urge you to experiment! Lastly, the Zener Drive is a switchable, diode-based asymmetrical soft-clip circuit that produces primarily odd-order harmonic content as the signal approaches the MBT’s headroom limit to achieve a more aggressive tonality. Longtime Silk devotees will be impressed with the newfound capabilities of this beloved RND feature, and newcomers will be blown away by the enhanced power and effervescence it can add to your music.
Class A I/O amplifiers for optimal gain staging
In order to maintain proper gain staging through the Master Bus Transformer, fully drive its interstage transformers, and precisely match the pre and post signals, the MBT includes Class A input and output amplifiers to govern all levels. The output amplifiers feed custom RND output transformers for line balancing and isolation. The Output section includes a Bypass All switch that illuminates red when bypass is engaged. This master bypass is a true hard-wire bypass that ensures the Master Bus Transformer will pass audio even when powered down. The Master Bus Transformer represents the culmination of over a half-century of advanced analog circuit design. Completely unique in the world of pro audio, this revolutionary device offers tone-shaping capabilities that no other processor can. Whether you use it during recording, overdubbing, mixing, or mastering, the Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer has what it takes to seriously upgrade your studio’s sound. Add one to your rack, and prepare to be amazed!
The legend continues
At Sweetwater, the name Rupert Neve commands reverence. Rupert’s 80-series consoles had a huge, punchy, and authoritative sound that defined ’70s rock. From London to New York to Los Angeles and beyond, top studios were installing Neve boards as fast as they could. By 1977, with the introduction of the NECAM automation system, Neve boards were the main component of the success formula for any recording studio with world-class aspirations. Today, Rupert Neve Designs continues to advance the state of the art with cutting-edge products that sound incredible and intelligently address the challenges of the digital age. With your Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer from Sweetwater, the legend continues.
Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer Features:
- Revitalizes mono or stereo tracks, stems, mixes, and masters
- Transformer-coupled Class A signal paths
- Quickly adjust tone with the gentle and musical Shelf EQ
- Add dynamic character with opto-based Color Comp
- Add that missing weight and power with Super Silk
- Use the Width section to create dimension without losing focus
- Drive and level match the interstage transformers with the I/O amplifiers
- Handcrafted in the USA
