Boutique 4-channel Mic Pre with Jensen Transformer I/O
The Daking Mic Pre 4T is a cost-effective way to add four channels of boutique-grade microphone preamplification to your recording rig. Featuring per-channel dual-concentric pots for control over gain and a variable highpass filter, this latest rendition of Daking’s 4-channel mic/DI preamplifier packs a lot of functionality into its sleek stainless steel 1U rackmount chassis. The Mic Pre 4T has a hefty 75dB of gain on tap, so you can feel free to use your favorite passive ribbon mics on quiet sources. The impressively flexible HP filter is continuously sweepable from 0–200Hz. And it’s wonderfully convenient having access to four great-sounding direct inputs for bass, guitars, or a hardware synthesizer with multiple outputs. As are all Daking products, the Mic Pre 4T is built in the USA using all-discrete transistor Class A circuits, and like its T-suffixed stablemates, it employs genuine Jensen input and output transformers to deliver that iconic vintage “big-iron” sound.
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Comprehensive control, right at your fingertips
Engineers at Sweetwater love how easy the Daking Mic Pre 4T is to use. Its ergonomic front-panel layout puts everything you need right at your fingertips, with per-channel polarity reverse, 20dB pads, phantom power, and a selectable 1/4-inch mic/hi-Z instrument input. Dual-concentric Daking signature aluminum knobs give you control over the variable highpass filter and gain. Above each channel’s controls is a full-width, 20-segment bi-color LED meter. The rear of the unit offers a transformer-isolated mic input and transformer-balanced XLR output — both spec’d with premium Jensen transformers — plus a 1/4-inch line output per channel. The Daking Mic Pre 4T is ensconced in a rugged all stainless steel chassis and includes an outboard universal DC power supply in a separate housing, which offers maximum resistance to noise and RF interference. This painstaking attention to detail extends to the internal components, which include gold bifurcated contacts on all relay switching.
Jensen transformers for that “big iron” sound
Back in the Golden Age of Analog, talented electronics engineers such as Rupert Neve and Deane Jensen designed custom transformers to balance circuits. These transformers became associated with the so-called “big iron” sound: typically bold, punchy, and colorful. In the late 1960s, as Neve started building his acclaimed consoles around transformer-balanced circuits in England, Jensen was in California working his way up in the pro audio world, eventually becoming VP of engineering for console manufacturer Quad-Eight. Identifying transformers as a primary culprit in poor-sounding audio systems, Jensen set about improving on existing designs. Recognizing that his work with transformers wound require powerful tools to accelerate circuit analysis and optimization, he became a pioneer in computer-assisted design, writing his own circuit-analysis software that allowed him to accurately model and fine-tune his transformer designs and optimize them for use with real-world electronic circuits.
Demand for Jensen’s transformers continued to grow and by the late ’80s, tens of thousands of Jensen transformers were in service around the world — and not just in pro audio. Their excellent performance also led to use in applications as diverse as seismic sensing, lab instrumentation and test equipment, and even the Space Shuttle! Today, Jensen Transformers is owned by Radial Engineering and Deane Jensen’s legacy lives on in countless products such as the Radial JDI (considered by many to be one of the finest direct boxes ever made) and the Daking Mic Pre 4T, which will impart that coveted, characterful “big iron” transformer sound to every signal you pass through it.
Daking: affordable boutique quality
Having broken into the music industry as the drummer for ’60s psychedelic band the Blues Magoos, Geoff Daking went on to truly make his mark designing and building boutique-quality studio gear in the tradition of the great British console manufacturers. His company’s latest offerings not only look classic, sound great, and perform solidly — you’ll be knocked out by their decidedly non-boutique prices. Daking puts a premium on placing quality components at the heart of his gear, from circuits to transformers to amplifiers, while implementing modern techniques to ensure reliable, consistent performance. Built to perform for the long haul, each Daking product is hand finished, bench tested, burned in, and tested once more in TransAudio Group’s Las Vegas facility.
Daking Mic Pre 4T 4-channel Mic/DI Preamp Features:
- Jensen transformer-balanced inputs and outputs
- All discrete transistor circuitry
- Class A amplifiers
- 75dB of gain, continuously variable
- 0–200Hz variable highpass filter per channel
- 20-segment LED meter
- +26dB Peak indicator
- All relay switching with gold bifurcated contacts
- Switched 48V phantom power
- 20dB pad on mic input
- Polarity reverse
- Stainless steel construction for noise immunity
- Custom dual-concentric aluminum knobs
- External universal power supply included
- Designed and built in the USA
