Inject Your Productions with Classy, Subtle Harmonics
Every engineer worth their salt has a secret weapon — something in their rack that puts an indelible sonic stamp on every production they touch. The Whitestone Audio P331 tube-loading amplifier is just such a device. This inviolable, mastering-grade color box will infuse your projects with subtle harmonics, badging them with that intangible "it factor" that only a world-class engineer can achieve. The P331 is a hybrid audio enhancement tool with the ability to conjure tube-flavored goodness and transformer-fueled muscle — ear-tingling even-order harmonics and refined nonlinearities — with equal measure. What's more, its digitally controlled analog design ensures that each and every parameter is fully repeatable and recallable. While it's primarily designed as a mastering tool, the P331 can work its magic at any phase in your production process — tracking, mixing, or mastering — with stellar results. In short, the Whitestone Audio P331 offers studios of every pedigree a straightforward way to add that elusive analog magic to their productions.
Related Videos: P331 Tube-loading Amplifier
Custom-designed hardware for the masses
The P331 is a mastering-grade tool for adding subtle harmonic flavor to an audio signal. Its audio signal path contains only the finest analog components, ensuring unrivaled sonic clarity in every application. The soul of this unit is its 6SN7 8-pin double-triode vacuum tubes, which are able to inject nuanced harmonic excitement into a signal without adding any obvious distortion. The heart of the P331 is its high-voltage, linear power supply that ensures the utmost in audio integrity, a must-have for mission-critical applications such as mastering. Finally, the brain of this unit is its digitally controlled analog design, which allows for unparalleled precision with absolute repeatability. Originally designed by Dave Rosen as a custom piece of hardware for his wife, Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Kim Rosen of Knack Mastering, the Whitestone Audio P331 is now available to engineers everywhere.
Treat your signal with mastering-grade coloration
The Whitestone Audio P331 is a tube-loading amplifier designed to impart subtle harmonic coloration to an audio signal. Its loading circuit includes a Clean (feedback) mode and a plate-loaded Bloom (feedforward) mode for adding nonlinearities and even-order harmonics to your audio. Its Auto-Padding feature, which includes Pre, Post, and Open modes, enables you to pad down your signal inversely as gain increases through the unit's tubes. The P331's Lift circuit is a gentle parallel filter that selectively enhances specific frequency ranges within your audio signal. You also get an Xformer section with switchable output transformers, enabling you to toggle between a clean, transformerless signal path and two options with the transformers engaged. The P331 brandishes a low-distortion, fully balanced solid-state output amplifier with up to 11dB of boost or cut in 1dB increments and a Resolution mode for even finer control. Each section of the P331 includes a hard-wire bypass, plus there's a global hard-wire bypass for removing the entire unit from your signal chain.
The battle between good and EVL
There are two versions of the P331 to choose from: the original white P331 and the EVL black P331. Both units share a similar design, with digitally controlled analog controls, a fully balanced solid-state output amplifier, and a Lift circuit. One significant difference between the two units, however, is the design of their tube-loading amplifiers. Although the loading control is functionally the same on both models, the amplifier itself starts from a much different point on the EVL, causing it to push harder right from the get-go. This nuance means that not only will the EVL sound more aggressive than the original model, but its Lift circuit will behave differently since it's affecting harmonics generated by the tube-loading amplifier. The second significant difference between the two units is within the Xformer section. Since the EVL pushes more current through its output transformers than the original model, you can expect more saturation, thrust, and punch from the EVL. Simply put, the EVL sounds meaner. Regardless of which model you choose, it's highly likely that you — like so many of us here at Sweetwater — will place the P331 permanently on your master bus.
Whitestone Audio P331 Tube-loading Amplifier Features:
- Tube-loading amplifier designed to impart subtle harmonic coloration to an audio signal
- 6SN7 vacuum tubes create nuanced harmonic excitement without adding obvious distortion
- High-voltage, linear power supply ensures the utmost in audio integrity
- Digitally controlled analog design allows for unparalleled precision with absolute repeatability
- Dual-mode loading circuit adds nonlinearities and even-order harmonics to your audio
- 3-mode Auto-Padding feature pads down a signal inversely as gain increases through the unit's tubes
- Lift circuit is a gentle parallel filter that selectively enhances specific frequency ranges
- Xformer section includes switchable output transformers for added coloration
- Low-distortion, fully balanced solid-state output amplifier
- 11dB of boost or cut in 1dB increments with a Resolution mode for even finer control
- Each section includes an individual hard-wire bypass; entire unit includes a global hard-wire bypass
