The m201 from Grace Design is a two channel microphone preamp that features massive headroom, ultra-wide bandwidth and an open, musical character. Grace has always been known for producing highly accurate and clean preamps, long favored by classical and live-to-tape/disc engineers. This translates into recorded sounds that possess extreme clarity, and helps preserve the integrity and character of the original source.
The preamp provides a hefty amount of gain for most microphones. Ribbon microphones traditionally require higher gain to operate properly, and providing this has often come at the expense of additional noise. The m201 has a dedicated ribbon microphone mode that shifts the gain range up by 10dB without the addition of noise. The mode simultaneously disables phantom power, while bypassing the decoupling capacitors and optimizing the input impedance.
Included is M+S decoder circuitry with a built-in width control and a dedicated set of XLR outputs. The main outputs have parallel outputs, allowing the user to send the microphone source to two separate recording devices or mixers. Each channel also features Hi-Z inputs for amplifying electric instruments. Phase reverse switches and a 20dB pad are available per channel, as are bi-color LED peak indicators.