Packing two channels of flagship preamplification into a single rack space for engineers and musicians who demand the best, the Rupert Neve Designs 5025 Dual Shelford Microphone Preamp combines the sweet musicality of highly desired vintage Neve modules with greatly extended bandwidth and sonic versatility ranging from refined transparency to heavy-handed harmonic saturation. With up to 72 dB of gain available, including 15 dB from a custom step-up transformer and up to 6 dB via the trim knob, the Dual Shelford is a perfect companion for any mic, even low-output ribbons and dynamic mics of old.
Dual output level transformers are paired with main and -6 dB outputs to allow pristine sound at high levels or the characterful coloration of a hard-driven preamp without clipping the next stage of the signal chain. The inclusion of Rupert Neve Designs' Silk circuit offers adjustable harmonic enhancement in two modes—Red imparts sparkle and presence to the highs, while Blue thickens the lows and low mids to add weight. Finished with a worldwide power supply inside and attractive analog VU meters on its face, the 5025 Dual Shelford is destined to be a studio favorite and collector's prize for years to come.
By popular demand, RND introduced the Dual Shelford Mic Pre: a two-channel version of their flagship preamplifier that has become an indispensable tool for countless engineers and musicians. The Dual Shelford offers the sonic excellence of two Rupert Neve Designs Shelford mic preamps in a single rack space with an internal power supply.
While creating the input stage for the Shelford Channel and Dual Shelford pre, the goal was not merely to recreate the classic designs, but to advance them: combining the unmistakable sound of vintage technology with wide-bandwidth frequency response, consistently excellent amplifier performance at any gain setting, and extremely low-noise operation. The resulting preamplifier is flat from below 10 Hz to above 60 kHz, yielding pure tone and high levels of versatility.
The Red mode enhances harmonic content generated by the highs and high-mids of your source, yielding a sparkly sheen that complements vocals, snare, strings, pianos, and other acoustic instruments. With the Blue mode, you're enhancing harmonic content generated by the lows and low-mids of your source, imparting beefy tone that's often ideal for drums, bass guitar, heavy electric guitars, male vocals, and synths.
The main outputs are designed to capture a more pristine sound at high levels, avoiding any nonlinear coloration of the output stage. The -6 dB outputs allow an engineer to fully drive the Shelford—adding dynamic tone with these same nonlinear colorations—without clipping most professional interfaces. On drums, vocals, guitars, and other instruments, these outputs let you easily hit the transformer's sweet spot of nonlinear harmonic content, bringing a recorded performance to life.
- Definitive evolution of Rupert Neve's renowned vintage mic preamp technology
- Custom transformer-gain mic preamp features a distinctly musical response
- Dual output level transformers create rich harmonic character without clipping the next device in the chain
- Silk Red and Blue modes with Texture control to precisely dial in the desired amount of classic tone
- Shelford circuitry delivers the essence of classic designs coupled with updated versatility
- Up to 72 dB of low-noise, Class-A gain to bring out the best in any source
- Variable high-pass filter from 20 to 250 Hz
- Analog VU meters provide classic metering style and vibe
- Worldwide power supply with double the voltage of the original 80 Series modules
- Precision-engineered discrete design, built for decades of use