While I adore our Steinway in the studio, it can sometimes just be a hair dark in recordings for pop and rock music.  Enter the EM Blue card.  It seems like every time the piano is going to be used in a full mix, we are grabbing the EM Blue to help accentuate the top end detail of our Steinway B.  We’ve had it work wonderfully on snare drum, vocals and acoustic guitar where more top and slightly less relative mids were the goal.  The Blue does a fantastic job of bringing more presence to instrument, but without doing it in a harsh or brash way.  It has a nickel output transformer which differentiates it from the others.  It has a tight, detailed and true bottom end, and a bigger top (and upper mids). With this one, the midrange is purposefully held back.  Any source where you need to accentuate the upper frequencies and you don’t want to grab an EQ, the A Designs Blue should be your preamp!  Since this is something we tend to do with many, many different sources it makes it a very versatile little preamp. 

Read for more info on some of the other available modules if this one doesn’t sound exactly right for your application.

The full line of EM Preamp cards from A Designs were built to bring a few different flavors into your 500 series rack, but built with an extreme quality standard that is only possible with small quantity, boutique runs which guarantee each module is built to world-class audio standards.  Each module has custom wound transformers which really create a noticeable difference in tone, and to be honest, the difference is quite impressive compared to many of the modules available on the market today from other manufacturers.  Each module has a plenty of gain for your quieter sources like acoustic guitar as well as traditionally quieter microphones like ribbons.  The front panel DI sits prior to the input transformer which allows you to pickup that great coloration that each of the modules individually presents, even when patching in an instrument. The preamp modules from the A-Designs series are the: P1, EM Red, EM Silver, EM Blue and EM Gold.   With the exception of the P-1 (Since we own 3x Pacificas), Sound Pure owns pairs of EVERY SINGLE module above, and use them daily in our own world-class recording studio, the Sound Pure Studios.  We are here to report our findings after years of using them, and you should know any question you have can be e-mailed to us, or you call us toll free, we’d love to talk to you more about these modules, microphone pairings, comparing these to other pres on the market, and whether or not they are right for you. 

The P1 is modeled to be very similar to the Pacifica, with some moderate color and some very nice detail throughout the frequency range, with a very smooth and open top end.  The Red module has a “boost” to the mids due to the transformer, which we found to be wonderful on guitar cabs.  The Silver boasts a Steel output transformer that gives it the darkest tone of the bunch (and a big low end), and the Blue with its Nickel transformer has a very lofty, airy top end that is great for bringing a brighter life into darker sources.  Finally the Gold is a mixture of the Red (Input Transformer) and Silver (output transformer), which gives it the hottest output with a nice colored and pushed midrange.

A Designs Audio is proud to introduce a new line of microphone pre-amplifiers. These Pre-amplifiers are original designs stemming from our inspiration of the "Quad Eight Sound". Each has its own unique character. Depending on which microphone you use, you will be able to open a world of color and sound to inspire you and your recordings.

The A Designs "EM Series" is a twist on the P-1. Each color has its own sound. This was accomplished by using different custom wound output and input transformers.

The EM-Blue is equipped with a "Nickel" custom wound output transformer. This translates into "Highs" which will produce a much more airy top-end-ish tone. Used with a "dark" sounding microphone or a alto vocalist it can produce a "heavenly" sound.

You will also find this pre useful for recording a snare drum for a "crisp crack" sound. And if you use the DI Feature you just might want to hear what an electric guitar sounds like going thru the nickel transformers.

As with all the A Designs Audio modules, there is a -20dB PAD Switch. So, to get down and dirty with an electric guitar you will want to pad your input and crank the gain for a slight growl.

As with all the A Designs Audio modules, there is a 48v Phantom Power Switch. With all the new condenser microphones on the market in a very wide price range, the engineer or musician now has limitless possibilities to choose from in their endless search for their "perfect sound." You may also like to use the EM-Red for recording Toms, both rack and floor.

All of the A Designs Audio module pres have the following features:
1. -20dB Pad
2. Phase
3. 48v Phantom
4. Cast aluminum knob
5. Thumb Screws (for easy install and un-install)
6. Solid construction
7. Custom Wound Transformers (input and output)
8. Original Design (no CLONES)
9. Red LED indicator for Phantom power

When developing our product(s) A Designs Audio feels the need to place units into the hands of both the professional and the average end user. In doing so, we have learned from their experiences and they have passed valuable information on to us. This helps us to produce a product with pride of craftsmanship and knowing we helped, in some way, to continue to inspire the art of creating and recording. So, no matter what your needs are for recording the perfect sound, A Designs Audio can help you by providing a solid tool to contribute to the job.