• Account
  • View Shopping Cart

Menu Search View Shopping Cart Call Us

Focusrite Red 1 500 Series Mic Pre  From Focusrite

The signature sound of Focusrite's classic "Red Series" mic preamp compacted into a convenient 500 series form.

Focusrite

Discontinued, No Longer Available

This item has been discontinued and is no longer available. Sometimes we will get our hands on a leftover or used unit.

Our experts can recommend to you the best alternative for your needs and keep in touch about used arrivals.

Want to know if one shows up?

Notify Me

Want to discuss alternatives?

Recording With the Red 1 500

Recording the top-line Violin parts for Sivu's track 'Miracle' with Charlie Andrew (Producer - Alt J) and Kirsty Mangan (Strings - Ellie Goulding, London Grammar) using Red 1 500.

  • Signal Chain
    • Focusrite Red 1 500 Series Mic Pre

Manufacturer's Description from Focusrite

The Focusrite Heritage – in a new format

Focusrite’s Red Range was a direct development of Rupert Neve’s designs created for Sir George Martin’s AIR studios in 1985. The range rapidly gained legendary status following its release in 1993 and the Red 1 soon became a sought-after mic preamp in the world’s top studios, thanks to its ability to get the best from almost any microphone and its unique, signature Focusrite sound.

Featuring the same circuit topology and components (where available) as the original transformer-based 1985 mic pre designs for AIR Studios, and made in England, the Red 1 500 Series Mic Pre offers the same performance as the original Focusrite Red microphone preamplifier – but in an increasingly popular format: the 500 Series, or “Lunchbox” portable modular system. It’s ideal for mobile/location use as well as in the studio.

If you love the Lunchbox format and you want to bring that special Focusrite Heritage Sound into your studio, then Red 1 500, with its signature red anodised aluminium front panel, is for you.

Red 1 500 offers a compact interface to digital recording systems or for location recordings as well as convenient access in any control room, with a Lundahl LL1538 input transformer, just as in the original; switchable phantom power; polarity invert; and an illuminated classic porthole VU meter. The output stage of Red 1 500, with its custom Carnhill transformer, will easily drive long cable runs without loss of quality – ideal for remote recordings. Mic gain is switched (with a Grayhill gold-plated military-grade switch) in 6dB steps from -6 to +60dB, for accurate, precise channel matching and recall.

The unique Focusrite mic preamp topology provides superb common mode rejection, excellent overload margin and, with its shared gain structure, (14dB from the transformer and up to 46dB from the amplifier) a very low noise floor, combined with the traditional wide bandwidth of the original Red series (10Hz to 140kHz). This exceptional level of performance is maintained over a wide range of impedances applied to the input, making the Red 1 500 suitable for almost any microphone – ribbon, dynamic or condenser.

 

Focusrite

About Manufacturer

The Focusrite brand was established way back in 1985 and the founding principles of the company were to develop products that sounded more musical, in addition to just measuring well - today,we still carry these founding principles forward in our class-leading and award-winning designs. We measure our success by the success of you, our clients, and you will find Focusrite product prominent in professional and project studios throughout the world. Based just outside of London, we work with the best design talent throughout the world to bring you the tools to enhance the way you work. Our product is made with pride and principle in a highly automated ISO 9002 factory with significant level of test by engineers who themselves are musicians and understand the part our product plays in your process. Our commitment: We understand that how your project sounds to you is your most important concern. We are totally dedicated and focused on designing and manufacturing product that will enable you to achieve this goal. Our design goals are that product should be easy to use, logically designed, give class-leading performance and give years of predictable performance. We strive to continuously improve ourselves in these respects - our principal concern is meeting your expectations. Our focus on quality is all consuming - it rules our daily life.

Specifications

Maximum Output: +25.5dBu (20Hz–20kHz)
Maximum Input: +28dBu (200Hz–13kHz), >26dBu (160Hz-20kHz)
Mic Preamp Input Impedance: 1.1kΩ (Nominal)
Frequency Response: Deviation at 30dB gain (20Hz–20kHz)±0.1dB
Bandwidth (–3dB) at 30dB gain: 103 kHz
Range at 60dB gain:  (–0.5dB)125Hz–24kHz
Bandwidth (–3dB) at 60dB gain: 32Hz–75kHz
Output Noise (min gain): –104.5dBu
CCIR-RMS:  –107dBu A-wgt
Harmonic Distortion: (30 dB gain, -30 dBu input)
Third Harmonic: –101dB (0.0009%)
Second Harmonic: –88.5dB (0.0038%)
THD+N (20 kHz bandwidth): –88dB (0.0039%)
CMRR (24dB gain, –4dBu input, 1kHz)Common mode test: 102dB
IEC 60268-3:2000 test: 89dB