Rupert Neve Designs Portico 517

Rupert Neve Designs Portico 517 is a pre-amp and compressor for the 500 series, manufactured by Rupert Neve Designs.

History
The Rupert Neve Designs Portico 517 was released in 2011.

Official description
Based on the Portico 5017 Mobile Pre, the Rupert Neve Designs Portico 517 provides world class, transformer-coupled preamp, compressor and DI circuitry, with Vari-phase, Silk and DI/mic blending capabilities in a 500 series model. As the first 500 series module designed by Mr. Rupert Neve, the 517 incorporates outstanding sonic quality with an indispensable feature set.

Mic Pre and Instrument Amplifier

The 517′s mic pre includes 66dB gain, and is based on the Portico 5017 design. The mic pre also incorporates a polarity reverse switch and phantom power. The separate instrument amplifier includes 30dB of gain, a ground lift, variable phase and an instrument Thru connection.

Blended Use

Used as a single channel device for instruments, the 517 can be used to phase align, combine and compress direct and amplified signals. To achieve this, use the DI for the instrument’s direct signal and the mic preamp for the speaker cabinet signal. The blend control is used for mixing direct and amplified signals to achieve the desired tonal blend between the two sources, and the variphase is used to minimize or extenuate phase cancellations between the two signals. To compress the blended signal, the internal compressor jumper must be set to the blend path (this is the default setting). This technique could also be used to create a single, mixed output of a guitar and vocals.

The Compressor

Based around a new LDR (light dependent resister) design, the 517′s opto-coupler compressor has been simplified to a single threshold control with auto make up gain. By default, the compressor is set to a fixed 2:1 ratio with fixed attack and release. To set the compressor, simply dial the threshold control down until the desired amount of compression is achieved. An LED light indicates when the compressor is active.

Vari-Phase

In addition to the standard polarity reverse, the 517′s vari-phase control may be used to adjust phase incrementally. This control is useful any time two signals derived from the same source are combined.

For instance, even with careful placement, the combination of close miced drums and overheads, can often yield hollow sounding results. By using the variable phase adjust, the direct signal can be phase rotated until the signals are naturally aligned.

This technique is also extremely useful when combined with the internal blend control on instruments. A bassist, using both direct and miced signals can blend the two into a single output, using the vari-phase to reach an optimal alignment. By adjusting the phase in the 517, the musician or engineer can find the absolute best mic position without regard to the phase relation to the direct signal.

Silk

Much could be written about this feature, suffice to say, that it gives a subtle option to enhance sound quality in the direction of vintage modules. The silk button reduces negative feedback and adjusts the frequency spectrum to provide a very sweet and musical performance. We suggest you try it and make your own judgment.


 * Mic gain is from 0dB to 66dB. Overall gain to restore the apparent program level
 * DI Gain is from 0dB to 30dB
 * DI input: Balanced or unbalanced Hi-Z input for instruments
 * Phantom power_ Provides 48v phantom power to microphones. Controlled by the 48V switch.
 * Polarity reverse: Reverses the polarity of the mic input
 * Threshold: When signals exceed the "threshold" level, the gain is reduced at a controlled 2:1 ratio, with fixed attack and release time constants.
 * Indicators: Indicators on the 517 denote signal presence and clipping on both DI and mic signals, as well as compressor activation.