www.radialeng.com True to the Music ® PreMax ™ 500 Series Preamp and EQ User Guide ® True to the Music www.radialeng.com Radial Engineering Ltd. 1588 Kebet Way, Port Coquitlam British Columbia, Canada, V3C 5M5 tel: 604-942-1001 • fax: 604-942-1010 email: info@radialeng.
WARNING NOTICE TO USER! Although preventative safety measures have been designed into Radial 500 series products we strictly advise against hot-swapping modules or plugging and unplugging them when the Workhorse or other 500 series racks are powered on. Hot swapping can cause connection sparks at the card-edge connector that could send damaging transients to other equipment. This also reduces the life span of the contacts. Damage due to hot swapping is not covered under warranty.
® True to the Music Radial PreMax ® ™ 500 Series Preamp and EQ Table of Contents Page Overview.......................................................................................................................1 Features .......................................................................................................................3 Making Connections .....................................................................................................4 Getting Started ......................
® True to the Music OVERVIEW The PreMax is a combination preamp and three band equalizer jammed into a single wide 500 series module. By housing both processors together we can optimize the signal path, maximum performance and minimize fuss. This accelerates setup times and eliminates many of the challenges that make getting an instrument to sound right.
® True to the Music The Equalizer After the preamp has amplified the mic signal it feeds a traditional 3 band EQ for tone shaping. This great sounding EQ lets you gently boost the top end for more clarity, add warmth to the bottom end, or cut back the mids on an overly aggressive instrument. A front panel switch lets you bypass the EQ to compare the pre-post effect. We chose to employ a traditional old-school 3 band EQ to perform the task.
® True to the Music FEATURE SET 1. GAIN: Used to set the gain of the mic preamp. Accustate gain control sets the input sensitivity and gain at the same time to optimize signal to noise at all settings. 2. LED METERING: Signal and peak LED meter provide visual feedback of signal status and max output level. 3. 180° REVERSE: Inverts the polarity to help phase align two microphones when recording in stereo. 1 3 2 4.
® True to the Music MAKING CONNECTIONS As with all audio equipment, always ensure levels are turned down and equipment is turned off before making any connections or inserting the PreMax into a 500 series power rack. This common practice ensures turn-on transients will not damage more sensitive components such as tweeters. Slide your PreMax module into the 500 series power rack until the card-edge on the board is firmly seated into the slot connector on the main board.
® True to the Music USING THE PREAMP Once you have the PreMax safely mounted in your rack and patched into your recording system, set the controls on the front panel as shown here on the right. All four buttons should be set to their outward position. This ‘start position’ bypasses the equalizer from the signal chain to enable you to first set the preamp to optimize signal-tonoise. Minimum Power on the audio system and turn up the volume on your monitors.
® True to the Music USING THE EQUALIZER Once you have the preamplifier working, activate the equalizer using the EQ-IN switch and begin testing the three EQ bands. Each of the three bands uses an active EQ control capable of cutting, or boosting the amplitude within the band’s frequency range. The center, 12 o’clock position, is the neutral point or 0dB. Rotating the control clockwise from center will boost frequencies. Turning it counter clockwise from center cuts them.
® True to the Music Omniport™ instrument input If you are inserting the PreMax into Radial 500 series power rack, you can use the Omniport as a high impedance instrument input to record electric guitar, bass or keyboards. Simply connect to the PreMax via the Omniport jack using a standard ¼” instrument cable. Set the MIC/INST switch on the front panel to the inward position to activate the Omniport. Adjust the preamp gain and equalizer tone to suit and record as normal.
® True to the Music RADIAL PREMAX 500 SPECIFICATIONS Preamp circuit type: .............................................Accustate input with variable gain front end. Compressor circuit type: ......................................Feed forward VCA compressor with true RMS sidechain. Frequency response: ...........................................20Hz ~ 20kHz (-1.5dB @ 20Hz) Total harmonic distortion:.....................................<0.003% Dynamic range: ...................................................
THREE YEAR TRANSFERABLE LIMITED WARRANTY RADIAL ENGINEERING LTD. (“Radial”) warrants this product to be free from defects in material and workmanship and will remedy any such defects free of charge according to the terms of this warranty. Radial will repair or replace (at its option) any defective component(s) of this product (excluding finish and wear and tear on components under normal use) for a period of three (3) years from the original date of purchase.
