From beautiful glowing vocals, natural acoustics and punchy drums to overdriven and saturated classic tube warmth Locomotive Audio Model 286A Dual Preamp offers a huge sonic palette for engineers and producers to explore. Its single-ended Class A tube signal path is what makes this preamplifier so special. Inspired by the great vintage Ampex 601 vacuum tube tape recorder, the 286A features two tubes per channel, one EF806 and one 12AY7.
The 286A can play nice by acting clean and natural with gentle even-order harmonics for a smooth, sweet touch. Get more aggressive with the "Gain" knob and drive the first 12AY7 stage for a warm and colored thickening effect. Go all-out and slam the final 12AY7 stage and output transformer through the "Level" knob for a fully-driven, saturated tube amp sound! Clean and natural to overdriven and fuzzy warm; your choice! Along with its classic tube gain stages, the 286A has been given the modern front panel features that allow for flexible interfacing with today's studio equipment.
PCB or Vintage Handwired Builds
The Locomotive Audio 286A is offered in two different build types. Choosing between printed circuit board (PCB) and handwired turret board allow Locomotive Audio customers to pick what is most important in their high-end audio product purchase. Locomotive Audio take pride in the craft of handwiring these amplifiers and if you desire a unit with this type of build, then you should have it! Both build options feature the exact same audio circuit design and are exact in all specifications. The printed circuit board design allows for faster production and consistent results over and over, while the vintage turret board handwired technique is more artistic and time consuming.
Both builds are made of quality materials and no compromise in audio quality has been made in either design. This makes the build choice all about aesthetics and appreciation for the art of electronic circuit design and assembly.
Features:
- Microphone and high impedance instrument inputs
- One EF86 & one 12AY7 per channel
- Polarity reverse switch
- 20 dB pad switch
- 100 Hz low cut filter switch
- Microphone load impedance switch
- Mic/DI selection switch
- +48 V phantom power switch
- 3-position VU meter switch: CH1 - Off - CH2
- Custom Sifam backlit VU meter
- XLR input and output connections
- Cinemag input and output transformers
- High-grade Solen capacitors in signal path
- Hand-built in USA with classic turret board technique
- Heavy 16 gauge steel chassis
- 115 V/230 V AC mains option on rear
- Backed by 2-year limited warranty parts and labor
Specifications:
- Microphone input load impedance: 500 Ω or 1800 Ω
- Output impedance: 300 Ω
- 1/4" DI impedance: 169 kΩ
- 72 dB of gain
- Frequency response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
- Maximum 20 Hz & 1 kHz input level for 1% THD: -18 dBu (+2 dBu with Pad)
- Maximum output level: +26 dBu
- THD+N: <1%
- S/N ratio: >70 dB
- Dimensions: 19" W x 3.5" H x 10" D (2u rackspace)
- Shipping Weight: 18 lb
- Power Consumption (120/240 VAC): 25 watts