Trident Audio Developments A-Range 500 Preamp

Trident Audio Developments A-Range 500 Preamp

Delivering the characterful sound of the microphone preamplifier that spawned countless hits in the 1970s and beyond, the Trident A-Range 500 Series preamp is inspired by the all-discrete input circuit developed by Malcolm Toft and Barry Porter for the revered A-Range consoles. Accordingly, the A-Range 500 Series preamp infuses signals with analog warmth, verve, and character, making it a welcome addition to modern DAW-based studio setups. Combining discrete circuitry with Sowter and Cinemag transformers, the A-Range 500 preamp delivers the signature sound of the original with character and musicality. Featuring mic/line and hi-z input, pad, polarity reverse, front panel XLR input, 60db of mic gain plus output gain trim and more

Download the A-Range® 500 Preamp User Manual here.

Trident Recording Studio’s started operations back in the 1960’s as a recording studio. Many things came out of the Recording Studio that led to what Trident Audio Developments is today.

Trident Recording Studios recorded legendary bands like David Bowie, The Beatles, James Taylor, Queen, Supertramp, Mott The Hoople, Bad Company, Free, Rush, Elton John, Manfred Mann, T-Rex and so many more, we simply do not have the space to list them all here. These recordings were done by incredible recording engineers like Roy Thomas Baker, Ken Scott, Tony Platt, Tony Visconti, Adam Moseley, Dave Hentschel, and many others. Trident Studios was the place known by the most famous bands as the place to record in London.

Trident studios were the first studio to acquire the first ever 8 Track from Ampex. No one in London had an 8 Track…not even EMI. When Trident got its first 16 track recorder, they decided to buy a new recording console but simply could not find any commercially available console to do 16 track recording with the feature set they needed. It was decided by the powers to be at Trident that between the recording engineers, and the technical staff under the direction of Barry Porter, Trident would attempt to build their own custom console.

The first console was designed purely for Trident Studios and was designated the ‘A’ Series. It was hand built to the need of the facilities and designed to be ergonomic. In those days, the integrated circuit (I.C.) had not been invented, so all the circuits used individual transistors (known as discrete design). This and the use of inductors in the lower and upper mid equaliser sections are said to account for much of the unique sound of the ‘A’ Series. From this first successful design was borne Trident Audio Developments Ltd, which went on to become a leading manufacturer of music recording consoles. One of the company’s earliest advertising slogans was ‘designed by recording engineers for recording engineers’.

This became a key component of what made the ‘Trident Sound’ unique. As a recording engineer rather than an electronics engineer, Trident Audio Developments was designed by the engineer’s ears, rather than a textbook of electronic design, and it is this, coupled with over thirty years’ experience that has enabled Trident Audio Developments to develop its own ‘philosophy of sound’ that is Trident’s trademark.

The “A” Series eventually led to the development of the “A“ Range Console, which became the console everyone wanted to work and record on. The “A“ Range was quickly labelled as the best sounding console ever. It should be noted, a large part of this sound, along with the legendary sounding EQ was the unique warm sound of the A-Range’s all discrete microphone preamplifiers.

There were only thirteen A Range consoles ever built back in the 1970’s, and almost all of them have been rebuilt and are still in use today, despite being nearly forty years old. This says a lot about the heritage of these iconic items of recording equipment and the artists that have used them.