S40 Classic British Channel Strip

The Trident S40 Classic British Channel Strip is a single-channel microphone and instrument preamplifier, compressor/limiter and equalizer in a 2-space rackmount case. It's got the characteristic red and green aluminum knobs that users of original Trident consoles will recognize. All circuits are Class A and the the most modern components were used where noise is a concern, and original TL070s were employed where the classic Trident sound needed to be retained. The input section includes a transformerless mic preamp and a Hi-Z instrument input. Front panel controls are a 48V phantom power switch, phase reverse switch, stepped input knob, and microphone preamp. The mic pre is the same one used in the Oram pro range gear and the new Trident Series 80 5.1 console.

The dynamics section includes attack, release, ratio and threshold knobs plus a pre/post-EQ switch (default is post-EQ) and bypass switch. The compressor does not affect the signal path as long as the signal is below threshold.

The EQ section combines a classic 4-band shelving/peaking EQ section with low and high-cut filters. The 4-band section features ±15 dB high and low shelves with switchable knee frequencies of 7 kHz/12 kHz and 50 Hz/150 Hz respectively. In the middle are 2 ±15 dB sweepable bands with ranges from 150 Hz to 2 kHz and 1.5 to 15 kHz. Mid-band Q is one half octave and the shelves are 4 dB per octave. All boost/cut knobs are center-detented and the EQ section can be bypassed.

The output section features a center-detented output gain with a range of ±15 dB. A classy vintage VU meter can monitor either gain reduction of output level. Gain reduction zero VU reading can be calibrated via a front panel recessed trim adjust