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Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017 1-channel Microphone Preamp & Compressor

1-ch Desktop Microphone Preamp/DI and Compressor
33 Write review Item ID: 5017
$1,399.00

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Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017 1-channel Microphone Preamp & Compressor
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The Sound of Rupert Neve, to Go!

A 1-channel preamp/compressor that's dripping with classic British vibe! Rupert Neve has had a huge hand in shaping what we know as the modern recording studio. The Rupert Neve Designs Portico series, continued here with the Portico 5017, makes the Neve sound available to project and professional studio owners alike. The DI input and the mic pre can be used simultaneously. And the Portico 5017 also has a blend control, that can be used to combine and compress the direct and amplified signals. The Portico 5017 gives you everything you want from a Rupert Neve box, but in an easily portable unit.

Related Videos: Portico 5017 1-channel Microphone Preamp & Compressor

Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017 Microphone Preamp/DI/Compressor at a Glance:
  • Legendary Neve sound in an accessable package
  • Studio quality in a portable design
  • Superior control of your sound
Legendary Neve sound in an accessable package

There may not be any single individual as responsible for what we know as audio recording than Rupert Neve. He set the standard that we all keep using today. Now you can get the man's defining sound in a compact, portable, and affordable package. The Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017 gives you the most desired features of a Neve preamp, but it doesn't stop there. As well as the preamp you get a high-quality mobile DI, Neve's Vari-phase control, a powerful single-knob compressor, and more!

Studio quality in a portable design

The Neve Designs Portico 5017 offers so much more than a standard desktop pre. You get a full featured Rupert Neve preamp in a design that you can easily take with you on a mobile recording project. Want to track a singer/songwriter at a gig? Need a high quality DI/preamp to grab a piano track outside of your studio? You've spent a ton of time getting the sounds right in your studio. Now you don't have to compromise the quality of recording when tracking elsewhere.

Superior control of your sound

For having such a small footprint the Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017 offers amazing control of all of it's features. Along with gain controls for the instrument and microphone inputs, you also get a variable Blend control between the two inputs to use them both simultaneously. The Vari-phase control lets you dial in the phase of the two ins incrementally for total control. The single-knob compressor is a breeze to use, and you get Neve's Silk control that adds nostalgic warmth and presence to both inputs for that classic Neve sound.

Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017 Microphone Preamp/DI/Compressor Features:
  • 1-channel operation
  • Use DI and mic channels together
  • Blend control to mix DI'd signal with miked signal
  • Record bass with both a miked signal and a DI
  • Balanced or unbalanced hi-Z input for instruments
  • Highpass filter: 12dB/octave @ 80Hz
  • Phantom power
  • Phase invert
  • Variphase for fine tuning of phase relationship
  • Compressor
  • Silk channel for vintage-style sound
Vintage vibe without the vintage price, with the Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5017!

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Tech Specs

  • Preamp Type: Solid State
  • Number of Channels: 1
  • Frequency Response: 10Hz-160khz (@ -3dB)
  • Phantom Power: Yes
  • Compressor Threshold: 10dB to -20dB
  • Compressor Ratio: 2:1
  • Analog Inputs: 1 x XLR (Mic), 1 x 1/4" (Hi-Z)
  • Analog Outputs: 1 x XLR, 1 x 1/4" (Mic Out)
  • Other I/O: 1 x 1/4" (Thru)
  • Manufacturer Part Number: 5017

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Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5

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Swiss Army Knife

Live sound, recording. Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric, bass. Does it all. Warm and buttery. Compression is so simple and effective. Rupert Neve transformers are popular for a very good reason.
I got it for the mic preamp, but it works wonders on whatever you plug into it. Warms up my QSC K.2, which already sounds great.
by LukeBigHair from Anchorage on
Music background: Dabble in all kinds of music.

Sweet!

Sweet and silky yet detailed. Works fabulously well with the LRBaggs PA. Adds an inspiring open space for music to take flight. Folks took notice. Very versatile, efficient controls, yet subtle and classy. Phase sweep is fabulous and very useful, specially with highly idiosyncratic gear like a Tricone rez ( + Schatten PU) I feel I got my $$$ worth. I only wish it would be more pedal board friendly, ergonomically speaking, but it was not design with that in mind at all. Also Inst Gain all the way down does not kill the signal. Still plenty loud. So I 'll use a LRBagg Session as extra EQ and kill switch, or a switched cable.
by Bertrand from Aroostook County on
Music background: Performer/teacher/coach, finger-style acoustic/Producer

The Ultimate Multi-Tool Preamp Channel

I've been using the RND Portico 5017 desktop preamp for several months now, and I must say, it has truly exceeded my expectations. Right out of the box, the build quality is immediately apparent. The unit feels robust and well-constructed. The controls are intuitive, and the layout is user-friendly.

The DI and Thru is super convenient for amped guitar or bass setups especially when met with the boundless versatility of how you can blend input signals. Having the "Vari-Phase" knob makes phase aligning your inputs a breeze, just sweep until you hear the most presence in your signal. The mic input has a whopping 66dB of gain in 6dB increments which is ideal if you record with ribbon mics. Plus the RND Portico 5017 has the famed "Silk" mode included for that lovely second harmonic saturation.

Also what I consider to be a bit of an easter egg are two little secret handy features Rupert left under the hood that enable you to adjust wire jumpers that switch the compressors attack and release speeds to a slower setting, or you can change the signal path to use both the Line output(XLR) and Mic output(TRS)separately meaning two different isolated outputs. For example, Instrument takes DI path while VOX takes the mic path.

The RND Portico 5017 is certainly a sleeper that shouldn't be overlooked! The price point is undeniably premium and I understand the compelling nature of filling rack spaces but, if you're someone serious about achieving professional-grade audio quality, the investment is absolutely worth it!
by Jake L from St Petersburg, FL on
Music background: Songwriter, Recording Engineer

Portico Piezo Preamp

You're not supposed to go crazy over gear, you're just supposed to shrug and say "these are useful tools." And when it comes to recording piezo pickup instruments, most notably acoustic guitar, this is THE useful tool. The DI input here is 3 megaohm and specifically tailored to piezo pickups, I promise they will sound so dramatically better through this than whatever you've been using you will view the expense as minor. No more piezo quack and squawk.

Rupert Neve was of course a preamp legend, and late in his career worked a lot on solving the problem of acoustic guitars; the Rupert Neve System is a popular installed preamp. Of course, that only has battery power to work with, here you have his no-holds-barred solution. Correctly, it offers the ability to blend in a microphone, with variable phase correction and a compressor that a dab works perfect on strummed acoustics. You can also record the microphone individually making this a two channel preamp.

While it is the unquestioned ideal device for piezo applications, it's a worthy subjective option on everything else. You even get the "Silk" feature, which you might like on some things. It doesn't sound anything like the 70's Neve units, it has modern transformers and circuitry. It also doesn't sound like anything else I have, which is useful. Physically the unit is small and sturdy enough to bring around and even place on stage with you. If you're performing with a piezo instrument, I'd recommend it highly. I think the piezo should go straight to this and skip any onboard preamp myself. You get a Thru jack for any effects and amplifiers you want to use as well, though the thru output won't benefit from this device unless it comes back in via a mic.

Pay more for this preamp than you did the instrument itself? Actually completely reasonable when you hear what it does. I have zero conflicts of interest with RND or Sweetwater, this is my unbiased review.
by spicemix from San Francisco, CA on
Music background: Since the 80's

Amazing!

I've been trying to find the best sound for my voice doing live gigs and for recording and this bad boy nails it. I'm no longer singing too hard to trying to find the note. I hear everything and it all sounds great! It's a bit overkill for what I do but it's really been relief to FEEL like I sound good while I'm singing. I love the compression and richness it adds to my vocals. It made my fishman pa so clear I had to buy an external phantom power device for my active DI because I could actually hear a huge difference when I activated the pa's onboard phantom power. Crazy. Get one!

I have like 0% experience with other "higher end" mic preamps so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I was using a simple dynamic mic booster and really liked it. Then I tried this and holy cow it sounds 10 times better!
by Joesph Ryan from Great Falls, MT on
Music background: Weekly gigs
See also: Strips, Rupert Neve Designs, Rupert Neve Designs Channel Strips
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