Locomotive Audio 286A User Manual - page 7
ABOUT THE 286A
The dual channel 286A 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 four tubes; there is
one EF86 and one 12AY7 per channel. 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.
286A SETTINGS
At first glance, there are many features on the Model 286A which may
be confusing, but in reality, the initial setup couldn’t be easier.
GAIN & LEVEL SETTINGS
The 286A is a very lively preamplifier with a great deal of gain.
A good place to start when looking for a clean sound, is with
the GAIN positioned at a low setting and the LEVEL positioned
at a high setting. If too much distortion is experienced
at these settings, it is likely that the source is too hot. Drums,
for instance, may benefit from switching the -20dB pad to
the up position. Rotating the gain knob to a higher level
will allow more signal to pass from the first tube
(EF86) to the second tube (12AY7). This action will
create more color and a general thickening to the final
sound. Of course, play with these settings to achieve
the effect you want. There is no right way. Be creative!
IMPEDANCE SETTINGS
It was our goal to design a versatile preamplifier for many different
sound sources. The impedance control allows the user flexibility in the
microphone they choose and in crafting the sound they want. As a
standard, microphones “favor” an input impedance 10x that of their own
output impedance. Therefore, a common modern microphone with an
output impedance of 150-200Ω will be “properly” loaded with the preamp
set to 1800Ω. This will give the best overall frequency response for the
microphone. Some low output/low impedance microphones will be better
off with the 500Ω setting. By all means, experiment with these controls
for the color/sound you are looking for!