Phoenix Audio Ascent 500
Mic Preamp/DI with tone (Sheen) control
Preamp$799Manufacturer list price
Specifications
- Type
- Preamp
- Description
- Mic Preamp/DI with tone (Sheen) control
- Topology
- Class-A, transformerless mic input stage; Class-A discrete DSOP-2 output stage with transformer-balanced (custom DB694) output; company founded by ex-Neve design personnel
- Signal path
- Analog
- Channels
- 1
- Channel format
- Mono
- Form factor
- 500-series module
- Connection
- API 500-series (VPR-compatible) lunchbox bus, 24V
- Powered
- Powered by host 500-series/VPR rack (24V internal PSU design)
- Frequency response
- Mic input: -0.4dB @ 40Hz, -0.3dB @ 25kHz; DI input: -0.3dB @ 40Hz, -0.5dB @ 25kHz; Output stage: 20Hz-20kHz +/-0.5dB
- Country of manufacture
- USA (Costa Mesa/Irvine, CA; company originally founded in UK, hand-wired in-house)
Details
Controls: Stepped mic gain (-30 to -70dB in 5dB steps), variable output fader (+10dB), variable HPF (45-250Hz), Sheen EQ (10K/15K/25K, +/-16dB), push-buttons: Hi-Pass, 48V, Phase Reverse, Mute, LED gain metering
I/O: Mic in: XLR (rear, API rack panel); DI in: 1/4" front panel (10Mohm); Output: XLR (rear, API rack panel)
Notes: 500-series module (separate row from rack Ascent One/Two family). Mic impedance stated as 10K ohms (not populated in impedance_ohms field, which this schema reserves for speaker/headphone use). price_usd is a street/dealer price observed at Sweetwater, not a published manufacturer MSRP (Phoenix's own site lists no prices) -- flag for verification. Includes a single-band 'Sheen' shelving tone control, not a full multi-band EQ, hence classified as Preamp rather than Channel Strip.