Radial Engineering have announced that the Space Heater 500 is now shipping. The Space Heater 500 is a single-width tube overdrive module for the 500-series format that is designed to deliver natural crunch to drums, extra character to voice, and compression to bass and acoustic guitar.
According to Radial product guru, Jay Porter: "When we launched the eight channel Space Heater, it became immediately apparent that we had no choice but to make a module for our growing 500 series customer base. The Space Heater sounds huge and brings so much excitement to production it will likely become one of those tools that you use each and every time you lay down a track."
The Space Heater 500 is housed in a fully enclosed steel enclosure. This not only protects the sensitive electronics but also helps prevent outside EM interference causing noise. It also keeps noise from the unit to a minimum. A three-position 'Heat' switch enables the user to choose between 35 volts, 70 volts or 140 volt operation of teh 12AX7 tube, for the desired level of tube distortion. Distortion is further adjusted using the combination of a drive control plus a level for make-up gain. The plate voltage is generated by an internal charge pump while the Workhorse or 500 series 16V supply provides the 12AX7 tube the 12 volts needed for the heater. A Jensen transformer is employed at the output, intended to bring a more vintage character to the signal path while benefiting from galvanic isolation to reduce hum and buzz caused by ground loops.
To further refine the sonic response, the Space Heater 500 is equipped with both high-pass and low-pass filters. These allow the engineer to focus the tube effect on a particular frequency band or spread it out as needed. The EQ can also be applied to the signal path either pre- or post-tube for even greater tonal flexibility.
As the Space Heater 500 employs a high voltage tube circuit with a current draw of 235 milliamps, a special power allocation switch adjacent to the card edge connector is available to balance the draw for use with most 500 series racks.
The Space Heater 500 has a street price of $699.99 and is shipping now.
