Dave Hill, founder of Crane Song, has recently started a new venture: Dave Hill Designs. Dave was at the Winter NAMM Show back in January to show off his brand-new Europa preamp, the first product to bear the new company name.
A 1U rack, the Europa is a well-appointed single-channel mic pre, which in addition to the expected sundries (phantom power, polarity inversion and an instrument input) incorporates some unique features that suggest a very high degree of versatility.
Between the polarity-invert and mic/instrument selectors is a three-way toggle, which sets the preamp’s input impedance. Three different impedances are available here (300Ω, 2.2kΩ, and an unspecified ‘high’ setting), for compatibility with a wide range of condenser and dynamic mics (including ribbons), or for providing a choice of different sounds from the same mic.
On the right-hand side of the front panel are two stepped rotary controls labelled Even Harmonics and Odd Harmonics. These each have eight positions (plus an ‘off’ setting), and they introduce varying amounts of even- or odd-order harmonics to the signal. Both of these controls act in a level-dependent way, adding more distortion as the input signal gets hotter, while the Odd Harmonics control also compresses the signal slightly.
Perhaps the Europa’s most unique feature, however, is the Speed parameter. Accessed via a nine-way rotary, this varies the rate at which the preamp responds to transients. At its fastest setting, transient detail is preserved and high-frequency peaks, in particular, are accurately reproduced. With slower settings, the Europa’s slew rate is reduced such that it has a more ‘sluggish’ sound, and high-level high-frequency content is attenuated. Dave Hill was on hand at the Winter NAMM Show to give this new preamp a demonstration, and the Speed control’s effect on programme material, especially drums, ranged from subtle to obvious, but always in a useful-sounding way.
Up to 66dB of gain can be provided, the amount being governed by a digital rotary encoder that moves in 1dB steps, and the gain value being displayed on a two-character LCD. Next to this is a bypassable, eight-position low-cut filter, which can be set at 34Hz, 53Hz, 66Hz, 83Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, 133Hz and 150Hz. Rounding off the front-panel features is a high-resolution level meter, with 0VU referenced at +4dBu.
The Europa’s impressive headroom figure of +24dBu (with the gain set at 0dB) means that it is suitable for use on line-level signals, so you can process recorded audio with the speed and harmonics controls when it comes to mixdown time.
In the States, the Dave Hill Designs Europa is set to sell for around $1650.
