NEW! Hear the Pacifica in a real session!
The A Designs Audio "PACIFICA" is a single rack space, dual (mono/mono) channel microphone pre amplifier that comes amazingly close in look and sound to the original Quad Eight consoles. Throughout the1970s, the American professional music recording industry was in its heyday. Popular artists like The Who, The Beatles, The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and Steely Dan were all at the top of the charts. Needless to say, the diversity and quantity of new music was amazing. But, the seventies were also a time of great change in pro audio.
The introduction of "solid state" electronics led to an explosion in development and a very different sound than the tube gear of previous years. The Recording Console in a high end 1970s studio was most likely a Neve®, an API®, or a Quad Eight. These were the companies that were setting the standards for audio quality with a unique sound firmly imprinted on the popular recordings of the era. While much has been made in our era with Neve and API reissues, interpretations, and clones, the Quad Eight curiously faded from view. Yet many engineers to this day firmly believe that the Quad Eight Ventura, Pacifica and Coronado consoles were sonically the very best of their day.
Peter of A Designs Audio in West Hills California and pro audio designer Jon Erickson teamed up to recover and restore this lost "sound" to the recording community. Significant effort went into the research process. This included speaking with Quad Eight owners and chasing down the origins of what was "The Quad Eight Sound". Closely examining the design and composition of these were both a nightmare and a joy. The original Quad Eight staff was hard to locate, design/parts and documentation was impossible to come by and key parts were obsolete and not readily replaceable. After thousands of hours, endless listening sessions and a ton of time at the bench, a target finally emerged. The Quad Eight mic pres, such as those used in the Quad Eight Ventura, Coronado and Pacifica consoles emerged as the best examples of the unique Quad Eight tonal character. Thanks to critical efforts by Tom Reichenbach of Cinemag (whose father designed the original Quad Eight transformers), Jon and Peter developed a prototype dubbed the "Pacifica" as a clear indicator of its Quad Eight inspiration. This prototype was sent to a handful of devoted Quad Eight Console owners and mic pre fans along with some of today's talented recording engineers. The results were gratifying: nearly all agreed the new A Designs prototype was very close to the original Quad Eight sound but with a tad more top end!
There are a few valuable improvements to the original design including a front panel active hi-z 1/4 inch input that places the input transformer directly in the signal path. The PACIFICA possesses a uniquely "Made in California" feel with a significant heft from the huge transformers contained within. The original cream colored panel and red knob scheme has been retained. The PACIFICA has become an instant classic and added to the list of many engineer's "must haves" for years to come.
Audio Files:
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What are the engineers saying about the A Designs Pacifica?"The Pacifica has the depth of the Neve, the top end of a GML and the punch of the API-all rolled into one great mic pre." " In a room filled with a very wide selection of pres such as 550's, 1073's and many more, the Pacifica instantly became the most frequently used preamp." " Finally a mic pre and D.I. for those of us tired of squinting with our ears. Its the past-but the way I WANT to remember it." " If I had to start over, the Pacifica would be the first preamp I would buy. I've never heard a preamp with a 70's character that has such an open top end. It's the most versatile preamp in our collection of 11 types of preamps." " My overall impression is that it sits in there like a nice cross between Neve-ish and API-ish tones but with better transient response and more high end detail...overall very musical. I swear it went another octave above the API and Great River." " I can see it being an extremely versatile preamp that would get a lot of use on everything. Perfect for a small studio like mine that can't afford to have 20 different specialty preamps." " Definitely a color that I could ‘paint' the whole album with. I thought I was done buying preamps until this one arrived... it was like the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle that made the picture complete. [Now, what am I going to tell my wife?]" " With thousands of dollars in vintage microphones at hand, only the Pacifica makes them sound the way I expect every time, now that I have heard it, no other mic pre will do." " If you are thinking something along the lines of an API pre, you really owe it to yourself to play around with the new A Designs Pacifica preamp. It has a similar feel/sound in the lows and mids (huge low end with slightly forward, but not obnoxious mids) but a top end that is extended and beautiful. On orchestral recording, it makes you sit up and take notice of the orchestra on the loud stuff, but yet has the subtlety needed for chamber music." " A Designs Audio's Pacifica is a perfect "10" with Brains and Beauty!" " Now, my dilemma is that I want to keep the Pacifica even though I already own enough damn preamps. Should I sell one of the other ones? Damn." |