First Listen: Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer

Transformers have always been the name of the game with Rupert Neve's creations, and when the masterful tinkerer started Rupert Neve Designs, there were no plans to change this line of thinking. RND has continued to add even more transformers to its gear, and with its latest creation, the Master Bus Transformer, the brand has built one of its best coloring tools yet.

The Master Bus Transformer (or MBT for short) is a five-tool player with unique options to sweeten, enhance, drive, and widen any signal you run through it. We're talking individual sources, stems, groups, and full mixes; all are fair game with the MBT. The 19" rackmount unit features a newly designed opto compressor, two-band EQ, a Stereo Width section, Input and Output stages, and a revamped Super Silk circuit. New for the MBT, you can use Silk Blue and Silk Red simultaneously.

Before we get too far into specs and features, check out our First Listen of the Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer below. In the video, Vintage King's Anthony Vaticalos is using the MBT on stems and mixes for Ben Garrett's "Lunatic," in addition to mixes of Julia Kahn's "Love Me Instead," and the Vintage King Nashville House Band's "Open Skies."

Alright, so going from left to right, the MBT starts with the Input section. This portion of the unit features an Input Level meter for monitoring levels via colored LED and an Input Trim knob with a range of +/- 12dB. There is also a High Pass Filter, which can be turned on and off via a push button switch. The corresponding knob above the button allows you to adjust the filter's cutoff frequency with a range from 15Hz to 100Hz.

The next portion of the MBT is the newly designed EQ. This two-band shelf design features three octave ranges, gentle slopes, and minimal phase shifts. Both EQ bands have a dedicated frequency shelf knob with the LF Freq covering 30Hz to 240Hz and HF Freq handling 3kHz to 24kHz. Each band also has a 31-detent potentiometer at the bottom of the section with +/- 9dB of gain. There's also an EQ IN push-button for engaging or bypassing the EQ.

Also new for the Master Bus Transformer is the Color Comp section, which features an opto compressor with selectable ratios of 2:1 and 5:1. All the standard controls are here with Threshold, Release, and Gain, but you also get access to a variable high pass side chain filter that has a range of 20Hz to 350Hz. Let's not forget the Blend knob, which allows you to run your colored and compressed signal in parallel with your original dry source.

Inspired by the Master Buss Processor, Rupert Neve Designs has created a new Width control that will add to the stereo spread of your tracks. Click the Width In button to engage this section and use the adjacent knob to adjust the amount of stereo field width processing. A separate High Pass Filter knob (50Hz to 800Hz) ensures your lower frequencies stay centered while adding space to the mids and highs.

For nearly 20 years, engineers have used Rupert Neve Designs' Silk to enhance and control harmonic content. During this time, they've only been able to use Silk Red and Silk Blue separately. With the new Super Silk section, RND has made the controls for Red, Blue, Harmonics, and Zener Drive completely independent. In addition, Silk is no longer just applied to the output transformers. To offer greater control, designers have added an extra set of transformers for even more saturation and transient clipping. Now, both Silk Red and Silk Blue can be used in a whole new way to create blends and balances that suit your track perfectly.

Last but not least, there is the Output section. This is the spot for monitoring your Output via a 16-segment LED meter and controlling the Output Trim's level (+/- 12dB). There is also a push-button switch to Bypass All sections of the MBT. When you see the button glowing red, you know that the MBT is completely bypassed.

If you're ready to widen, enhance, and add color to tracks with the Rupert Neve Designs Master Bus Transformer, we're here to help! Please contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.