Weiss A1 500 Series Microphone Preamp/De-Esser

This a wonderful mic pre, clean and accurate with just a touch of transformer “hair.” The de-esser is absolutely world class. Nothing even close to it in 500 series modules. A truly magnificent piece.

One word..... CLEAR! High headroom and great presence evenly across the frequency range! The desser is probably the best when it comes to hardware units and definitely the best as it relates to the 500 series format. Think GML mixed with a pinch of Avalon M5 (Open Top End)with a extremely small sprinkle of Neve (transformers). There's 2 Lundalh Transformers on here so it adds a nice touch of color to give some weight but its not over bearing. This is the most open and full sounding mic pre I've ever heard in the 500 series format.

Outstanding product. I bought this because I had heard the de-esser portion was second-to-none. That’s an understatement. Even though you can’t bypass the pre, it’s clean enough to pad down and use at line-level. Though the pre is fantastic and totally capable of standing on its own, I’m using my John Hardy and several 500-series modules before the Weiss. As a de-esser, it’s amazingly transparent. It’s better than any hardware or software unit I’ve found. Even really clamping the sibilance, it never gets that dull lispy quality caused by pretty much all other de-essers. Using more moderate settings, I find it to be just as good as manually attenuating individual sounds.