The Thermionic Culture Snow Petrel Preamp provides clarity and neutrality, as well as tone and character. While it is a superb preamp for any mic and application, it is particularly stellar for use with ribbon microphones.

The Thermionic Culture Snow Petrel Preamp is a two channel microphone amplifier for all types of microphones, especially certain ribbons, which have a lower output level than others but offer superb quality. Their full potential can be realised with this high gain unit as it has a natural valve sound with very low background noise and distortion. The passive “AIR” control is provided to lift the very high frequencies as many ribbons suffer a little loss there and this compensates for that perfectly. It will give excellent results with any microphone and we have included +48V phantom power and -20dB pad for use with FET and self-amplifying microphones.

There are 3 valves in each channel of the Snow Petrel, the first 2 acting as the main amplifier preceded by a specially designed Sowter input transformer, then after the passive HPF and Air controls comes the Tung Sol (6189) output valve and Sowter 1:1 transformer. This combination is capable of a clean output in excess of +25dBu. Of course many users may want valve and transformer colouration to give a bit more “edge” to the sound so we have provided 2 attenuators, O/P trim comes after the 1st 2 valves and can be used to provide a little 2nd harmonic colouration, then the “ATTEN” is at the actual output so if the unit is driven hard it will add transformer as well as valve distortion.

Thermionic Culture Snow Petrel Preamp Features

• Extra-low noise valves with NO solid state impurities in the audio path;
• Sowter's VERY special balancing transformers for the inputs and outputs;
• Higher than usual input impedance to preserve clarity;
• Hi/Lo Pad switches to tailor the input impedance to suit individual mics;
• +48V Phantom power available;
• All valve Class A amplification;
• Controls include Switched Gain, from 40 to 75dB; HPF to reduce 'proximity effect' and 'Air' to add that extra clarity.
• Housed in a 2U 19" rack mounted unit.

Thermionic Culture Snow Petrel Preamp Specifications

• Input Impedance
  • Lo: 850Ω
  • Hi: 2k2
  • Pad: 2k2
• Output Impedance
  • @ 0 Atten: 250Ω
  • @ -7dB: 700 Ω
  • @ -15dB: 270 Ω
• Maximum Output Level (MOL, 1% dist.): @ most gain settings >+26dB
• Frequency Response (+0.5/-1dB, Air at 0):
  • @ most gain settings: 13Hz to 22kHz
  • @ max. gain (75dB): 35Hz to 17kHz
• Distortion (THD @ 1kHz):
  • @ 40dB Gain: 0.012%
  • @ 54dB Gain: 0.025%
  • @ 68dB Gain: 0.1%
  • @ Max Gain: 0.2%
• Crosstalk: @ most settings and frequencies Better than -60dB
• Signal to Noise: @ most settings Better than 100dB

Thermionic Culture Snow Petrel Preamp Includes

• Snow Petrel Preamp
• IEC Power Cable
• Manufactuer Warranty