Recording - August 2013 - 15

It starts with a –20 to +30 dB Threshold control,
a fully variable Ratio control of 1:1 up to 4:1, a
Makeup Gain control of 0 to +18 dB and individual controls for both Attack (0.5 ms to 10 ms)
and Release (40 ms to 500 ms). The compressor
also has a bypass switch, and a rear-mounted
1
/4" jack to connect a pair of units for stereo use.
The eq section is a semi-parametric/overlapping 4-band design. Each band can be cut
or boosted by 16 dB. The Q of each band is
fixed at 0.6. The low and high bands can also

be either peak or shelf. The low band is 20
Hz to 250 Hz, the low mid is 160 Hz to 2
kHz, the high mid band is 800 Hz to 8 kHz,
and the high band is 2 kHz to 20 kHz.
Switches allow the eq to be placed before or
after the compressor, and like the compressor,
the eq stage can be fully bypassed. When
compressor and eq are both off, the ADL700
is the same as a single channel of the ADL600.

The last section on the unit is a large Level
control knob which offers further level attenuation from –80 dB up to an additional +10 dB.
Think of this as the fader on a console. Finally
the output signal ends up at the XLR output on
the backside of the box.
The ADL 700’s preamp in use
I was very pleased by the unit’s bold, full sound.
Let me explain. For starters, I compared it to my
Millennia Media HV-3D, my Chandler TG-2, and
my Universal Audio SOLO/610. It sounded like
none of them and yet had elements of each. It had
the Millennia’s clarity, but with a slightly smoother
top end. It had the UA-610’s girth, but was overall more hi-fi and lush, actually the word ‘buttery’
comes to mind. It also had a touch of the TG-2’s
mid-forwardness, but in a less aggressive way.
The ADL 700’s preamp is best described as
bold yet opulent. At 75 dB of gain it is right in line
with most other boutique fare on the market and
will handle any and all styles of microphone.

It does have a slight noise floor that can become audible, but only when used
with ribbon mics on quiet and delicate sources, or when gain-staged improperly.
This unit effectively has three places to boost the gain, so it’s easy to overdo it,
and getting used to that takes time.
If you are after a tube experience of the vintage thick and muddy kind, the clean
ADL 700 may not be your best bet, as it is really more of a hi-fi device. Still, you
can engage the pad and push the input into some nice, usable tube overdrive.
My favorite feature of the ADL 700 is its impedance choices; in simple terms,
when moving from 1500 up to 150 Ohms, the sound gets narrower, less deep,
and a touch quieter. This impedance matching is a brilliant way to get multiple different sounds from a single ribbon or dynamic microphone.
That being said, I loved the fullness of the 1500 ohm setting, and this is where
it stayed 60% of the time I had this unit. 300 ohms was my second favorite, as it
was less thick, but still smooth and solid.
While many DIs on mic pres are an obligatory afterthought, I found this one to
be fantastic when used for tracking direct bass; thanks to the addition of the compressor and eq, this unit makes a great front end for direct instrument tracking.
Learning the compressor and eq
The compressor took a bit of getting used to. Its controls are best described as “little adjustments can yield big changes”, especially the attack, release and threshold.
For a FET compressor, I find this one much smoother than I’m used to, and not as
aggressive as, say, a Universal Audio 1176LN. This is due in part to the maximum
4:1 ratio, which I thought might be a hindrance if I desired more aggressive compression behavior. But depending on the combination of threshold, attack and
release, the ADL 700’s compressor will still pump and squish with the best of them.
I’d say ‘finesse’ is the best word I could come up with to describe this compressor’s behavior. I found that I got the best results when I ignored the printed values and the VU meter, moved the dials ever so gently and used my ears. Also
worth noting: Because the unit has a line input, you can use the compressor and
eq during mixdown as well as tracking.
The eq makes bold tonal statements quickly. The Q for each band is on the wide
side and as such this is not a surgical, tweaky equalizer, it’s a broad-stroke box.
I found in most cases that no more than 4 dB of boost or cut was all it took to nicely sculpt out a sound, especially when tracking. As I mentioned above, I loved this
eq when tracking a bass guitar through the DI.

Conclusions
If I had any reservation about the ADL 700, it would be how easy it is to get
into trouble with noise floor—it comes down to really learning how to gain-stage
this unit properly. The unit has input levels and trims, gain boost from the compressor, added possible gain from the four eq bands, and a last output level control—many stages where it’s easy to overdo an adjustment. It’s like a channel on
a mixer, and all of the above need to be considered and tweaked at the same
time in balance. Think nuance, patience, and turn the knobs gently.
Once you master that, the ADL 700 is an incredibly powerful tool that is capable of a wide range of sonic sculpting, especially since it starts with the famed ADL
600 preamp, which is almost worth the price of admission alone. This and its sibling, the ADL600, are truly worthy of PreSonus’ flagship crown!
Price: $2499 ($1999 street)
More from: PreSonus, www.presonus.com
Paul Vnuk Jr. (vnuk@recordingmag.com) is a recording and live sound engineer,
producer, sound designer, recording musician, photographer, and lover of cool
audio gear, living and working in the Milwaukee area. You can learn more at
www.majale.com.
RECORDING August 2013

http://www.presonus.com http://www.majale.com

Recording - August 2013

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