Over 10 years in development, the RNT combines a high-voltage tube circuit within the microphone itself, a floor box with a discrete, class-A amplifier circuit using the same custom op-amps as Rupert Neve Designs' flagship 5088 analogue mixing console, two of Rupert's custom transformers, and a custom mic capsule designed by sE to provide extreme headroom (153dB) and high-bandwidth frequency response.
Given its substantial headroom, the mic has no need for a pad, but the amplifier circuit in the floor box has three gain settings of -12dB, 0dB (flat), and +12dB. The amplifier circuit in the floor box is +/- 2dB from <1Hz to 100kHz, and completely flat from 1Hz to 30kHz. Operating on +/- 36VDC rails, this circuit can handle the max capsule voltage without any possibility of clipping. The floor box also has a three-position high-pass filter at 40Hz, 80Hz, and 0 (off), and a nine-way selector switch to vary the polar pattern from omni to cardioid to figure-8, with several steps in between each.
sE's other new release, the guitaRF, was created to simplify and enhance the recording and reinforcement of guitar amp cabinets on stage or in the studio. Aside from isolation and acoustic filtering, the guitaRF incorporates a pass-through hole for a dynamic or small-capsule mic, as well as hardware to vertically mount a ribbon or large-diaphragm condenser. The hardware lets the user phase-align the two capsules, or space them apart to capture two sections of the speaker cone.
After hearing feedback from many top FOH engineers around the world, sE learned that many of them were modifying existing sE Reflexion Filter products (like the IRF2 or Reflexion Filter Pro) to help them isolate their amp mics on stage. These modified setups can be seen on tour with artists ranging from Tom Petty to Black Sabbath, and sE's new guitaRF was designed as an off-the-shelf solution for FOH engineers that provides the same isolation achieved with these modified setups, while also allowing for the precise positioning of two microphones on the cabinet.
(Jim Evans)
