Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of the TAMPA, designed and manufactured by M-Audio. TAMPA is a professional, single channel microphone/instrument preamp unlike any other.That’s because our design team set out to discover just why expensive tube technology sounds so good, and devise a way to land that sound at affordable solid state prices. The result is far beyond tube modeling. It’s a whole new technology called Temporal Harmonic Alignment™.
Temporal Harmonic Alignment
—the Secret Behind the Sound: In natural sound sources such as strings, drum heads and vocal chords, harmonics share a characteristic temporal (phase) relationship to the fundamental. Our ears exhibit the same qualities. Solid state electronics induce distortion in the form of additional harmonics that are out of phase with the original source. Tube-based devices strike the ear as having such a “warm” sound because the added harmonics have the same temporal relationship as natural mechanisms (although predominantly in the midrange).This results in a sweet spot that makes vocals, guitars and other midrange-rich content sound especially pleasing. TAMPA’s revolutionary new Temporal Harmonic Alignment technology produces that same phase relationship found in both tubes and nature. And unlike tubes, TAMPA’s sweet spot spans the full spectrum of your sound—from bass to cymbals.
Dual Optical Servo Compressor
TAMPA also includes a dual optical servo compressor that is worth the price alone. Three fundamental problems plague engineers in designing compressors—distortion, noise and accuracy.The VCA technology used in inexpensive compressors exhibits less than professional specs on all three counts. Simple optical servo technology is much more quiet and accurate, yet has its own issues with distortion. The dual optical servo technology we use in TAMPA yields low noise, consistent accuracy, low distortion and exceptional transparency—and it comes built-in to a great mic preamp.
Your TAMPA’s Features
•Professional mic/instrument preamp with Temporal Harmonic Alignment
•Built-in dual optical servo compressor
•Balanced phantom-powered XLR mic input with variable impedance for optimized performance with vintage mics
•Balanced/unbalanced TRS instrument input
•24-bit digital S/PDIF and AES/EBU output for direct connection to your digital recording gear
•20dB gain switch for an amazing maximum system gain of 66dB
•20dB passive output pad switch
•Low-cut switch to eliminate rumble
•Discrete, class A circuitry throughout
•VU-style meters for output level and compression gain reduction
•Clip indicator
Front and Rear Panel Descriptions
Figure 1 - TAMPA Front Panel Features
Front Panel Features
1.POWER:Turns master power on/off for the unit.
2.+48V: Provides 48-volt phantom power to the XLR microphone input when engaged. Switch to the ON position when using a microphone requiring phantom power.
3.+48V INDICATOR: Lights when +48V switch is engaged to indicate that phantom power is on.
4.MICROPHONE/INSTRUMENT: Neutrix connector accepts both an XLR microphone input and a 1/4” TRS balanced or TS unbalanced instrument input.
5.INST/MIC: Switches between instrument and microphone inputs. Set to “INST” when using the 1/4” input jack, and set to “MIC” when using the XLR input jack.When INST is selected, the XLR input is disabled, and when MIC is selected, the 1/4” input is disabled.
6.INPUT IMPEDANCE: Allows user to select input impedances of 2400 ohms, 1200 ohms, 600 ohms or 300 ohms. This is particularly useful in conjunction with vintage mics requiring one of these impedances. For many modern mics, the recommended setting is 2400 ohms, though the load impedance setting is much more critical for vintage mics.
7.GAIN: Master preamp gain where fully counterclockwise yields minimum gain (0db) and fully clockwise delivers maximum gain (34dB).
8.+20dB: Provides an additional 20dB of preamp gain when engaged.
