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Safe Sound Audio Audio P1
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Fake Price: $999.00
Real Price: $749.00
Usually Ships Same or Next Business Day ?
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Safe Sound Audio P1 Description
I would not be caught without a P1 in the rack for tracking voice or bass...neither should you! - Warren Dent / ZenPro Audio
Perfection does
come in small packages!
Front
end
Super low noise wide bandwidth microphone input with more than 70dB gain,
really good for those fantastic old ribbon mics.
High Impedance instrument input.
Balanced Line Input.
Really easy to use single gain knob for all three inputs.
Insert jack
Plug in your favourite effects unit.
Expander
A studio quality expander that's really easy to use. Beautifully smooth noise
reduction or use it as a gate to kick some life into a drum track.
Compressor
This is the SMOOTHEST compressor on the planet. If you love compressors which
distort and pump, then SORRY this is not for you. The P1 compressor is super
smooth using a multistage design called peakride. Very fast when required to be
but always in control and never bad tempered! Fully adjustable THRESHOLD, RATIO
and ATTACK. 'Follow audio' controlled release time and automatic gain make-up
complete the picture.
The Power Supply System
The P1 houses a 100% analogue power supply unit with a super high quality
toroidal power transformer feeding three 100% linear power voltage regulators.
No nasty switched-mode power stages here we promise!
P1 units from ZenPro Audio ship setup for USA 115v power use.
Technical
Specification
Limiter
We don't use the words 'world class' lightly! We believe this is the most
sophisticated 100% analogue limiter on sale today. True 'look ahead' limiting
which allows a potential overload to be caught BEFORE IT OCCURS but with
absolutely no latency. This is STEALTH PROTECTION against digital overloads
entering your hard disk based recording system. What's more there's absolutely
no adjustment necessary in daily session use. Set once and forget.
Output
stage
Balanced output stage with +21dBu drive capability.
Zero latency monitoring and personalised mix while tracking
The P1 features a stereo mix section and high quality headphone amp. This
enables the artist to blend their own signal within the stereo monitor mix and
find a comfortable level while tracking.
Want to know more?
We've included a blow by blow account of the P1's design in the Technical White
Paper. For a really good tech read, click here for the pdf.
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Safe Sound Audio P1
Review / See
All ZenPro Audio Reviews Here: Review Page
The P1 is literally the first piece
of gear I ever refused to review, only because instead I opted to start
importing it exclusively. My relationship with Robert is many years now, and
the P1 continues to be used daily in my studio. Having a clean and robust mic
pre, a single knob expander, a 3 stage compressor that is almost impossible to
make sound bad and a limiter that absolutely will prevent your converters from
ever clipping…puts the P1 in the “gotta have” category for tracking voice, bass
and other acoustic sources. The built in monitoring section might seem kind of “eh”
to some, but think about it; the ability to blend a vocalist within a stereo
feed from the DAW in absolute real time with no latency has a LOT of value in
today’s computer recording environment.
I’ve always felt the P1 strong suit
was in tracking vocals in particular, singing / speaking / screaming it can
handle it all and the multi stage compressor delivers it soooo naturally and
still with nice “size” to it. I can set my P1 up with a 3 or 4:1 ratio, attack
time of 15ms, and I am just varying the threshold at that point to cover any
vocal duties that walk through the door. Don’t believe me? Ask any P1 owner,
this thing flat out delivers on voice. The expander is super easy to dial in,
does great at removing background noise from fans and HVAC systems. The “set
and forget” limiter, I normally leave about 2dB of space between where it turns
on and the input of my analog converter hitting 0, and I’m done for life. A
small screwdriver and a 1k test tone and you no longer worry about overloads.
Oh, and the limiter can be full on engaged and simply does not “square wave”
like other designs. It’s a look ahead style design but completely analog; it
detects hot signals and momentarily turns the volume down rather than a hard
clip.
Conclusion: Voice, bass, acoustic guitar,
drums, you name it the P1 will handle it and control the dynamic range without
giving you a small, pinched sound like other compressors. It’s so easy to dial
in too, it keeps you working. One man engineer / songwriters will love the fact
that you can dial it up so nicely with little effort. A must for any studio
doing voice work.
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Reviews From Reviewing Reviewers Say:
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Average Rating:
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Clean, quiet and warm... exactly what i needed!
Jeremy
(Los Angeles, CA)
11/13/2009 11:48 PM
I’ve owned a number of entry to mid-level preamps and compressors before, but as I prepped to record my first EP, I wanted to upgrade to make sure my tracks could achieve that “pro” sound. While vocals would be a big focus, I also needed to find a preamp to track DI guitars for reamping. A friend of mine highly recommended the safesound p1 as a great solution for both. As I researched it, it sounded like the perfect all in one solution for my home studio setup in order to achieve the quality I was looking for.
The p1 was exactly what i was looking for. It provides crystal clear tracking for vocals, even with a gain hungry mic like the SM7b (which some preamps struggle to power). The vocal tracks I’m getting now showed a significant improvement. The clarity I’m getting with my SM7b and the warmth I get from my GT-55 has enabled me to get the vocal tracks I was after. The compressor is so effective yet smooth, without any harshness. This alone makes this unit worth it. But on top of all this, its also served as a great DI tracking unit for my guitars and bass.
Overall, one of the best purchases I’ve made. In fact, this unit has allowed me to streamline my equipment, getting rid of nearly every other preamp I’d had. Its quieter and warmer than anything else I’ve heard near its price range. I would highly recommend this unit as a clean and versatile preamp to anyone for any style. Because at the end of the day, no matter what style you play, who couldn’t use a warm, uncolored signal for a number of different applications.
I also want to say thank you to Warren from Zen Pro Audio and Robert from SafeSound, who on top of giving me a great deal on a great unit, also provided excellent customer service, taking the time to answer my questions when I needed it. The p1 is an excellent buy, and there’s no better place to buy it from then here!
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Singer, songwriter, home-recordist, full-time musician
Walter Clark
(Kobe, Japan)
10/2/2009 3:59 PM
My recording setup is strictly old school, all analog and recorded on a DOSS based multitrack. I record at home, right in my living room...no special studio. The compressors and preamps I had been using for vocals were of the el cheapo variety. These units were cheap, but I had learned how to get the most out of them. Anyway, after a couple of years they died on me, right in the middle of a CD and I wanted to upgrade to something that would give me a more professional sound...something clean. I did a lot of research on preamps, and know what a big difference they can make, but $2500 for a preamp is way beyond my current budget. I read everything I could on the P1 because for vocals and on a budget it seemed to be the best compressor for the money...and something that was on the pro level. So I decided to take a leap of faith.
I bought the P1 and was immediately rewarded by at least a huge increase in my levels and a very warm clean sound. The sound was so intimate and close up, it took my ears a while to get used to it because it was so different from the vocals I already had on tracks. The P1 sounded so good on vocals, it just smoked everything else, including the instrumentals that were already recorded, so I decided, well, why not get a stereo preamp to at least bring the rest of the tracks (mostly keyboards) up to that standard. So I went ahead and bought the Phoenix Audio's Nice DI, the price of which is way beyond what I planned to spend. But guess what? You pro guys better watch out because I am definitely in the house with this setup. And running vocals through the P1and then through the Nice DI gives them more warmth and is just sweeter.
This is a big leap for me, and the P1 is something I can basically set and forget, which helps me because I'm not worrying about clipping and other technical things when inspiration strikes. This is a high class piece of equipment. Warren, thanks so much for helping me make this transition to getting up there with
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