Super Storm
500 Series microphone preamplifier
The tone of the Dark Storm in a slimmed-down 500-series module.
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From clean to mean and thin to thick - that's what the Super Storm, or "SS1" was designed to do. The SS1 is a Class A, single-ended, transformer coupled JFET microphone preamplifier. The "Super" thing about it is the range of tone, which starts at a very articulate and slightly-colored clean sound. With the "Old" switch you can delve into a thick tone, which is transformer induced in a vintage sort of way. Either direction you go, it's possible to blast it into a state of fuzz-like distortion with the Gain knob pegged. The output volume attenuator can be used to scale back the volume of a loud distorted signal, so as to prevent clipping or over-driving the next device in your signal chain. LBA's custom JFET Opamp delivers about 40-60% of the tone of the SS1, depending if the "Old" switch is engaged or not. LBA designed-and-manufactured audio transformers are known for their solid low frequency extension, often flat down to or below 10Hz. Also to note is the LBA transformers used in this application were designed to add some harmonic coloration to the signal. The LBA-MCX4 is a step-up microphone input transformer with a dual tapped primary for selectable input impedances. The output transformer, "Fat Sally", is a step-up transformer as well. All this stepping up adds to the signal level and the tone. Strapped between these step-up transformers is a custom designed LBA JFET opamp and a discrete JFET output stage. This creates a sound that is distinctly analog and reminiscent of quality vacuum tube designs when the Super Storm is dialed in with a low to medium gain setting. At more extreme settings of Gain, it's a Storm of distortion.
The "Old" impedance setting for the MCX4 along with its step-up ratio, then paired with the tube-like sound of JFET amplifiers, and combined with the huge headroom offered by Fat Sally, just sounds for lack of better words, phat.
The Super Storm offers up to 75dB of gain with a noise floor of -95dB, A-weighted RMS when set to full volume. The frequency response is practically flat from 13Hz-25.5kHz with ~ +/- 2dB deviation and -3dB at 10Hz and at 28kHz. The total frequency response spans the vastness of 10Hz-400kHz. The front panel controls consist of an active level control labeled "Gain", an input impedance switch labeled "Old", phantom power switch, polarity reversal switch, and a passive volume attenuation control on the output, labeled "Volume". Beyond the proprietary audio transformers used in the Super Storm, the preamplifier is a socketed LBA JFET Preamp Module, and the control knobs are also an original LBA design. Much of the actual manufacturing is done in-house. The final product is assembled and soldered by hand at LBA in the USA. Thorough testing is done to each Super Storm and to each component within to guarantee flawless performance for a many years beyond the warranty. The Super Storm comes with a 1 year warranty and lifetime speedy service and support. |
Technical Specifications:
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