Portico Preamp

[KosmoJoe]

Luv 'em!thumbsup Great compliment to my APIs.
5012
5016
5043
5042

[PlugHead]

Originally Posted by robertshaw

Now that's they have been out for a while
What does everyone really think?

Please don't hold back

Thanks

I've had a 5012 for a couple of years. It's a solid performer - does what a mic pre should, has a bit of character, and some nice options on it. It really depends on your taste/aesthetic on what you desire in a mic-pre.

Hope this helps,

[Trev@Circle]

I'm not keen. Find them characterless

[Martin Kantola]

They seem to bring out the best in all my mikes. Ribbons, condensers and dynamics. Very musical to me. Just the right balance of character and transparency. In "silk" mode.

Martin

[tamasdragon]

Don't own them, but worked with them, and plan to buy. For me it's a real heaven. I don't know why, but I'm somehow addicted to it's sound. I love them.
Tamas Dragon

[stevesmithfan]

I'm buying 1 next week. I will use it for my Room Mics (Akg 414's). It sounds from samples I've heard on the internet to be quite colored and large. Which for my application is great.

[hurricaneE]

I love the 5012; replaced Hardy M-1 as my go to pre. Having said that, I might have to sell one of my units, but I'll be keeping the other, so if you see me selling one soon, that sale is NOT a repudiation of my comments here (and elsewhere), it's because I desperately need cash, not because I found something better.

I'd say I agree with Martin but I almost never use the silk function. -E

[NathanEldred]

The whole line sounds great and is also very flexible.

[Kiwiburger]

I love my 5012. I had an issue with the cheap chinese switching PSU line lump. I don't know whether I accidentally damaged the cable (it's pretty flimsy) or whether it's just an underpowered piece of shit. But i've been using the 5012 as my bass guitar preamp (with a JDI), and I found that after a heavy bass session, the 5012 would become extremely noisy. This noise was a colored resonant white noise, and it changed pitch when I engaged/disengaged Silk. It was usually the side closest to the power jack, but not always. There appeared to be some overrheating associated with this.

I found that this noise was an EMI emanating from the PSU - the whole cable from the line lump box to the 5012 jack just radiated this white noise hash, and was audible in the preamp output.

The good thing about this is that I bought a laptop line lump PSU. It's still a chinese PSU, but it's 15V instead of 12, and 3.5A instead of 2. (This is within the Portico range of acceptable power inputs). This better power supply has fixed the problem, and bass response seems deeper too.

I actually view this external PSU as being a strength of the Portico range. If anything is likely to fail or cause problems, it's the PSU. Being able to supply these with a wide range of voltages - from car batteries to lap top power supplies - make it easy to fix when things go bad.

As for the sound? I find myself prefering Silk-on for some things, and Silk-off for others. Silk-on being the slightly dirtier sound. The people complaining that the Portico is too clean must be looking for more of a distortion effect. Since I often prefer Silk-off, I'm glad that this preamp is as clean as it is. But Silk is nice to have when it suits. For distortion effects I would look elsewhere.

[Pepe Ortega]

I love my portico 5012

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by Pepe Ortega

I love my portico 5012

from your avatar it looks like you have more than one. cool

[pootkao]

I'm a big fan of 'em.
Versatile and very musical.

[Snatchman]

SOT...Did they ever make the Portico DI?.....

[Jake Holland]

The Rupert Neve Designs company are amazing with customer support. That and the stuff sounds fantastic!

If you have any problems, they take care of you right away. I have heard so many good reports about this gear. It's really a no-brainer.

These two things are reason enough to at least audition this stuff.

[KosmoJoe]

SOT...Did they ever make the Portico DI?.....

Yes, the 5016.
It's 2 channels, one is a mic-pre identical to the 5012,
and the other is a switchable DI or Line input with a variable
phase adjustment.

[Martin Kantola]

Originally Posted by allencollins

from your avatar it looks like you have more than one. cool

Martin

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by hurricaneE

I love the 5012; replaced Hardy M-1 as my go to pre.

Im glad that engineers have a choice, i find this the other way round, first of all i do not like the 5012 at all, the mid/highs turn me off the most. The Hardy is a way better preamp than the 5012. Sorry for disagreeing.

[hurricaneE]

Nothing wrong with disagreeing, even if you're wrong (And I certainly think the M-1 is a great pre, I just don't like it as much.) -E

Originally Posted by AllAboutTone

Im glad that engineers have a choice, i find this the other way round, first of all i do not like the 5012 at all, the mid/highs turn me off the most. The Hardy is a way better preamp than the 5012. Sorry for disagreeing.

[Kiwiburger]

I just got a PM from another Portico user who appears to have the same noise problem that i've had. Are there any more who have found a noise develops after a while - perhaps especially with a lot of bass (high current)?

In my opinion that chinese line lump supplied with them is probably not good enough for the Portico. So far, i'm happy with the higher voltage, higher current laptop PSU I replaced it with.

[PlugHead]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

I just got a PM from another Portico user who appears to have the same noise problem that i've had. Are there any more who have found a noise develops after a while - perhaps especially with a lot of bass (high current)?

In my opinion that chinese line lump supplied with them is probably not good enough for the Portico. So far, i'm happy with the higher voltage, higher current laptop PSU I replaced it with.

Not happened here, tho I've rarely used the 5012 with a DI - will surely fess up if I notice it! stike

[marchhare]

Love my Portico 5012.

[Kiwiburger]

It didn't need the DI to act up - I got the noise with mics, or with nothing plugged in. It just seemed to get worse as it warmed up, and heavy use with bass seemed to warm it up quicker.

It may have simply been one dud power supply, or a weakened cable.

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by Martin Kantola

Martin

sweet!

[thermos]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

It didn't need the DI to act up - I got the noise with mics, or with nothing plugged in. It just seemed to get worse as it warmed up, and heavy use with bass seemed to warm it up quicker.

It may have simply been one dud power supply, or a weakened cable.

I never ever had that problem fwiw.

Oh, and also yes they are a GREAT company. My 5043 started acting funny around 3 months after the warranty expired. No questions asked, they fixed it for free. Awesome!

[Pepe Ortega]

Originally Posted by thermos

I never ever had that problem fwiw.

Oh, and also yes they are a GREAT company. My 5043 started acting funny around 3 months after the warranty expired. No questions asked, they fixed it for free. Awesome!

I had a problem with a 5042. No question asked.. they fixed free and return to mexico free thumbsup. Great service. Great sounds!!!

[MJ Heck]

Hi Robert,

I'll gladly offer my two cents as well - hope it helps.

It was a fortunate coincidence to be located near Portico world headquarters,
and Tristan Rhodes was extremely generous in allowing me to live with several pieces
for a couple of weeks (pretty good idea business wise, as I now own a 5012, 5032,
5043 and a 5042).

Just my experience, but for tracking I found I liked the pre-amp a lot more when
paired with the EQ module, which is why I initially opted for the 5032 over the 5012.
I found it fantastic for acoustic guitar (both picking and strumming - using both a fairly
large Martin and a small, cheap Yamaha in Nashville tuning). However, it really quite
nice for everything else I have tried with it. I have the usual suspects as other options
(Pacifica, 610, etc.) but I just really love sound of these little guys.

I was initially using the compressor and the true tape parked on the ever so popular
two bus (or buss - haven't seen the results of the poll yet) but also found I liked the
sound of the pre (silk in) washed over just about everything, which is how I ended up
with a 5012 also.

All three together is perhaps a little too much color, but the nice thing about the units
is each has a color mode and clean mode (with or without silk on the pres, feedback
or feed forward on the comp, varying degrees of saturation on the tape unit).
This offers some really nice flexibility.

And as many others have mentioned, RND seems to be a small but very well run
company. I have had great customer service, and was even allowed to borrow a 5043
when mine needed to have a repair.

I wish you the best of luck in your search!

MJH

[Kiwiburger]

Hmmm - much loved, but - it would appear - many have needed repairs already. Good service and free loaner's are great if you live nearby in the USA - not so great if you don't.

[allencollins]

what types of issues with the porticos have you guys experienced?

AC

[Tube World]

They are nice pre amps, but I like the Great River better