Rupert Neve Master Bus Transformer

General

When it comes to giving your mixes the necessary analogue warmth and sonic punch, Rupert Neve does it like no other, and the Master Bus Transformer is no exception. The result of more than sixty years of experience spent building custom audio transformers, the Master Bus Transformer can take your mix or individual instruments and coat them in colour - sweetening the sound, improving the timbre and widening or fully transforming the output. Whether you're tweaking the smooth two-band EQ (which covers three octaves and comes supported by minimal phase shift) or messing with the richly coloured optical compressor (which is reinforced by non-linear distortion and rich, complex character), what this unit does to the source material is nothing short of breathtaking.

Widen the Stereo Image & Add Harmonic Super Silk Distortion

The MBT also features a dedicated Width section, which does everything that you'd expect it to do: widen the stereo image. But it does this with flair, without losing any of the low-frequency focus. This function actually comes from the Master Buss Processor, but here includes a couple of extras, like a variable high-pass filter with a 50Hz to 800Hz range for keeping the lower frequencies more in the middle of the mix and pushing the high and mid frequencies to the sides to create space. Over in the Super Silk section, meanwhile, you get the pick of multiple harmonic distortion flavours: Red flavour, Blue flavour, or Zener Drive flavour and, since this is a Neve unit, the Silk IN function also allows you to treat each frequency-band individually or bypass them completely.