Locomotive Audio Coppperline Variable Voltage Phantom Power

Your most valuable audio tools - all in one place

Featuring Variable Voltage Phantom Power

Phantom Power

Arguably the most critical device in your recording chain, the microphone is only as good as the power that runs it.

Phantom power is something most of us take for granted. It exists in our outboard preamps, mixers, or even compact, inexpensive boxes with “wall wart" power adapters.

​Would you put cheap tires on a Ferrari? No.Then why use generic, “whatever works" phantom power with your treasured microphone collection? Not all phantom power supplies are created equal.

​It’s important to understand that the standard phantom power voltage range for professional microphones is 48 /- 4 volts (i.e., 44 to 52 volts). Some supplies don’t offer this range of voltages. Even if 44 volts - 52 volts of phantom power is provided, there may be significant noise or a lack of instantaneous current available for the microphone to meet the intended specifications of the microphone manufacturer.

​The Locomotive Copperline offers up to 52 volts of phantom power from a high current and quiet supply. It will make your mics sound more detailed and transient-rich than from low-cost supplies or from some outboard preamps that consider phantom power an afterthought.

Slow-Start Phantom Power

Protect your prized vintage input transformers and quiet the turn-on pops.

The Locomotive Copperline features slow-start phantom power. Because the Copperline is intended to be set up between the mic and the mic preamp in the signal chain, a gentle onset of phantom voltage (5 seconds), rather than a quick power-on, will prevent voltage transients at the mic preamp input. In addition, a slow-rising phantom power voltage helps quiet turn-on pops and, most importantly, protects your vintage input transformers.
​
For example, there are sad stories about vintage V72 modules (modified to include phantom power) whose input transformer windings were damaged by substantial phantom power voltage spikes, sometimes over 1,000 volts within the transformer windings!

​While the Copperline uses phantom power output blocking capacitors (electrolytic and film in parallel for you audio tech nerds), it's still essential to use a slow-start supply. This is because a phantom-blocking capacitor can still transfer an instantaneous voltage spike to the next device in line. The combination of Copperline's slow-start phantom and phantom-blocking capacitors assures you that your vintage preamps will never be exposed to this damaging threat

Variable Voltage Phantom Power

Change the character and performance of your phantom-powered microphone with a single knob. With Copperline's all-new Variable Voltage Phantom Power, you will discover how the voltage sent to your microphone can affect its behavior. Never before has a device been designed to purposely alter phantom power voltages in search of new character in an old microphone! After all, we’re more than just engineers; we’re artists with the never-ending desire to find new combinations to get a unique sound. So different that nobody will know how we achieved it. That’s part of the fun in audio engineering - happy accidents.

We are intentionally misusing technology to affect the resulting tonal characteristics of a microphone. Variable Voltage Phantom Power is such a unique concept that Locomotive and its inventors have a patent pending for the concept and design.

The effect is all dependent on the individual microphone design. There is NO single set rule on how a microphone will respond to lower phantom power supply voltages. And because each microphone’s internal circuitry is unique, you’ll be surprised by how tiny variations in phantom voltage will change the behavior of each microphone.

​We've found that loud and transient-rich sources like percussion, guitar, and bass cabinets have a much more apparent effect on the sound when dropping voltage.

​Dropping the voltage on a mic can have several effects on its performance, but will never damage a microphone.

Below is a list of qualities that your microphone may exhibit with lower phantom power voltages:

01 Lower output level (can be useful in creating a “pad" for mics that don’t have one)

02 Lower output level and lower headroom, (mic will need more gain from the preamp, but also have distortion and different sonic footprint from the mic and the pre)

03 Same output level, lower headroom (loud sources will distort)

04 A change in frequency response, sometimes apparent frequency response due to transients being less detailed. It may sound “darker" or more “smooth"

05 No change at all. Once phantom voltage has dropped enough