Unleash the Beast!

The TB12 Tone Beast Black is a fully professional preamp design with loads of gain that can effortlessly capture an array of sources very well. It is a Swiss Army Knife full of options and tones. With top-notch CineMag transformers and multiple discrete signal paths, it's hard to beat the Tone Beast's big, bold, fully professional sound at this price.

The Tone Beast Black is a mic pre that likes to be pushed, and when pushed, will colorize your signal ever so sweetly. The 2 opamps and 2 output transformers at the flip of their switches won't appear to be much different, but as one drives the pre into harmonic distortion, the unique character of each of these components becomes apparent. The Tone Beast Black is customizable and allows users to source and swap in their own op-amps. The output control on the TB12 allows you to limit the signal exiting the preamp even when pushing the gain to really hot levels, giving you maximum control.

When designing the TB12 Tone Beast Black, Warm's goal was to make a microphone preamplifier affordable and jam-packed full of options, without compromising the quality and design parameters that make this type of microphone preamplifier so desirable.

Premium Components:

The TB12 “Tone Beast Black” is a fully discrete, high-voltage microphone preamplifier, utilizing CineMag USA Transformers. Have no fear of hurting the Beast; you can push it very hard into full-on distortion if you wish, and these can sound quite nice on electric guitar, bass, or anything else that likes some grit.

The different component options in the TB12 are subtle, but when driven into saturation, they are noticeable and can make a big difference to the way your final mix will sound. Home-based musicians and professional studios alike will find the Tone Beast Black to be an extremely powerful and fully professional piece of gear that is capable of warming and shaping signals/mixes in a way that is very pleasing to the ear.

Features:

• Like the original 12-series American preamps, the TB12 includes all the features that deliver a complete and professional recording experience.
• The classic Warm Audio “tone” control alters the input transformer to add “air” or “sheen” to the top end - great for ribbons or “darker” mics.
• The TB12 allows selection between two output transformer materials, delivering a more rolled-off tone (steel setting) for tighter mids, or a flatter tone (nickel setting) exposing more lows and highs. 
• The TB12 provides different op-amp flavors that are more vintage or clean-voiced. This is especially noticeable as the preamp is driven into higher gain and more saturation. Experience more clarity in the clean setting and more harmonics in vintage. 
• The switchable 80 Hz high-pass filter makes it easy to remove unruly bass noise from sources before you even hit record. 

Technical Specifications

Product Description & External Specs

• Dual-Voice American Mic Pre.
• Transformer Selection Provides Both Steel And 50% Nickel Cinemag Output Transformers For Varying Character.
• Transformer Bypass Switch Allows For the Removal Of The Output Transformer From The Circuit.
• Discrete Op-Amp Selection Enables Switching Between A 1731 (Vintage Tone) & 918 (Cleaner, Modern Tone) Style Op-Amps.
• Classic Warm Audio Tone Control Alters Input Impedance To 150 From 600 Ohms For Further Tonal Experimentation.
• 80hz High Pass Filter.
• Polarity Reverse.
• +48v Phantom Power.
• Output Attenuation Allows For Saturation Flexibility Of Both Op-Amps And Transformers.
• ¼" Insert For The Use Of Inline Compressors, Eq's Etc.
• Balanced XLR Mic (Front and Back), Balanced TRS Line, And ¼" Unbalanced Instrument Inputs.
• Balanced XLR and TRS Outputs.
• -20db Pad.
• LED VU Meter.
• Switchable 115/230 Volt Iec Power Inlet.
• Capacitor Selection Between Tantalum And Electrolytic For Different Characters.
• Chassis Depth: 6” | 15 cm.

Components & Internal Specs

• Utilizes Premium CineMag USA Transformers.
• Op-Amps Are Swappable With Your Choice Of 2520 6-Pin Footprint Op-Amps.
• True Hi-Z Input On Front Panel Sends Instrument Signal Through Entire Circuit, Including Transformers.

Performance Specs

• 71dB of Gain.