Solid State Logic PureDrive Quad 4-channel Mic/Line/Instrument Preamplifier

The SSL PureDrive Quad takes the mic high-performance PureDrive™ preamp design from SSL's ORIGIN console and puts four of them in a 2U rack unit. It's an extremely versatile outboard preamp unit offering three drive modes per channel, ADAT expansion via the onboard high quality AD conversion and even a USB soundcard mode to plug directly into your computer, no interface needed.

Each of the four channels gets three modes: Clean - A linear, ultra low noise preamp built for transparency; Classic Drive - Which adds the odd-harmonic distortion found on the ORIGIN itself; and Asymmetric Drive - A newer option that leans into even-harmonic content for a thicker, softer-transient character. All three live on the same channel, so theres the option for you to choose a different flavour for each input rather than committing to one sound across the whole unit.

The PureDrive pre's have stepped gain up to 65dB in 6dB increments, followed by a separate trim control for ±15dB of fine adjustment in 1dB steps. Each channel also switches between four input impedance settings (12kΩ, 1.2kΩ, 600Ω, and 400Ω), useful for tone shaping ribbon and dynamic mics in particular, plus phantom power, polarity invert, and a sweepable high pass filter up to 300Hz.

On the front panel, four Hi-Z/DI instrument inputs let you DI guitars, bass, or keyboards. Every channel also has a balanced insert point, so outboard EQ or compression can sit in the signal path before AD conversion, or the insert return alone can be used to bypass the preamp entirely for clean, unmodified analogue-to-digital conversion.

Digitally, the PureDrive Quad is more than just a preamp: it has a built in USB soundcard, alongside ADAT and AES/EBU outputs for expanding your current interface setup. Two units can be cascaded together over a single ADAT cable via the Link In connection, and the word clock in/out keeps everything synced to an external clock if needed. Note: There's no onboard monitoring or headphone section, so the USB soundcard mode is most useful for when you need to capture audio directly on location.

Key features

• 4x high-performance PureDrive™ mic preamps, Clean / Classic Drive / Asymmetric Drive modes per channel
• Stepped Gain control (up to 65dB)
• 31-step trim control (±15dB, 1dB steps) - overdrive the signal with the Gain control and then reduce to a suitable level using Trim.
• 3 modes for each preamp – Clean, Classic Drive and Asymmetric Drive 
• Line via choice of TRS Jack or dedicated D-Sub connectivity 
• 4 x front panel Hi-Z/DI Instrument unbalanced inputs with automatic input detection 
• 4 selectable input impedance settings per channel (12kΩ, 1.2kΩ, 600Ω, 400Ω)
• Balanced analogue outputs/insert sends for external processing 
• +24 dBu professional line level insert returns/ADC inputs 
• Analogue to digital connectivity via ADAT, AES and USB
• Ability to switch ADAT and AES connections to source audio from DAW outputs (USB) instead of the A/D converter 
• USB soundcard mode : QUAD – 12 in / 12 out (@44.1/48 kHz) ; 4 x analogue + 8 x ADAT in (via Link in) / 4 AES + 8 ADAT outs
• Stepped pots and digitally controlled analogue electronics for precision, stereo matching and ease of recall 
• Up to 192 kHz and 32-bit conversion, professional I/O levels (+24 dBu = 0 dBFS). 
• Selectable Auto-Sleep mode 
• Auto-ranging Wordclock In and Out
  

For the 8 preamp version, see: Solid State Logic PureDrive Octo

Please allow ~7-10 days for delivery