The 1081 made its first appearance in a custom console for Decca Studios in Paris in 1973, and later starred in the Neve 8038 and 8048 consoles. It uses the older grey, red and blue Marconi knobs on a faceplate of RAF (Royal Air Force) blue-grey paint. The 31105 was designed for the legendary Neve 8078 console, when the overall aesthetic had changed to the New Appearance Design (NAD) in the mid 1970s.
This resulted in modules with a lighter face plate color called Extra Dark Sea Grey, while the Marconi knobs were replaced with black plastic having various shades of blue on the top. The modules in the NAD consoles had a ‘3’ added to the beginning of the model number. One of the most important of these was the 31105, which was essentially the same as a 1081 preamp, but with 10 dB less in gain range and LED indicators for mic/line, phase and EQ.
Specifications:
- High pass filter points at 27 - 47 - 82 - 150 - 270 Hz
- Low pass filter points at 3.9 - 5.6 - 8.2 - 12 - 18 kHz
- Low EQ points (peak or shelving): 33 - 56 - 100 - 180 - 330 Hz
- Low Mid EQ points (with Hi-Q): 220 - 270 - 330 - 390 - 470 - 560 - 680 - 820 - 1000 - 1200 Hz
- High Mid EQ points (with Hi-Q): 1.5 - 1.8 - 2.2 - 2.7 - 3.3 - 3.9 - 4.7 - 5.6 - 6.8 - 8.2 KHz
- High EQ points (peak or shelving): 3.3 - 4.7 - 6.8 - 10 - 15 kHz
- Separate mic and line inputs
- Mic input gain from +10 to +80 dB in 5 dB increments
- Line input gain from -10 to +20 dB in 5 dB increments
- Phase reversal
- Solo
- EQ bypass