Cloud Microphones has launched the TRUE BLUE 520, marking its first entry into the 500 Series preamp space. The unit is now shipping at $899.
The product was developed through a collaboration between Cloud founder Rodger Cloud and Tim Spencer, the designer behind TRUE Systems benchmark preamps. Spencer’s work has been integrated at venues such as the Kennedy Center and on remote trucks at Coachella and Bonnaroo.
The 520 draws on lessons learned from TRUE’s Precision 8, but introduces a patent-pending capacitive touch interface called Cloud Touch. This interface replaces mechanical switches entirely.
The unit features a blue backlit display, large gain knob and instrument inputs. According to the company, the preamp is built to reveal sound rather than color it, capturing detail and nuance for delivery into the DAW.
Technical specifications include up to 76 dB of clean gain, consisting of 60 dB standard gain plus 16 dB high-gain Lifter mode. Output headroom is +28 dBu.
The unit also includes Blink-Delay protective circuitry for hot-switching ribbon and tube microphones, along with a continuously variable high-pass filter operating between 25 Hz and 420 Hz.
For more information, visit cloudmicrophones.com.
