Powerhouse

The Powerhouse holds ten 500 series modules, old or new, in a standard 19-inch rack frame. The chassis is made of 14-gauge steel with a powder coat finish for noise shielding and road durability. A sliding tray helps line up each module's PCB connector with the 15-pin card edge receptacle when modules are swapped.

Each slot has its own XLR and 1/4" TRS connections on the rear panel. The XLRs link the rack to a workstation or mixer, while the TRS jacks allow cross-patching and parallel processing. A feed switch routes a slot's signal to the adjacent module without a patch cable, and a stereo link switch pairs modules for stereo use without soldering.

A 1600 milliamp supply is shared across all slots rather than split evenly, so power-hungry modules such as tube preamps can draw more while others use less. Extra safety features are included for mixing modules from different brands. Typical uses are as a side car for effects and dynamics, as a live-recording preamp bank, or as a stereo channel strip.