New York, NY (December 18, 2025)—New from Drawmer is the 1979, a modern take on the channel strip combining a transparent, super-clean microphone preamplifier, 3-band equalizer, a soft-knee FET compressor, and the company’s Lift dynamic gain processing.
Housed in a 1RU chassis, the 1979 is a single-channel unit with an onboard power supply featuring a low-hum, toroidal linear power supply with voltage selector.
The 1979 preamp provides front-panel DI and rear-panel microphone and line inputs with gain adjustable in 6dB steps from 0 dB to +66 dB (microphone). A six-position rotary switch sets the input source, as well as the load impedance for the mic input (200Ω, 600Ω or 2.4 kΩ for dynamic mics).
The preamp section also provides phase reverse, a high-pass filter, and Drawmer’s unique Lift function, a low-level dynamic gain module that has no effect on signals above 0 dB but dynamically increases volume of very quiet signals below 0 dB while leaving signals above that threshold untouched, thus avoiding clipping during loud passages.
A 3-band EQ offers sweep bass (50 Hz to 700 Hz) and treble (1.25 kHz to 12 kHz) controls, as well as a mid-band EQ (75 Hz to 10 kHz) with bandwidth selectable between narrow or wide; all bands have a maximum cut/boost of 12 dB.
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The EQ is followed by the FET compressor, which features soft-knee ballistics and controls for threshold, ratio, attack and release. The EQ and compressor can be independently switched in or out, and their order in the processing chain may be swapped.
The 1979 output section includes: a wet/dry control that makes parallel compression easy; gain adjustable from -10 to +20 dB; and a hard-wire bypass that connects the preamplifier directly to the output without passing through the EQ, the compressor, or the mix and gain controls. A backlit VU meter shows output level, and includes a 10dB pad to ensure the meter is not subject to damage when an engineer is running hot levels.
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Balanced output is available via XLR jacks, with a separate direct out that taps the preamp output pre-processing for purist applications. A TRS jack is provided for sidechain insert.
The 1979 is designed and hand-made by Drawmer in the United Kingdom. Street price is just under $1,400 USD.