Focusrite ISA 116 (c. 1987)
Surviving information on the Focusrite ISA 116 is thin. What exists points to an unusual piece of studio outboard gear: a microphone preamplifier meant to sit at the microphone itself, with its gain control remote at the mixing console. The period record is a handful of trade ads and a single price listing.
Mix Magazine (October 1987, p.261) and Recording Engineer (January 1988, p.33) both ran the same Focusrite ad introducing the ISA 116 as “another first” from the company’s ISA technology line. The ad said the amplifier module sat physically at the microphone source, while the gain adjustment lived at the control panel. The idea was to eliminate signal degradation over long microphone cable runs, a problem in large studio installations. The Mix listing also gave a price of $820 and a few basic specs: 50-ohm input impedance, a recessed front-panel gain control adjustable from -70 dB to +14 dB, a separate power supply, absolute stability, and short-circuit-proof outputs.
No other technical details appear in the available period sources - no frequency response, no distortion figures, no component topology. It's also unclear how the ISA 116 related to the contemporary ISA 115 (priced £1,900 in a 1996 classified, per Sound on Sound) or the later ISA 428. The 116 seems to have been a specialized tool for a specific wiring problem rather than a general-purpose preamp, and it appears to have had a short commercial life. No owner manuals, service literature, or later reviews have surfaced in common archives.
- Type: Microphone preamplifier (remote-head module)
- Key feature: Amplifier at mic, gain control at console
- Input impedance: 50 ohms
- Gain range: −70 dB to +14 dB (recessed front-panel control)
- Outputs: Short-circuit proof
- Power: Separate power supply
- Price (1987): $820
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