John Klett conceived of an overkill platform for building heavy-duty eight channel mic preamps and other analog outboard processing, which NonLinearAudio (a joint venture of Tech Mecca, Inc. and Eisen Audio, LLC) calls the 8000 Series of products.

Jens at Eisen Audio was tasked with executing this concept, the initial results of which are pictured below.

Design Requirements Included:

External 48VDC power supply must be fused/protected, filtered, distributed, and then re-regulated on each PCB according to the product circuit requirements.
Robust modular steel chassis must be electro-plated and earthed throughout, to serve not only as structural support but also redundant signal grounding and shielding.
All audio transformers mounted on internal bulkheads, so as not to put weight on any PCBs.
PCB motherboard/backplane and I/O connectors have an underlying standard pinout, some of which may be jumpered or rewired according to specifics of product permutation. And motherboard connectors must mount at a diagonal!
Unique product circuitry contained on daughterboard PCBs, eight of which mount to the product front panel and then plug in to the mating connector backplane in one fluid motion, for ease of assembly and service.
Front panel thickness and mounting handles strong enough to support the great weight of chassis and internal components.

Flexiguy FG800, an eight-channel mic preamp, is the first 8000 Series product from NLA, designed by John Klett and Jens Jungkurth based on custom audio transformers and classic recording console circuit concepts. A companion preamp flavor called Orson OW8K was also developed but deemed unnecessary and did not make it to production.

This item is available as special-order with either black or silver (pictured) front panels. The backlit translucent pushbutton switch changes operating mode while also displaying signal level via varying color/brightness.

Details and sales at nonlinearaudio.com