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Product Description
The Mercury M72s/1 is based on the most sought after vintage amplifier module, the Telefunken/Siemens V72s, which is most famous for being used in the EMI REDD.37 consoles.In the mid-sixties, at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, legends were born-- not just the Beatles or George Martin, but also the REDD.37 recording desk that was used to record most of their earlier work. The very rare amplifiers used in that desk were called "V72s" and were a modified version of the standard Telefunken/Siemens V72 module. The more common V72 amplifier modules were later modified and have been sold for many years as outboard preamplifiers all over the world. These V72 modules have not been available new for 40 years, and working units have become extremely rare and expensive. It is the uniquely musical tonal characteristics of these preamps have made them the prized posession of many engineers lucky enough to get the vintage modules, and a "secret weapon" for many studio musicians. With that in mind, Mercury Recording Equipment has made a faithful reproduction in the M72s-- not only of how the units behave, but of how they SOUND overall. The addition of pad, phase, phantom and gain controls make it even more versatile without sacrificing the most important feature: Musicality.
Mercury M72s Features
The Gain of the Mercury M72s is variable from 28dB to 58dB, in 3dB increments, controlled with a high quality rotary switch. Also, there is an option of a selectable Input Pad of -16dB or -28dB for even more control. Additionally, when the -28dB pad is engaged and it is set at the lowest gain setting (28dB) you can run signal through the M72s to add warmth and tonality to any tracks, mixes, keyboards, drum machines, samples etc... There are also all the modern features we expect on a new piece of equipment: Phantom Power (on/off) , Phase (Polarity) Reversal, and our amazing sounding F.D.I. (FET Direct Input) circuit per channel.
The Mercury FDI (FET Direct Input), a proprietary J-Fet circuit, based on a class-A tube topology. The Mercury FDI is designed to reproduce every nuance of a direct recording, while the circuit lets the tube or solid-state character of the amplifier determine the overall tone. The instrument DI signal is sent through the entire microphone pre-amp circuitry, including Mercurys custom, massive input transformers, so that the individual character of each pre-amp comes through.
The Mercury M72s has the rich lows and punchy mids giving you that instant vocal tone, a realistic acoustic guitar tone, or add punch to a bass guitar. The same reaction to instruments or source as the vintage module but with slightly more open high end and openness. The Mercury M72s Studio Microphone Amplifier has the vintage tone and break up like the original circuit but it is a bit more musical over all (not cleaner, more musical, there is a huge difference).
Specifications
- Mic Input Impedance: Approx. 2k
- Suggested Source Impedance: Approx. 200 ohms
- Input Impedance with -28dB Pad: Approx. 4k
- DI Input Impedance: 2M ohms
- Internal Output impedance: 30-50 ohms (depends on gain setting)
- Suggested Minimum Load: 500 ohms
- Max. Mic Signal Input Level (@ 20 Hz): +34dBu with -28dB Pad engaged / +6dBu with
- Pad not engaged
- Max. Output Level: +22dBu
- Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz +/- 0.5dB
- Harmonic Distortion: All musically related low orders of harmonics, with no
- significant order above 5th.
- Tubes: 2x EF806s, per channel
- Rack Size: 2U