Product Description

In the mid-sixties, at 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 possession 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.

The most sought after Telefunken/Siemens "V series" modules are famous for being used in Abbey Road's REDD.37 consoles. These amplifiers were called "V72s" and were a modified version of the standard V72 modules that were much more common. Unlike those vintage modules that had fixed gain, The V72 at 34dB, and the "V72s" at 40dB, the Mercury M72s has variable mic gain from 28dB to 58dB. Also, with the M72s, you have a selectable input pad of -16dB or -28dB for even more control. When the -28dB pad is engaged and it is set at the lowest gain setting (28dB) you can run line level signal through the M72s. This will provide a warm, rich path for mixes, keyboards, drum machines, samples etc... There are also all the modern features we expect on a new piece of equipment: 48V DC (Phantom), Phase Reverse (Polarity) and Direct Input for Bass or Electric Guitar per channel. The Mercury M72s has the rich lows and punchy mids that the vintage V72 modules have but a more open high end. The Mercury M72s Studio Microphone Amplifier has that "vintage" tone and "break up" like the original modules but it is a bit more musical over all (not cleaner... more musical, there is a huge difference).

The Mercury M72s brings that "vintage" magic back! It is truly a new classic for today as well as for the next 50 years!

"After building 100's of Vintage V72 packages at Marquette Audio Labs it is nice to know we can continue a tradition that we have been providing for over 10 years now. We are very proud of the Mercury M72s Studio Microphone Amplifiers at M.A.L. and I am personally very pleased with this product which has actually exceeded my expectations". ~ David Marquette

Mercury Recording Equipment Co. products are hand wired and/or assembled using silver solder and no-compromise parts. All Mercury products are transformer balanced, inputs and outputs and there are no I.C.s (chips) in the signal path. The chassis and front panels have a very distinctive "vintage" look with custom powder coating finish. They look as good as they sound! Mercury M72s Downloads

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.