Mercury 66 Studio Limiting Amplifier
The Mercury 66 Studio Limiting Amplifier is a fully balanced, variable-bias limiter that uses all tube and all transformer technology. It is based on the highly sought after Fairchild 660 and is recognized as an essential tool for producing great recordings. Despite attempts by other manufacturers to copy the Fairchild circuit, none have been able to match its sonic essence and overall tone – until now.
Mercury Recording Equipment has gone to great lengths to recreate the pride and passion of the past, both sonically and aesthetically, while incorporating the reliability of modern technology. The design choices made in terms of looks, layout, functionality, features and build quality all answer one question: how would the creators have done it today? As with all Mercury products, the Mercury 66 is proudly hand-built and assembled in the USA using only the highest-quality parts and components, with transformer-balanced inputs and outputs. Its vintage style VU meter, large bakelite knobs and powder-coated chassis and front panel give it a distinctive 1950s aesthetic that looks as good as it sounds.
The Mercury 66 Studio Limiting Amplifier draws inspiration from the classic Fairchild 660 limiting amplifier, renowned for its unique sound-enhancing audio signal path. Using modern parts, Mercury have successfully met all of the original specifications, resulting in a product that sounds just like a Fairchild. It boasts exceptional tone and musical focus, with no audible thumps, distortion or noise, and its attack time is incredibly fast, capable of full limiting in just 1/5000th of a second. Additionally, it features a variable release time of .3 to 25 seconds, providing real flexibility for both limiting and compressing a wide range of program material.
The Mercury 66 is designed for reliability and stability, with all components operating well below their maximum ratings. Its all-tube, fully balanced (push-pull) transformer coupled circuitry ensures optimal performance. The controls are simple and easy to use, making it an accessible tool for professionals and enthusiasts alike.
A notable change in the Mercury 66 is the DC Adjust Control. The DC Adjust allows for greater control over the functionality and level of compression by adjusting the DC (Direct Current) in a specific part of the circuit. This enables users to control how the amplifier reacts to the audio signal and how hard the compression tube works, providing the ability to either heavily compress the signal or add a soft touch of compression. By turning the DC Adjust to the far left (counter-clockwise), users can add more DC and compression (or saturation), while turning it to the far right (clockwise) decreases the amount of DC and compression (or saturation). The unique feature of the Mercury 66 is the ability to find the sweet spot in-between these extremes, a feature that sets the Mercury 66 apart from other compressors and limiting amplifiers available today.
Specifications:
- Input and Output Transformers: 600 ohm
- Gain: 7 dB (without limiting)
- Frequency Response: 40 Hz – 15 kHz (+/- 1 dB)
- Noise: -74 dB below OdBm
- THD: Less than 1%
- Compression Ratio: 1:1 to 1:20
- Attack Time: 0.2 ms (1) 0.2 ms (2) 0.4 ms (3) 0.8 ms (4) 0.4 ms (5) 0.2 ms (6)
- Release Time: 0.3 ms (1) 0.8 ms (2) 2 sec (3) 5 sec (4) Auto 1 (5) Auto 2 (6)
- Tubes: (1) 6BC8 (2) 6V6, 12BH7, 12AX7, EL34, 5AR4 or GZ34, 5751
- Rack Size: 3U
- Weight: 38 lbs.
- Shipping Size: 25″ x 19″ x 10″