The Mercury 66 is an all tube and all transformer, fully-balanced variable-bias limiting amplifier. The most sought after product in this genre has been the legendary Fairchild 660. Which is recognized as an essential tool for making great recordings. Many manufacturers have tried to copy the Fairchild but have failed to capture the sonic essence. Until now.

 

The Mercury 66 Limiting Amplifier is, as true as possible, a recreation of the classic Fairchild limiters-- using parts that are available today-- and meets all of the original specifications. But more importantly, it SOUNDS like a Fairchild 660. When using the Mercury M66 music, program material and instrumentation reacts the same as a Fairchild 660 does.

 

The Mercury 66 Limiting Amplifier uses a single push-pull stage of amplification (transformer coupled in/out, no capacitors in the signal path) with a high control voltage. The result: the unit never produces any audible thumps, and has low distortion and noise under all conditions (either as a limiter or straight through amplifier). The Control amplifier is also fully balanced, transformer coupled In and Out. The Mercury 66 makes use of a very stable high current vacuum tube voltage regulator. It has ample and accessible input, threshold, attack, release time and metering controls allowing for convenience in the control room when making adjustments. The attack time is very fast and catches short transients. The release time of .3 to 25 seconds provides real flexibility: Three positions of the six available make the release time a function of program material, with fast recovery peaks and overall reduction of program level should the program level remain high. It can be used as a limiter or compressor. For example, use it as a 2 to 1 ratio compressor with a threshold 5 dB below average level, or as a peak limiter with a 20 to 1 ratio with threshold 10 dB above normal program level, or anywhere between these extremes. The attack and release times are the same as the original Fairchild 660.

 

One notable change on the Mercury 66 is the DC Adjust control. On an original Fairchild 660 this was called DC Threshold and was on the rear of the unit (not accessible from front panel). We put that control on the front panel and labeled it DC Adjust to not confuse the Threshold function. The DC Adjust lets you control DC (Direct Current) in part of the circuit to give the user more control. You are able to control how the amplifier reacts to the audio signal coming in. By turning the DC Adjust to the far left (counter clockwise) the M66 acts more like a 'compressor' and to the far right (clockwise) the M66 acts more like a 'limiter'. But the best thing about this feature is you can find that sweet spot in-between. We like to think of this as the 'magic knob' as do a lot of our users.

 

The Mercury 66 Limiting Amplifier is built to be a new classic and to be your go-to compressor for the next 50 years!

 

M66 Users Include: Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Rhett Lawrence (Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera), Devin Powers (Devin Powers Music, Movie and TV Scores), Scott Humphrey (Rob Zombie, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi), John McBride (Black Bird Studios and Rentals, Martina McBride) and Manny Marroquin, who has used his M66 on mixes for many Gold and Platinum Artists including: Alicia Keys, Brandy, Janet Jackson, Monica, Nikka Costa and MANY others!

 

The M66 performance features include:

Exceptional tone and musical focus

Absence of audible thumps, distortion or noise

Extremely fast attack time that can produce full limiting in 1/5000th of a second

Variable release time from .3 seconds to 25 seconds

Useful as a limiter or a compressor depending on the program material and control settings

Reliability and stability (All components operate well below their rated maximums)

All tube, fully balanced (push-pull) transformer coupled circuitry

Simple, easy to use controls.

 

Transformers:   600 ohm Input and Output

Gain:   7 db (no limiting)

Frequency response:   40 Hz- 15 kHz +/- 1 db

Noise:   = -74 dB below OdBm

THD:   = < 1%

Compression Ratio:   1:1 to 1:20

Attack Time:   0.2, 0.4, 0.8 ms

Release Time:   0.3, 0.8, 2 sec, 5 sec, auto 1, auto 2

Tubes:   (1) 6BC8, (2) 6V6, 12BH7, 12AX7, EL34, GZ 34, 5751

Controls:   Input Gain, AC Threshold DC Adjust, Metering, Zero (Trim), Balance (Trim), Attack/Release andStereo Link

 

All Mercury Recording Equipment Co. products pass the standard U.Y.E.Test. We feel this is the best and most highly regarded test procedure. We go to great lengths to make sure we pass this important test by using quality components, NOS tubes where we can and U.S. and U.K. audio transformers on every input and output of our recording equipment. (U.Y.E. = Use Your Ears)