Manley Massive Passive Mastering Version is the mastering variant of the four band passive equaliser with hand-wound inductors. Compared with the standard version every control is stepped, which gives full recall and exact matching between the two channels.
Stepped controls for work across a whole record
Mastering an album means returning to the same setting over several weeks, and half a decibel between tracks is audible in sequence. A continuous knob cannot provide that repeatability. In the mastering version every control has detents and a position to write down, so a setting comes back step for step and the left channel is set identically to the right without trimming against meters. It is the same electronics as the standard version, operated in a way that can be documented.
Bandwidth control instead of Q
Four overlapping bands offer 44 selectable frequencies between 22 Hz and 27 kHz, each switchable between shelving and bell response. Instead of a conventional Q you get a bandwidth control: counterclockwise the curve turns broad and gentle, clockwise narrow and focused. In shelf mode the same control introduces a gentle dip or bump near the corner frequency, which means control over the shape of the transition rather than just its level. The entire filter is passive: resistors, capacitors and inductors, with no op-amps.
KEY FEATURES
- Mastering version with stepped controls and full recall
- Four overlapping bands per channel
- 44 selectable frequencies from 22 Hz to 27 kHz
- Every band switchable between shelf and bell
- Up to 20 dB of boost and cut
- Bandwidth control in place of a conventional Q
- Shaping of the transition in shelf mode
- Passive high pass and low pass filters
- Hand-wound inductors in the equalisation path
- No op-amps anywhere in the signal path
- Valves: 2 x 5751 plus 4 x 6922 or ECC88
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Maximum input level: +21 dBu
- Maximum output level: +35 dBu at 1% THD+N
- THD+N: 0.006% at 1 kHz and +4 dBu
- Noise floor: -88 dBu, A-weighted
- Signal to noise ratio: 92 dB referenced to +4 dBu
- Dynamic range: 123 dB
- Output headroom: 31 dB
- Impedance: 20 kOhm input, 150 Ohm output
- Gain trim: -6 dB, 0 dB, +4 dB
- Dimensions: 19 x 10 x 5.25 inches, 3U; weight 15.5 lbs
- Power consumption: 44 W; mains 90 to 254 V
