The Langevin Mini Massive has been nominated for the 2007 TEC
Awards for Outstanding Technical Achievement in the Signal Processing Technology / Hardware
category.
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The Langevin Mini
Massive Passive:
The Langevin Mini Massive is the little brother to Manley’s
Massive Passive EQ. This new EQ is based on the same passive EQ
sections as the Massive Passive’s Low Band and High Band and shares
most of the same components and circuit layout. The Mini Massive is
smaller at only 1U high and about half the price and includes some new
features, refinements and a new level of clarity fit for mastering at
its best.
Hutch re-visited the 4 lowest shelf settings, and the 4 highest
frequency shelf settings, plus added new higher Q bell shapes for the 4
highest frequencies. This gives even more opportunities for Pultec-like
fatness and beyond in the deep lows. The new high frequency curves are
designed for air, sweetness and sparkle. Compared to the Massive
Passive, the toggle switch that selects between Bell and Shelf, has
become a 3 position switch, to introduce the new higher Q Bell curves
on the 4 highest frequencies. These features give the Mini Massive even
more power and flexibility to achieve that elusive big round tight
bottom and silky atmospheric top.
The Mini Massive uses 4 of the new Manley Rapture® Amplifiers for gain.
These came about in the long search for the cleanest and most musically
involving gain stage we could get and were originally intended for a
cost-no-object digital / analog converter. These are further augmented
by both series and shunt power supply regulators, to provide a refined
low noise power supply. Like the Massive Passive, huge headroom is
available and the Mini will output +30 dBv balanced into 50 ohms. And
rather than using unstable cross-coupled outputs to drive balanced or
unbalanced loads, the Mini Massive can accommodate balanced, or
unbalanced +4, or unbalanced –10 loads, and each one is always driven
optimally. It plays well with others.
And for those who would prefer the sound and ease of interface that transformer-coupled
outputs provide, we have made the same transformers as used in the
Manley Massive Passive a stock item here in the Langevin Mini Massive
EQ. These can add a
subtle degree of warmth and smoothness when used in the signal path. A 3-way toggle
IRON switch on
the back panel switches the transformers into the circuit or bypasses
them or
forces them into a more vintage-like flavor for even more fat and
aggressive colors.
Of course, for those who want a Mono 4-band EQ only need to patch the
output of Channel 1 into the input of Channel 2. The low band ends at
1K and the high band begins at 560. Shelf frequencies still go that far
and still offer dramatic curves.
The Mini Massive is the EQ for those who consider the Massive Passive
too big, too expensive, or too colored or maybe not the first choice
for extreme lows or extreme highs. The Massive Passive was designed to
be a tube EQ with character and with the creative potential of
forgotten passive techniques. The Mini Massive is a clean, lean
machine, with the same EQ performance, and then some, where we wanted
it most. And like the Massive Passive, it cannot be the one EQ
appropriate for anything and everything (there is no such device), but
it will be the first choice EQ for most things.
New Product FAQ:
Question: When
is this new unit coming out? An Answer:
You can score one NOW! They have been shipping since May 2006. 
MiniMassivo
Guts 11/2005
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Worldwide
Dealers
