Mercury 666

Mercury 666 MKI

The Mercury 666 is a new version of a mysterious classic... the Fairchild 666 which is not as well known as the Fairchild 660 (like our Mercury 66) or the Fairchild 670. We always try to be faithful to the original we are paying homage too, but, in this case so many changes needed to be made to make it more useful for modern recording we felt it was a great opportunity to make it the ultimate benchmark in modern tube compressors / limiters. We made the Mercury 666 quieter, more flexible and added an expanded feature set that is second to none let alone better than the original . Our goal was not to make it ‘as good’, but beyond better, and we feel we succeeded in doing that.

The Mercury 666 is a hybrid solid-state and valve (tube) Studio Limiting Amplifier (compressor). The new, ’Mercury SSGRE’ (solid-state gain reduction element) is a gain attenuator that does not provide any gain to the signal. All of the gain makeup after the ‘SSGRE’ in the Mercury 666 is provided by a separate single ended, tube, gain make up amplifier. Using a 12BH7 valve (tube) and a custom U.S. made (Cinemag) output transformer.

The Fairchild 666 had a feature set that did not allow it to be flexible enough for modern recording with compression control, compression release, gain control, input level and “auto-ten” functions for threshold and for release (note: auto-ten = Auto attenuation). Most features did not even have a knob you had to use a screwdriver for the control. So we designed the Mercury 666 to be more of a modern, hybrid 660 with any and all features you might need at your finger tips.

Mercury 666 features (L to R): Link Switch with LED. The Mercury 666 is Mono, but linkable for Stereo using the (Stereo) ‘Link Switch.’ In the down position that unit is not linked to the other. In the up position it is now engaged to be linked to a second Mercury 666 and the LED will then be illuminated. You would have to engage the ‘Link Switch’ on the other unit as well to make them be “stereo linked”. You can link two (2) Mercury 666 Limiters together via a standard, high quality, 1/4” (TS) cable.

The Meter Controls include the Zero Control that allows you too easily “zero the meter” with a small knob (when Meter Select is in down position). Much easier than using a screwdriver like on the “vintage units”. To the right, of the Zero Control, is the Meter Select Switch in the down position you are in gain reduction mode and in the up position you can monitor the output level of the Mercury 666 Limiting Amplifier.

To the right of the meter, on the top row, is the Threshold Control that allows you to set the point that gain reduction begins. The Threshold Control has an 11 position pot for easy recallability. To the right of Threshold is the Attack Release Switch (or Time Constant). This a rotary switch with 11 attack/release settings. The first 6 settings are the same as a Vintage Fairchild 660 (see below). The next 5 settings (7-11) make the Mercury 666 much more flexible than the original 666 or any similar tube limiter by expanding the range of control with very useful settings.