Manley Enhanced Mono & Stereo Pultec EQP-1A's

The MANLEY ENHANCED PULTEC EQP-1A is our own interpretation of the historic Pultec Equalizer as originally produced by Pulse Techniques, Inc. We have been building these Manley Pultec EQs since 1990 after we bothered to hunt down Eugene Shenk in New Jersey to ask for his permission and blessings to produce our own version of his classic piece. These Manley Pultec units employ our own simple and clean all-tube make-up gain block to reamplify the signal after the passive EQ circuit.

EQ may be set to 'flat' positions or BYPASSED entirely. All BOOST and CUT controls are continuously variable conductive plastic potentiometers for absolutely silent operation and long life. Our single rack unit monoblocks occupy one-third of the space of the 'antique Pultecs', an important consideration for allocation of outboard rack space. And if you notice, we've added a couple extra frequencies too. The rear mounted input switch selects 0 degrees or 180 degrees PHASE INVERT for the balanced gold pin XLR input or the transformerless unbalanced bridging input (1/4" jack) may be selected in that switch's middle position.

People often ask us if our Pultec EQ's sound like the old ones to which we reply, "Yes! But better!" The originals had three transformers in the signal path whereas ours can be used completely transformerless. Our Manley Enhanced Pultec has a vastly superior B+ power supply, with regulated and balanced heater supply. Our line amp is known to be killer-sounding. The components we use today just weren't available in the 1960's. So, if you want a project with crackling carbon pots, dirty open frame wafer switches, 5% and 10% tolerance noisy carbon resistors, exposed tubes sticking out the back of the 3U chassis, etc., go pay top dollar for an antique Pultec!

The MANLEY PULTEC EQP-1A, available in both single and 2-channel versions, uses 1 x 12AX7WA and 1 x 6414 (or 5965) in our ALL-TUBE single-ended line amplifier for the gain make-up and extra-beefy sound; gain is factory set for unity but additional gain is available by a rear mounted feedback adjustment trimpot. Like our 40dB Mic Preamps, the Manley Pultecs offer both transformer coupled balanced and direct capacitor coupled unbalanced outputs for easy interface and sonic variety.

Kick drum? Bring on the Pultecs and all the iron you can muster! You'll soon discover the power and magic of having those individual Low Frequency BOOST and CUT controls in that LF shelf circuit. . . Need a little clarity or extension? Try that middle bell-shaped Boost dialing in the sharpness of the boost on the BANDWIDTH control. Something bugging you? Ease it off with the HF shelf cut. You'll see. There's no substitute for a what a Manley Pultec EQ can do!

Features & Specifications

• MANLEY input transformer with nickel laminations potted in mu-metal case. 3K Ohm input Z
• PHASE REVERSE switch for balanced XLR input
• Alternate transformerless 1/4" HI-Z (5K Ohm) input
• BYPASS switch & AUTO-MUTE w/warmup delay
• Silent conductive plastic BOOST & CUT controls
• Sealed gold-contact Greyhill frequency select switches
• Vacuum Tubes: 1 x 12AX7WA (gain) and 1 x 6414 (or 5965) White Follower
• Hi-current driveShipping weight: 12 lbs.

Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

• Manley Enhanced Pultec EQP1-A: $2,300
• Manley Stereo Pultec: $3,600

History

We started building these MANLEY Enhanced Pultec EQ's in 1990 back at the old Vacuum Tube Logic of America factory. They were built there from 1990 until 1993 when the MANLEY LABS factory opened. The serial codes for those old early 1990's units are usually seen as hand-written ENHPLT###. Those oldest units use 5814 input tubes and 6350 output White Follower tubes. There is no substitute for a 6350! Unless you re-wire and swap pins 2&3 and 7&8 then you must keep using 6350 which is wired that way. Those old units also used ElectroSwitch brand NONshorting switches which are brass and black and white in body-of-the-switch color. They make some noise when switch position is changed. They should have been ordered as SHORTING switches. Newest units built at Manley Labs use shorting Grayhill brand switches. Grayhills have red bodies if you look at them.

Much has improved since those early days... Here is what we think was the very first Manley Pultec built in 1990 for BOP Studios in South Africa.

SPECIAL MASTERING VERSIONS NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO ORDER

We used to offer our MONO Pultec EQ with detented, logable BOOST and CUT control-switches precisely calibrated to 0.5 dB steps or as required.

For the Manley Mastering Pultecs, the switches were built as 11 x 0.5dB steps for max range of 5.5dB on each control. The BANDWIDTH control was also built as 11 steps on a switch instead of a pot.

As of 10/2009 we no longer offer Mastering Versions of the Manley MID or EQP1A Equalizers.

We never offered our Stereo Unit as a Mastering version.

No, we will not convert a "normal" version unit to a Mastering one. Sorry folks.

We once built a bunch of Pultec channels into a console. We also built an 8-input Pultec Preamp with input and output levels and meters. Cool stuff!
You can see there rarities on our Mausoleum page.