A PICTURE IS WORTH 

 A THOUSAND WORDS... Perhaps, but would photographs of our Variable Mu® Limiter Compressor or VOXBOX® have created their successes alone? You have to hear this gear. You have to use this gear. Put your hands on the knobs and crank 'em. Engineers who have already gotten hold of the MASSIVE PASSIVE have told us: "Why does it make everything sound so much better?", "It's organic and orgasmic.", "It's a f%#king powerhouse.", "It's unlike any other EQ.", "This is IT. The sound I've always dreamt of but couldn't ever get until now." GOT THE PICTURE? The MASSIVE PASSIVE is a two channel, four band equalizer, with additional high pass and low pass filters. "Passive" refers to the tone shaping part of this clever new EQ design not using any active circuitry. Only metal film resistors, film capacitors and hand-wound inductors sculpt the sound, kinda like a Pultec EQ on hyper-steroids. Super-beefy, hugely-high-headroom Manley all-tube make-up gain amplifiers deliver your tunes into the next realm. "Massive".... it's a fitting word for this beast. You'll need to experience this. Creating natural, organic, acoustic tone can only be done with an equalizer that treats the signal with natural methods. The Massive Passive uses simple passive components and exploits their natural qualities rather than forcing a complex circuit to meet an arbitrary clinical or scientific goal. Manley knows that recording and mastering equalizers are used by artists for artistic goals and we balanced this design with a little more art than science. The Massive Passive is intended both for the most radical EQ sometimes needed for tracking as well as the most subtle shadings for vocals and mastering. It is designed to be a fundamentally different EQ but incorporates the best strengths of Pultecs, choice console EQs, parametrics and graphics. The difference is that the Massive allows twice as much EQ with half the coloration. It allows huge HF boosts without sibilance problems and unbelievable fatness without mud. This is unique. Being different also gives it some quirks and idiosyncrasies that will spark your creativity and sense of audio adventure. We could attempt to use dozens of superlatives to describe the sounds, but really, you have to experience it yourself. Words cannot do it justice. The astute reader will notice a lack of "buzz words" and that the Massive Passive is not built around gimmicks, plagiarisms, or conventional techniques. However, it is built to complement our Variable Mu® Limiter Compressor for instance.... This combo could just be the ultimate processing chain. It's already a Mastering fave. To this end we finally have a new dedicated Mastering Version Massive Passive Stereo EQ available too.

Yes! Manley Mastering Version 

Massive Passive Stereo Tube EQ WE CAME UP WITH A CLEVER WAY TO PULL THIS OFF... WITHOUT breaking your bank account thanks to these interesting mechanically detented knobs for the GAIN and BANDWIDTH controls! These knobs are of our own design. They are a clever two-part metal design using a ball and spring detent system. They ensure repeatability and a good, positive feel, without the incredible cost and space problems tons of Grayhill switches would have caused. Some notes pertinent to the Mastering Version: The Massive Passive is a passive design and not a "true parametric". A true parametric implies non-interacting controls. In the Massive Passive, the "GAIN" and "BANDWIDTH" controls DO interact (on purpose). We cannot create a "GAIN" switch that is set up for "consistent" 1/2 dB steps. When you change the "BANDWIDTH" the step size must and will change. On the regular version, you get a full 20dB boost or cut only when: the bandwidth is fully clockwise (narrow) in bell mode or fully counter-clockwise in shelf mode. Here on the Mastering Version, this maximum boost or cut is 11dB. Conversely at the widest bell, the maximum boost or cut is 6dB and the narrowest shelf maxes out at 12 dB. A similar situation is also true for the bandwidth detents. So in this new Mastering Version, do not expect a certain dB change per step as it will vary according to where the bandwidth is set. But whatever the step sizes are, they will be repeatably 16 steps. The FREQUENCY select is already detented as it is and always has been a Grayhill switch. It also interacts in shelf mode. On a similar note, the Massive Passive is a "parallel design" and not the conventional "series design". This means the bands interact with each other too. It is possible, to set a band to boost 20 dB but if another band is boosting near or at that frequency, very little will happen. On a conventional EQ the two bands "add" and you would be boosting 40 dB into clipping. Because the bands interact, predictable step sizes are unrealistic, however, with the Mastering Version, you will be able to repeat settings (if you log them of course). The price paid for interacting bands, is a better sounding EQ and bizarre looking settings (on purpose). Unlike virtually every other EQ, the Massive Passive allows much more EQ without sounding "processed". Where 5 or 6 dB is about all one could attempt with other EQs in mastering, the Massivo amazes engineers with how much EQ they can do and get more "natural" results at the same time. We could have squeezed 11 position Grayhill switches in the modules if we had wanted 1/2 dB steps but then the maximum range would have become only 5.5 dB. Remembering what we stated above, the minimum range would then become about 1.5 dB with approximately 0.2 dB steps. This approach would have essentially thrown away most of the useful range the unit is capable of. Going with these special mechanically detented knobs which use the same pots underneath that the normal Massivo uses, we get nearly all the range of the normal version, but with the repeatability of the detents. We have also custom tailored the FILTERS in the Mastering Version specifically for Mastering purposes, moving them lower and higher than the normal version, with mastering engineers specifically in mind. If you are looking for drastic effects (like telephone sounds) then get the normal version. These filters are really geared for mastering engineers. Additionally, the Master Gain Trim controls in the Mastering Version are true 11 position 1/2 dB stepped Grayhill switches set up for a range between -2.5 to +2.5 dB of master gain trim. This allows more confidence in left/right matching and calibration. The gain change voltage divider occurs before the final tube amplifier stag andsU after all of the passive EQ circuits. The best advice is, before you decide, or even form an opinion about whether to go with a normal or mastering version Massivo, is to use a regular Massive Passive for a session or two in your own room. We have seen in the past that the only engineers who have asked about a mastering version had yet to try the Massive. Using your previous extensive and intensive experience with other EQs may be a mistake, especially if you expect the Massive Passive to be roughly similar to them. It isn't. Please, try it first, then decide.