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Chandler Limited TG Microphone Cassette

The Chandler Limited TG Microphone Cassette is a full-featured mixing console channel strip, incorporating elements of the historic EMI/Abbey Road Studios TG12345 recording and mastering desks of the...

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Sound Pure's Take

The Chandler TG Microphone Cassette is the long-awaited fusion of the very best pieces in the Chandler EMI/Abbey Road series. This is something that we here at Sound Pure have been clamoring for and have long believed we would never see. Representing the "greatest hits" from the Chandler Line packaged in one convenient channel strip chassis, you can imagine it absolutely does not disappoint sonically!

Both the Chandler TG2 preamp and Curve Bender EQ have become staple representations of the the analog domain’s rich tone and color. You’ll find both within the Microphone Cassette, including the ever-valuable Coarse and Fine Gain controls. The final addition is their TG1 comp/limiter, but this time Chandler made a very smart (and unexpected) change.

Their deeply intimate knowledge of the history behind the original console (and the engineers that worked out the many revisions) led them to elect for the photo-optical circuit as opposed to the diode-based circuit found in their dual mono buss comp/limiter. This gives the limiter an amazing, smooth musicality that feels effortless to dial in and really lets the color from the preamp and EQ sections shine through. Inputted into a channel strip, this change makes perfect sense by adding just a touch more forgiveness and plays into the idea that all the components of this historical recording chain are designed to be used while tracking, just like how tracking gear was used in the 60’s and 70’s.

The TG Microphone Cassette is truly a celebration of three excellent pieces of gear from Chandler, and when you consider the cost of all three of the main elements within the channel strip, the listed price of the Microphone Cassette makes it a stellar choice for those after all of the sonic qualities that define THE Abbey Road sound we’ve all come to love.

From Chandler Limited

TG MICROPHONE CASSETTE

Chandler Limited’s critically acclaimed TG1 Limiter, TG2 Pre-Amp, and Curve Bender EQ, each known for their remarkable reproduction of the EMI TG sound, have been combined to form the ultimate TG Microphone Cassette reimagined to work in a modern recording studio context.

PRE-AMP

The pre-amp section of the TG Microphone Cassette makes use of the Chandler Limited TG2 pre-amplifier based on the vintage EMI TG12428. The TG2 pre-amp section includes switchable coarse and variable fine gain adjustment controls for up to +70db overall gain, selectable LINE, DI, 48V phantom power, phase reverse, and switchable rumble filter (low cut.)

The TG2 pre-amp section is coupled directly to the Curve Bender equalizer section.

The TG Microphone Cassette’s equalizer section is derived from the famed and greatly expanded Chandler Limited EMI TG12345 Curve Bender EQ. The Curve Bender EQ section provides Hi and Low shelf, frequency selectable presence, output control, and bypass functionality.

The Curve Bender EQ section is the second stage of the TG2 pre-amp section, and the EQ output control works as a fader would on a console.

LIMITER

The compressor/limiter section of the TG Microphone Cassette is a special adaptation of the Chandler Limited TG1 Limiter tracing its lineage to the historic EMI TG12413 mixing and mastering console limiters.

EMI technical engineers experimented with the use of optos in their audio compressors, and now for the first time ever Chandler Limited introduces the TG1 Opto Limiter.

The TG1 Opto Limiter section of the TG Microphone Cassette is fully independent and separately patchable (via standard XLR connection) apart from the TG2 Pre Amp / Curve Bender EQ section, allowing for use of the compressor/limiter individually on sources. An XLR cable (purchased separately) is required to patch the TG1 Opto Limiter into the Cassette's chain.

The TG1 Opto is stereo linkable to a second unit via a standard ¼” cable.

The TG1 Opto Limiter’s feature-set includes:

HOLD
Attack
Release
selectable sharp/rounded knee
output or makeup gain
true bypass

POWER

All TG units require and function on the PSU-1, Chandler Limited power supply. The PSU-1 has an internal switch for setting voltage to 120V or 220V (115V/230V).

TG HISTORY

Conceived from meetings in 1967 between Abbey Road engineers and EMI’s Central Research Laboratories technical team, the EMI TG12345 desk (later known as Mark I) would usher in a sea change in sound and flexibility at Abbey Road Studios.

The new transistor based EMI TG12345 recording console was modular in design, with twelve dual channel microphone “cassettes.” The TG desks featured expanded EQ, and for the first time ever, a compressor/limiter on every channel. The compressor was originally supposed to replicate the sound and behavior of the Fairchild 660 and RS124 tube devices, but ended up with a completely unique sound in its own right.

Installed in Abbey Road’s Studio Two in November 1968 and making its debut on an 8-track recording by the Shadows, the new transistor desk marked a departure from the earlier REDD valve consoles. The following year, the EMI TG12345 desk helped shape the sound of the Beatles’ final album, Abbey Road, which was markedly richer sounding to that of the band’s earlier work. The sonic qualities of classics like “Here Comes the Sun,” “Come Together” and “Something” would have been very different without the EMI TG12345.

The desk encountered many revisions throughout the ‘70s and became the main recording console used throughout the studios until 1983. The EMI TG12345 console Marks I–IV were used on everything from Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here to John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass to epic film scores including Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The EMI TG12345 was never commercially available to the public.

Chandler Limited is the only company in the world authorized to develop, manufacture and market the “Official Equipment” of EMI/Abbey Road Studios.

Abbey Road Studios, EMI and TG and their associated logos are trade marks of EMI (IP) Limited.

TG MICROPHONE CASSETTE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Channels	Mono
TG2 Preamp	Transistor amplifier
Mic/Line	XLR Input (Transformer balanced, Mic 300Ω Impedance)
DI	1/4” Unbalanced
Maximum gain	+70db, Coarse Gain (Stepped +20 to +60db), Fine Gain (Variable ±10db)
Rumble Filter (Low Cut)	6 Frequencies (Out, 33,41,47,65,82,110hz)
Phantom power, Phase	Phantom (+48V), Phase( 0/180º)
Curve Bender EQ	Treble/Bass Shelf, Presence (Out, 300hz,500hz,1.2k,3.6k,6.5k), Output control, Bypass, XLR Output
TG1 Opto Limiter	Independently patachable (XLR I/O), Hold, Attack, Release, Knee (Sharp/Rounded), Output (makeup gain), Bypass, Linkable (1/4” Jack)
Power	External/PSU-1, Purchased separately

Free 3-Year Warranty

Sound Pure stands behind our products. Free three-year warranty on this item. Coverage exclusions live in Terms & Conditions, Section 27.

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$3,235

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