THE EQ That Changed My Life: Manley Massive Passive

Much has already been written about the Manley Massive Passive, lovingly referred to as the “Massivo” by those already in the know. So instead of a review, I decided to write a real-world application article about how this Stereo Tube EQ literally changed the way I work. For several years now, I’ve exclusively been an “In The Box” mixer/producer, having relegated my outboard gear to the closet or a sale rack (except for great preamps). Since every working day for me is different – varying from a 5.1 surround mix to writing music for a TV spot – total recall of every parameter was important. Honestly, I felt I had what was needed in my Pro Tools rig, using Altiverb and TL Space reverbs, Sony EQ and Dynamics, UA and URS EQ’s, Echoboy for delays, etc. If a record went to mastering, I would leave the mix bus alone, otherwise hit it with some Waves L3 or L360 for surround. So when it came time to review a Massive Passive, I was looking forward to hearing what all the buzz was about – still thinking I would just use it and return it when the time came. Working with engineer Paul Antonell at his Clubhouse Studios, we first put it up on an SACD project we were tracking. It was recorded at 96K, mixed through a vintage Neve and captured to a 2-inch Studer 827 with 8 track heads. We tracked it live for surround and the musicians included Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta, Chieli Minucci and Peter Primamore, along with a string quartet and several woodwinds.

Sound goes in one end, comes out the other, and it's magically better..

Taking this giant 21-pound beast out of the box, it’s elegant beauty and substantial build immediately struck me. Placing it inline on a 1922 Steinway piano, we fired it up and lit up the two blue lights showing each channel was on. Cranking a few well-engineered dials and knobs, we were blown away. All the ‘bla-bla’ hyperspeak you hear - depth, clarity, warmth - were all 100% there for our ears to feast on. There was no doubt about the quality of this unit. We spat out a few curses of sonic pleasure and it stayed on for the rest of the project. Once we read through the info-packed manual, we started to realize what made this EQ special. Massive inductors of differing sizes were used on different parts of the circuit. There were two all-tube gain stages per channel for up to +37 dBu of output, with separate windings on the custom designed output transformer for clean boosting. Tone changes were done only through the use of resistors, capacitors and inductors. Each of the four bands per side can either boost or cut, and can be switched from shelf to bell – using a ‘parallel’ connection scheme. The list goes on and on, but most importantly, every detail was implemented for nothing but GREAT SOUND. Antonell was so impressed by the Massive Passive, he insisted mastering engineer Dave Glasser at Airshow use three of them on the six-channel surround transfer to DSD for the SACD final. After the session, I took this unit home to my home studio. I inserted it into my Pro Tools HD setup – on analog channels 7 and 8 – and dialed up a finished dub remix I was handing in. Well, I guess I wasn’t quite finished, because strapping the Massivo across the stereo bus bought out the power and clarity in the entire mix, whereas I could actually hear the reverbs and delays unlike I had before. It literally created a sense of depth - almost like I could ‘look’ into the mix. I took advantage of the High Pass filter, setting it to 18K (@60dB/octave) and the Low Pass filter at 22 Hz for a nice warm, round tone.

A close-up of the EQ section.

While the manual notes that each band is capable of 20 dB of boost or cut, it doesn’t seem that way when turning the Gain knobs. By the way, the gain knobs for boost/cut are not set at 12 o’clock like most eq’s – flat is fully-counter clockwise and you select with the switch. You can literally crank the Gain on this up to max (clockwise) with a medium bandwidth and still have a ton of headroom. Next I used it on some heavy rocking TV music, and I achieved the same results – even though it was night and day in sonic character from the dub mix. I got a great wide bottom by putting the 82-3K band into a tight cut at 270 Hz, while slightly boosting the 22-1K band at 68 Hz. I has simply never heard my mixes sound so good, to the point where I went back to all of my tv music catalog and remixed it with the Manley inline. I was careful not to put too much hi-end on the mix, which can get crunchy if pushed to hard. Surprisingly, if you use the shelf mode on the high frequencies, you can get more air than using a bell. Trial and error is key with the Massivo. We all know that everyone hears EQ differently, but overall it’s in the midrange that this unit shines (to me) and creates such depth and clarity. After working with it for a few more days, I was truly convinced it wasn’t going back, and my brain started to do the studio math of how to pay for it. Since then, it’s become an indispensable part of my sound – to the point where I miss it dearly when I pop those two blue lights out telling me it’s not inline. Luckily, I can just punch them back in and get back to work – truly content in my investment.

The center section filters.

But what exactly is passive eq, I asked the Massivo’s designer, Craig ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson. “In this case, it simply refers to the tone shaping network just being what we call passive components,” he noted. “Resistors, capacitors and inductors, followed by a gain stage.” What about the design philosophy of this EQ, I inquired. “If you asked engineers what their favorites were, it was usually Pultec, Neve, API and that type of thing,” Hutch continued. “Since that era of classics there have been somewhere between 50 and 200 parametric EQ’s and probably a similar number of graphics produced - but none of them really changed the world. So when we originally started out this project, we said what can we do that’s different – something that people really want? How can we approach these things that were all time favorites? We wanted to build something that approximated those vintage units, but wasn’t a standard design that has been overdone and sounded unremarkable. So by doing a lot of listening and testing, we built a unique ‘character’ EQ. At the component level, its not that unusual surprisingly. It’s less paint by numbers and more paint by ear.” Hutch went on to discuss some of the characteristics of their new Mini-Massive, and how it might soon apply to Massive Passive owners who like modifications. “With the Mini-Massive, we changed the four lowest and four highest frequencies. For lack of a better term, we made it more ‘Pultec’ like”, he said. “If you go into shelf mode on the four lowest frequencies and start turning the bandwidth up, the effect disappears pretty quick (on the Massive Passive). So I addressed that issue and modified the filter shapes so that it would work better for those frequencies. On the highs, I turned the two position bell/shelf switch into a three position and added four sharper bells on the four highest frequencies. So it really does an amazing job of air frequencies.” Hutch continued, “We haven’t designed these updated cards for the Massive Passive yet, but we will get to it real soon.” Now, how can I afford two more for my surround mixes?

If you're a self-proclaimed geek, these charts will impress you. Actually, they impress me. But I'm not a geek, right?