McMartin (RCA) SAMV-02 SS mic pre/mixer.. Schem? Ideas?

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jackies

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
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So I got this mixer/preamp, it's full of 40232 transistors and has 3 input transformers... Other inputs have bridges installed in octal sockes, apparently for transformerless operation... It looks like the mixer has been dropped because plastic on capacitors and octal sockets is cracked, so I didn't want to power it up, at least without replacing PSU caps..
It has a sticker on the front panel that says McMartin, however I found a picture of an exact same unit branded RCA. Some dude in California has it in his studio, or so his myspace page says...
Anyone ever seen a unit like this? Is it worth restoring or should I use it as a chassis for my experiments? Anyone has schematic for this, or maybe some similar unit? Transformers have octal plugs and are marked MT4, any idea what ratio they could be, like, what 60s RCA solid state gear would normally use for mic in?
Thanks!
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Ah I think you talking about my unit. The MT-4 plugin transformer is supposed to be another version of an RCA plugin transformer that is in my unit.
I would describe the RCA as a nice and very thick and dark sound, kind of like a neve....its really thick. I swapped The MT-4 from a Mcmartin unit I had ,put it in the RCA and a Collins Plugin Transformer and tried listening to the differences. The MT-4 and RCA are similar, The Collins is more of an open and clear sound while the RCA and MT-4 are on the Thick and colored side, you cant go wrong, its a good unit and rare. As far as I know im the only one who has the RCA  variant. Mine has 4 Transformer inputs and a transformer output, Point to Point circuitry all the way through. Attached below is the picture of the RCA at the top.


 

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Looks like a PA series rebrand from the late 60's or early 70's.  I've not seen this one before. 
 
And the RCA pa stuff was nowhere near as good as the broadcast gear.
Yet people try to flog it for premium prices on Evilbay and other sites.
It was built to a price, not a standard.
 
emrr said:
Looks like a PA series rebrand from the late 60's or early 70's.  I've not seen this one before.

I believe its anywhere from 64-67. Sure looks like the PA series but the sound and quality is great, much better than PA altec stuff. Its no BA-6A or any of those mammoth type RCA's  but It sounds  better than most pre's under 1k. Its dark but open rather than muddy like the cheap stuff. I got her for about $100  with all original parts. To the OP it depends on how much you spent on the purchase of the unit but i probably would spend no more than $200 on fixing it. While its great you can find alot of sleepers on Evil bay for less than to repair it. I will say this it is rare and it looks like RCA allowed Mcmartin to rebrand these. There is no schematic for this unit that I know of but you can probably draw one out.
 
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