PYE 84 Series
Stereo Equalizer
(Currently out of Stock)
The PYE 84 series 7020 Stereo EQ from SVT Audio have been built from original vintage PYE 84 series EQ modules taken right out of a Vintage 1960’s PYE recording console. The 84 series modules have been transformer coupled with Vintage Sowter 2318 Input and 3955 output transformers as well as painstakingly cleaned, completely refurbished, recapped and restored to original specifications. They have been hand-wired with a built in power supply and a bypass switch on each channel into a one space stereo rack. Great attention and care has been taken to assure the original PYE 84 series EQ circuit was preserved for it's purity and sonic clearity. This is not an imitation but the original Vintage PYE 84 Series EQ rebuilt for a second generation where they will continue making classic music.
The EQ specs are as follows:
High Frequency: 10K Boost and Cut from 1 - 10 db
Low Frequency: 100Hz Boost and Cut from 1 - 10db
Mid Frequency: Presence Boost 1 – 10db Selectable 1.4K, 2.8K, 4K, and 5.6K
These equalizers have a distinctly great sound. They can be subtle or colorful and still have an overall high fidelity sound to them. The Mid Freq Select pulls either sweet to edgy- giving the audio either a nice sheen or narrow brightness.
The PYE company, formed in 1896 in Cambridge UK, are the makers of the Legendary 4060 Compressors and the 84 series EQ. These are the console program EQ’s that complimented the famous PYE 4060 Compressors used extensively by Famous Recording Engineer/Record Producer Eddie Kramer on many classic records including Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Sammy Davis Jr., Led Zeppelin, Petula Clark, The Kinks, David Bowie and The Searchers to name just a few. For more information on the History of the PYE company, please refer to the brief history below.
Note: The PYE 84 Series EQ's were originally designed to be used in the PYE Vintage recording console so they were unbalanced at -10db in/out level. They have been modified with vintage Sowter transformers to make them balanced in/out at +4db input level and +1 db output level. Please contact us for more information. These are currently out of stock.
PYE TVT Limited History
Makers of the Series 84 Equalizers and 4060 Limiters
W.G. Pye & Co. Ltd. was founded in 1896 in Cambridge by William George Pye an employee of the Cavendish Laboratory as a part time business making scientific instruments. By 1914 the company employed 40 people manufacturing instruments that were used for teaching and research. The manufacture of thermionic Valves afforded PYE the technical knowledge that it needed to develop the first wireless receiver and soon after the first UK broadcasts were made by the BBC in 1922. Instruments continued to be designed and manufactured under W.G. PYE Ltd, later situated in York Street Cambridge, while a separate company was started to build wireless components in a factory at Church Path, Chesterton. In 1924, Harold Pye, the son of the founder, and Edward Appleton designed a new series of receivers which proved even more lucrative. In 1928, William Pye sold the company, now renamed PYE Radio Ltd., to CO Stanley who established a chain of small component-manufacturing factories in Britain building radio equipment. When the BBC started to explore television broadcasting, PYE built a high-gain receiver. With the outbreak of WWII Pye designed radio equipment for the British Military including Wireless. In February 1944, Pye formed a specialist division called PYE Telecommunications Ltd which it intended would design and produce radio communications equipment when the war ended. This company developed, prospered and grew to become the leading UK producer of mobile radio equipment for commercial, business, industrial, police and government purposes
In 1955, the company diversified into music production with PYE Records, built the first British transistor in 1956 and later that year Pye TVT Ltd was formed to produce broadcast television equipment. Their Photicon cameras became very popular with British broadcasters mostly at the BBC and were also internationally profitable. Through out the 60's and 70's they continued to built audio, radio, and recording equipment used in burgeoning radio stations and recording studios alike. Their 4060 Audio Broadcast Limiters were used on many popular recordings of the sixties and seventies and the Pye Mk6 Image Orthicon camera was the last version supplied to BBC Outside Broadcasts in 1963 for a new fleet of eight broadcast vans. With the advance of international consumer electronics PYE began to sell off many divisions until in 1979 PYE's and the use of PYE equipment was implicated in the Ugandan genocide which led to abandonment of the corporation.