mercury magnetic transformers

[pamaz67]

Hello guys.
I had the occasion to give a try at a jtm45/bassman clone equipped with axiom mercury trafos, and i have been really impressed by the clean sound and the incredible attack that was coming out from that amp. The builder of the amp told me that 99% of the quality of that amp resides in the exceptional quality of the trafos.
I would like to know if some of you have experienced a construction of a dumble clone with these trafos, with which model the build has been done and the comments on the main sound characteristics.
Two side notes
- I am lucky enough to have access at several different fuchs ods ( also a special one that was equipped from the beginning with orange drops and 4x6v6, but has got the pre slx voicing) and afaik these are equipped with mercury magnetics ( so the manual states). While thinking that fuchs amps are really good, no one of these is comparable in terms of attack at the above mentioned jtm45.
- I'm not trying to make an ad for mercury, nor I'm affiliate in any way with them. I'm just trying to understand if the (high) amount of money that is needed to buy them is justified or not. Think that the italian prices for these trafos are almost twice the US prices.
Please share your thoughts if you have any experience on the matter.
Thanks

Paolo

[dogears]

They are great trannies. My personal Fuchs (all with MM), with all my latest tweaks, sound great and have all that dynamic stuff. Having said that, my Glaswerks has a cheap Marshall style tranny (not MM) and is every bit as dynamic. However, that tranny doesn't have quite as nice a bottom end as the Mercury units. Current Glaswerks amp use Heyboer in the production models. Heyboer makes some really nice units and I know several other quality manufacturers that currently use them. If it were me, for the $, I'd give them a shot.

[grumpy]

I've used MM trannys in a couple of JTM45's, and also two Plexi types. I converted a Silverface Vibrolux to a Dumble type(HybridA based). It didn't turn out too great in the beginning IMO, however I replaced the original O/T with a MM Axiom Tweed bassman O/T and it made a big improvement to the amp. The amp sounds pretty good now after a few other additional changes and discoveries including the importance of speaker selection with these amps.
I'm a commited JTM45 user, it's a superb gigging amp IMO, lovely clean tone. I've used mine in many many varied situations and it always sounds and feels great. By the way, you say JTM45/Bassman? Sure the cct is almost the same but the trannys are certainly not! neither are the power tubes. To my ears, these two ,JTM and tweed Bassman which are often lumped together as being the same are quite different.
Anyway, regardless of the slagging I've heard MM get on the net from some??? My opinion is that they are superb transformers,worth every cent and second to none! You can't go wrong.
John

[pamaz67]

Hey guys thanks for your suggestions.
Finally I've ordered them.
Even though i will be crying for the money, I hope I 'll be smiling for the final result.
Will let you know when I'll finish my build with Mercurys, compared to other dumble clones I've realized.
Thanks and bye

Paolo


PS as a side note: I know bassman and jtm have not the same power stage, but I was referring at the "main" circuit. in any case i still would like to find a pair of nos kt66 at human prices.
FWIW i had the occasion to hear the difference between old kt66 and modern ones (jj I think) ones in a Hifi power amp ( quad II) and the difference is HUGE ( much better the old ones).

[grumpy]

Hey paolo, It costs an arm and a leg to get MM trannys sent here to Australia too! Specially seeing as the Oz dollar is about on parity with the PEANUT!!!So I know how you feel!!
Anyway you'll soon forget the money and you'll still have the Transformers! One of my JTM's has Marstran/Heyboers in it. It sounds very good too but I don't think it's quite as nice as the MM's. Hope your amp comes out stellar!!
John
PS re the JTM/Bassman thing, I was mostly trying to point out that if the amp you liked the sound of had MM JTM45 tranny's, then you wouldn't get the same result necessarily using MM Tweed bassman Trannys as they are quite different transformers.

[groovtubin]

Hey paolo, It costs an arm and a leg to get MM trannys sent here to Australia too! Specially seeing as the Oz dollar is about on parity with the PEANUT!!!So I know how you feel!!
Anyway you'll soon forget the money and you'll still have the Transformers! One of my JTM's has Marstran/Heyboers in it. It sounds very good too but I don't think it's quite as nice as the MM's. Hope your amp comes out stellar!!
John
PS re the JTM/Bassman thing, I was mostly trying to point out that if the amp you liked the sound of had MM JTM45 tranny's, then you wouldn't get the same result necessarily using MM Tweed bassman Trannys as they are quite different transformers.

Having built ALOT of amps for DIAZ AMPLIFICATION ( inc WARREN HAYNES) , these guys are RIGHT, stunning ta say the least. The pix at Livsey site show a MM outputtranny on the newsest HRM amp as well! Obviously HAD agrees too!!

[Funkalicousgroove]

I've used Heyboer, MM, OEI, and MAgic Parts, The MM and Heyboer are too close to tell, although I do use one tranny from MM that HEyboer doesn't make.The OEI is ABSOLUTELEY STUNNING (100W plexi OT) and blows it's mercury counterpart clear out of the water, all of them sound better than the magic parts stuff.

[groovtubin]

I've used Heyboer, MM, OEI, and MAgic Parts, The MM and Heyboer are too close to tell, although I do use one tranny from MM that HEyboer doesn't make.The OEI is ABSOLUTELEY STUNNING (100W plexi OT) and blows it's mercury counterpart clear out of the water, all of them sound better than the magic parts stuff.

I can TOTALLY agree. i`ve used a HANDWOUND Stephen Delft version ( OEI licensed right?) , the customer paid BIG bucks for it too..