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“beautiful looking survivor, from a vintage recording and broadcast estate. Turns ok and works, transformers are OK -- needs new filter caps and some bench service to resolve some minor distortion and motorboating. This is a studio friendly piece, complete and original. These 212Y's are sought after as they are perfect for modern direct in's and all around great for all mics, especially Ribbon and Dynamics that need tons of gain. Complete operating instructions, schematic and repair included.. Face has minor blemishishs and slight dings, naturally from age and handling. The face is still beautiful and gleaming will look even better after some cleaning... will likely need a quick trip to the bench, for simple maintenance (caps etc) and checkup -- you will then have on of the few great portable, dedicated mic pre's produced during the late 1940s))”
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During the late 1930s, and resuming post-war until the early 1960s, Collins built some of the finest industrial, studio recording and broadcast professional audio products -- the dominated several categories in the field, after WE and RCA were dimished, and really the last company to have aspired to the beauty and polish that we see in expensive items from the 1930s (prewar). Collins of Cear Rapids, Iowa and Gates Radio Company of Quincy, Illinois both made excellent sounding pro audio -- truly better than anything you see these days.... By the early 1940s, even a little before WWII -- RCA & WE -- the two premium mfr's were losing grip on the Studio equipment segment. RCA, by far held the most market share, but by the 1950's they were far too diversified, captivated by early Television, RCA gave way to these last two premium audio companies of the golden era : Gates and Collins. Of the two, Gates immediatley dominated the market, far outshadowing the equally impressive, wonderful build quality of Collins. When you compare sound -- both Gates and Collins made some of the best tube preamps of the 1940s through 1960s. Collins though, in general made some of the nicest...downright beautiful products, both inside ant out. Their golden era was right in the period, from about 1945 - 1955 -- they used top notch Thordarson potted transformers -- which spec out beautifully -- sounding rich and detailed.
Excluding Western Electric, and early 1940s Altec, one could say both Gates and Collins are your best bet for killer tube premplification. All over the world, vintage pro audio recording collectors and hobbyists seek both -- the modules, line amps, mic pres, and Limiter Compressors all worth their weight in gold. For today's artists and diy pro audio recording hobbyists they are #1. Gates and Collins pre's also make astonishingly good preamps for home Diy systems. Collins often was the heavyweight in refinement and industrial asthetics and symetry --- while Gates prefered marketing, straightforward build, clean aluminum chassis, and easily serviceable designs. Gates often used Triad and UTC transformers while Coillins often used top tier Thordarson (whose potted HiFi grade you see in this piece easily best UTC LS series). When it comes to 1950s and 60s industrial audio they're both great sound. Soundwise pretty equal. In portable Mic Pres -- Collins generally comes out on top!
By the late 1940s, mobile recording was again all the rage.. this Collins 212Y is designed to setup anywhere you want, It's self powered via it's internal power supply, or you can setup and run DC in from batteries for ultra clean power...Totally transformer coupled in , 50, 150 or 250 ohms....& out to 600 balanced ot not... balanced output 150 or 600 ohms (can also be used unbalanced).
This preamp is known to be great for ribbon mics, compact and tons of gain (up to 85db) when it's serviced and tuned up properly.
See exhibit (B)-- this preamp turns on OK and the transformers seem OK. It's all original from an estate, so it needs new power supply filter caps, and an overall brief bench checkup -- after that you'll have a turnkey vintage mic-pre in your hands. This unit is all original, save for the line cord which was properly wired for AC in. The audio line output was originally designed for the front mounted binding posts (in true remote amp dress, back then the line connections varied to the point than Coillins made this a universal hookup) -- easy to connect your own XLR or unbalanced output cord -- perfect for direct in's.
These were typically used by decked out studios, where they were the companion's to the larger boards that Collins made.... and field outfits where high fidelity audio needed to be gathered or routed to nearby sound truck as was done back in the 40's.. for live broadcast sends or recording direct to Ampex machines. These 212's (all in this series were terrific) were used where superior quality, low noise with lots of gain were a must.
Study exhibit (A) to see wht you get.. and exhibit C thru G to check over the nice cosmetic condition it is in. The Shure Unisphere in Exhibit ( B) is Not included -- These are a seldom found these days, and are perfect for direct in's for modern recording -- these outperform many other mic pre's of later era's... quality that that you can only get with seriously well built, top quality audio from this era --the heavily potted transformers are prized and render the nice tone, and rich midrange that modern equipment rarely delivers... this survivor will sell quickly. Don't miss out if you need a quickly restorable, vintage mic preamp for your studio or home h-fi it's from around 1950 -- the real McCoy, 64 years old.
Measures 7 x 4 3/4" w x 6 3/4".
