TAB/Telefunken V76/80 Mono Tube Mic Pre #1441 (Vintage)

The Telefunken V76/80 is a beautiful, rich, big sounding tube mic pre. Maybe the best in the business. Great on kick, snare, vocals, bass, etc., or for tracks you need to thicken up.

History

The V76 is a direct descendant of the famous V72 preamplifier. The V72 was originally developed by North West German Radio and Hamburg's Institute of Broadcast Technology between the years 1949-1952. Designed as a microphone and main studio amplifier, the V72 uses dual EF804S tubes, and has a fixed gain of 34dB, and was used with a high pass filter as a mic pre, and as a buffering amplifier to make up for losses from a passive fader EQ. When the V76 arrived, the V72 was generally used only for buffering in broadcast applications.

In the mid 50s both the Siemens and TAB companies began manufacturing the units for Telefunken, and the V72 became the standard preamp in German radio stations, while its cousin the V72s was being used extensively by companies like Decca and EMI, (most famously by the Beatles in the REDD console).

Siemens had modified the classic V72 to come up with the V72b, which uses a different pair of tubes, the E283CC and E88CC. The V72b pairs well with the V76, with enough head room to handle its high output level. It has a better signal-to-noise ratio and less inter-modulation distortion than the V72, and is an excellent mastering amp.

Approximately 25,000 units were built for domestic use in Germany, and many more for export. By 1963, its reign had come to an end, as the age of transistors had arrived, and the V72 was replaced by the V72T (’T’ for transistor). Siemens continued to build the V72 until 1964, and the V72B until 1966. TAB continued to build the V72 until the mid 1970s.Several different amplifiers were made on the basic V72 circuit platform, including the V71, V76 and V77. Other members of the V72 family, with different circuitry, are the A, B, & S versions of the V72, as well as the V70, V74A and V77B.

At the dawn of the 1960s, AEG-Telefunken was a major manufacturer of broadcast equipment, and their systems were found in radio stations around the globe. The venerable V72 was an important part of these facilities: rugged, dependable, quality units that stayed in operation for decades, and are still valued today.