MCI JH-652 (1980)
A split-monitor console that cost more than a house and could be operated as two desks in one frame.
Overview
Six figures. That number stops most people cold when they first run into the JH-652. The base price on the 52-input frame ran $112,546 FOB Fort Lauderdale according to MCI's own 1982 literature. A fully optioned example listed at $104,790 for the JH-652-52-AF/LM configuration - a figure that moved depending on how the automation and metering were specified. Either way, this was never a console for the project studio. It was a tool for rooms running dual synchronized multitrack machines, and it was priced accordingly.
The JH-652 is distinctive for its architecture. MCI built it as the first console specifically designed for true split operation. The company pushed that claim hard in its 1980 launch materials, and Modern Recording (July 1981, p.34) picked it up when it reported the board's 52 inputs installed as 26 on either side of the master control section. The split was operational. The mix outputs, effects and foldback outputs, and automation of each side could be run independently or joined together. In practice, one frame could work as a twin console with separate monitoring, or drive two synchronized multitrack recorders as a single integrated system.
The feature set was built around that flexibility. Each of the up-to-52 input/output modules was totally transformerless. Each carried 24-track assigns, a three-band equalizer (parametric optional), high- and low-pass filters, six effects and foldback sends, stereo image control, and automated level and mute functions. MCI's patented Plasma Display bargraph metering appeared on every channel and on the mix outputs, with additional VU meters for the stereo and mono mixes. Five echo returns, a built-in oscillator and noise generator, full communications and monitoring, and an integral patch bay rounded out the standard package.
Six "wild" automated faders were the sleeper feature. They could be assigned to pan, sends, or virtually any level or mute function, which gave the automation system reach beyond the standard channel faders. During a mixdown, each channel could be reconfigured to provide 24 additional post-monitor fader sends via an independent level control, using the channel assignments and what would ordinarily be the channel fader. A "BC" option allowed simplified use of the console for direct-to-disk or live mix applications. MCI also used Tuchel connectors. They let a studio prewire in advance of the console's arrival, and the quick connect/disconnect scheme made troubleshooting far easier.
Measured performance was solid for the period. MCI rated frequency response at 15 Hz to 20 kHz +0/¼ dB, signal-to-noise better than 84 dB, and maximum output at +27 dBv. Those are respectable numbers for a large-format transformerless desk of the era. The company's own JH-600 series literature claimed a slightly wider 15 Hz to 20 kHz +0/−½ dB window and 129 dB equivalent input noise. The difference likely came down to how each sheet was measured rather than any meaningful gap in the hardware. The JH-652 was built on the same independent module design as the successful JH-600 series, which MCI itself described as the foundation for the 652's quality and versatility.
MCI positioned the JH-652 as a reasonably priced entry into split-monitor working for studios already committed to dual synchronized multitrack. The pitch was versatility at comparably low cost relative to purpose-built twin consoles, which only makes sense when you remember the base price was still six figures. Recording Engineer (August 1982, p.40) covered the console's ability to operate in both split and in-line formats when profiling a db recording studio's selection process. That suggests the dual-mode capability was a real selling point for rooms weighing their options.
The board found its way into working studios rather than collector vaults. A 1984 Mix studio directory lists Metalworks Recording Studio in Mississauga running an MCI JH-652 alongside a pair of JH-24 24-track machines, and Swedish Radio was reported in the same publication to have purchased more than 20 MCI JH-600 Series consoles including the top-of-the-line JH-652. That last detail is worth pausing on: a national broadcaster buying the 652 in quantity says something about how the console was regarded — not as a boutique item but as dependable infrastructure for serious multitrack work.
Anyone considering one today should know what they're getting into. These are very large, very heavy frames with integral patch bays and Tuchel connectivity that ties you to a specific wiring ecosystem. The automation - level and mute, with the wild fader extensions - is period digital control that will need attention. The Plasma Display metering is proprietary enough that failures are a genuine concern. Parts and service for a console of this vintage are a project in themselves. The upside, for a studio equipped to support it, is a split-monitor architecture that few consoles of the era offered, built on MCI's proven module design.
Collectors and engineers who know these boards tend to speak of them with the same mix of affection and wariness that greets any large-format console from the transitional era between pure analog and the first wave of automation. The JH-652 sits right at that boundary — transformerless throughout, automated, plasma-metered, and designed around a workflow (dual synchronized multitrack, split monitoring) that was central to how records got made in the early 1980s. It is not a beginner's console and it was never meant to be. It was a tool for professionals, priced like one, and the ones that survive are worth preserving for exactly that reason.
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