ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Portable remote mixer-amplifier

BT-6A portable mixer

RCA · 1958

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

RCA's transistorised portable remote amplifier, announced in RCA Broadcast News in August 1958, was a four-channel field mixer running on batteries or mains, weighing about 15 pounds. The catalogue documentation located identifies this family as the Type BN-6A, so the BT-6A designation is unconfirmed.

Introduced
1958
Category
Portable remote mixer-amplifier
Intended use
Field mixing and line feeds for remote broadcasts and events
Production
RCA Broadcast and Television Equipment Department, Camden

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    It shows RCA's move from valve to transistor circuitry in portable field gear.

  2. 02

    Four-channel mixing with cue and monitoring in a light case made outdoor event feeds more practical.

Engineering record

Weight
About 15 pounds, fully transistorised[1]
Inputs
Four channels, single-ended or balanced via plug-in transformers[1]
Power
Mercury batteries or an AC supply[1]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

Public price evidence was not sufficient to publish a defensible original figure.

Use in the field

No named deployment could be tied to this exact item by a checked source yet. Know of one? Suggest it on the contribute page.

Manuals & original documents

No authoritative manual or original document has been located for this profile.

Sources

  1. 1RCA Broadcast News No. 101 (August 1958)RCA (via worldradiohistory.com) · archive · 1958-08

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