PT 8.1, Apogee ADx16 and DAx16 converters with Antelope Trinity clocking.
#Neve 1073 preamp review tv#
Nic Hard is a Brooklyn-based producer/engineer/mixer who has engineered and/or produced albums for The Bravery, The Church, Aberdeen City, Tv Tv, The Kin, The Ropes and The Perfects (among many others.) For more on Nic, or to get in touch, visit. Contact any of Vintage King’s reps at 24 to arrange a demo or purchase.
#Neve 1073 preamp review series#
The Neve 1073 LB 100% discrete 500 Series mic pre is available via Vintage King Audio for $995. I would happily track an entire record using the 1073 LB feeling certain that I would get a damn good result. I did not think it would out perform the X81, of which I have been a big supporter. Still good on the LB, but not quite as good.Īt the end of the day the 1073 LB surpassed my expectations. The Original 1073 cranked up even at 70db sounded f+*^))ing awesome!! I would track guitars like that all day long.
Same on vocals, the overall sound of the Neve LB was not as “creamy,” there was a pleasing sparkle to the top end on the original.Īgain cranking up the preamps to 65 / 70db of gain (using a distressor to bring it down) the difference was similar to the difference between the X81 and the 1073 LB except this time it was the 1073 LB that was not as good. The LB was definitely brighter and sharper, but unfortunately not as beefy or pleasant to listen to as the original 1073. Again, using nice gainy guitars as source we flipped back and fourth between the LB and the original. This time around the difference was a bit more dramatic.
#Neve 1073 preamp review full#
Now that may not mean much to some people, but to me it does.Īlright, so we’ve seen the 1073 LB up against something similar…however I was not entirely satisfied that I had put it through its paces, so I phoned up Oliver at Mission Sound in Brooklyn, who has a whole console full of original 1073s! Even at 70db gain it held together and was exciting!Īt 65db the X81 was dramatically thinner - most of the bottom end seemed to vanish and at 70db was buckling and choking. Fuzz… thick, blistering, chunky, wonderful fuzz. Switching back to the 409 on the guitar amp, I wound the preamps up to 65db of gain and ran them through an SR-71 Blackbird to bring the gain into the converters down, no real compression happening. For those who enjoy grit and edge this is where the two preamps were noticeably different.
Now, some of the recording purists and those who love pristine may want to not read any further. So, I thought that I should really put them through the ringer and that is when I discovered a real difference. Just a touch smoother than the X81.Īll in all the difference between these two was minor. The Neve seemed less aggressive around 6k. Switching to vocals, Josh’s “golden voice” ringing through a U47 with an original Berlin PVC m7 capsule provided a little more apparent difference between the two. Subtle… definitely nothing to write home about, yet. ” Īt first the differences were barely noticeable, in fact the Neve sounded more solid and thumpy than the Vintech in the extreme low end. So for the first test I had Josh play some of his best guitar riffs through an Oahu amp (made by Oliver Archut of Tab-Funkenwerk), miked with a 409 and straight into the Neve 1073 LB, then to “tape. I chose a mic pre that I have loved for a while - the Vintech X81.
I figured this Neve should be tested against one of its contemporaries. I went to Bushwick Studio, where owner/engineer Josh Kessler was happy to geek-out over a mic preamp…oh, and provide some amazing guitar and vocal stylings (apply sarcastic tone) to test it on. Seeing as I am not a gear “addict” who has blown my entire life savings on numerous studio bits, I needed to enlist the help of a friend. To me, the best way to ascertain the quality of a mic pre is to AB it with its kin. The Neve 1073LB, a 100% discrete 500 Series mic preĪs with most vintage gear “reissues” there is always question of whether it actually does the same thing as its namesake, or if it is just another pretty box with a cool logo.
0 kommentar(er)
