I would also look at the Pheonix Audio stuff. One of those cats was a Neve engineer and knows what made the Neve sound the "NEVE" sound.

I don't see the Great River box as a Neve box.

The 1089 and the 1272 are great. Rupert Neve was to come out with his own vintage designs, but I think that may be on hold. Contact Amek to see if they have a clue.

The ME-1NV is based off of the Neve Circuit. I dont own one, but have used one. To me, it does sound like a Neve box. It has the exact same audio components as the MP2-NV. Which you can read about on Mercenary's site.

[url=(dead link removed)[/url]

Lowdbrent, I don't understand how you wouldnt consider it a Neve type pre.

thanks guys...cant seem to get any user info on these pre's.

Hey Kurt!
cant you do the ultimate Neve clone review that demos the great river ME NV-1, the vintech dual 72, the dan alaxander, the brent Averil 1272, and the Pheonix Audio DRS-1.

what a great grouping to review!.

Bobby Loux askes;

Hey Kurt!
cant you do the ultimate Neve clone review that demos the great river ME NV-1, the vintech dual 72, the Dan Alaxander, the Brent Averil 1272, and the Pheonix Audio DRS-1.

I have requested a review piece from Dan Alaxander (a two channel pre that retails for $1100 USD) several times but for some reason he hasn't replied. As far as the Averil, I have used them before. These only have 2 gain stages of the Neve pre design and don't have the same sound as the 1064's or 1073's which employed 3 gain stages. Actually the Alaxander pre only has 2 gain stages also. I will research the Great River and Vintechs, but I believe it the same thing. The whole concept of a "1272 clone" is kind of amusing to me, as there was never a 1272 mic pre from Neve in the first place. The first time I ever heard of a 1272 was the Brent Averil.

thanks Kurt,

yea bro, it just seems like this "Neve Clone" thing is a bit interesting. it kinda reminds me of when all the lower priced mics started coming out claiming to be copies of the U87 for like $300.00. (they all claim to sound "just like one")

I'm aware the neve was never officially a pre, but I have heard the vintech X73 which just sounded great on vocals (but pricey)..I was just curious on all the rest that claim to be "neve- esque" I'm just curious what you or a fellow real world user (thats not selling these things for a living) really thought of this neve pre thing.

I mean, if a pre sounds good, has headroom (so i dont blow it away with my voice) has some color/character to it and a real up front (in yo face) sound, thats not super clean/transparent, than I'm interested. Neve or not!

thanks again.

A phenomenon I have come across is there are times when I plug a mic into a pre and put it on an instrument or a vocalist and I think "WOW! That's Phatt!" but by the time I cut several tracks and mix them down it doesn't seem so great. On the other hand I have had exactly the opposite occur! I put a mic through a pre and I think, hmm not so great, but after I cut a bunch of tracks and mix them I go "Holy Sh*t! That sounds wonderful!" So the thing I have learned is at times a cumulative effect builds up to make a wonderful thing happen. So just don't judge a pre as too clean or uncolored until you have done a whole project with it. Sometimes less is more. Kurt

I reallized the "cumulative effect" of high end pre's when I got my first pair of API's. I had been doing the basic tracks for a record through an old large format Soundcraft. All keyboard/samples from the same keyboard rig. we had done 3 tunes already when I came to the session with the API's. The player was a little apprehensive that we had to do multiple passes (2 tracks at a time). But at the end of the day I started ruffs from the top of the tape (the Soundcraft) I was pretty much just letting them roll after I got the levels set. When we got to the 4th tune (API's) WOW. I didn't touch a nob and the Mixes were HUGE!. Much more stereo seperation, bottom, air, just amazing. you can A/B single sources all day and not hear a differance but when you get 24+ tracks THAT is where high end pre's really shine.

Tim

Originally posted by Kurt Foster:
A phenomenon I have come across is there are times when I plug a mic into a pre and put it on an instrument or a vocalist and I think "WOW! That's Phatt!" but by the time I cut several tracks and mix them down it doesn't seem so great. On the other hand I have had exactly the opposite occur! I put a mic through a pre and I think, hmm not so great, but after I cut a bunch of tracks and mix them I go "Holy Sh*t! That sounds wonderful!" So the thing I have learned is at times a cumulative effect builds up to make a wonderful thing happen. So just don't judge a pre as too clean or uncolored until you have done a whole project with it. Sometimes less is more. Kurt

Originally posted by Bobby Loux:

Hey Kurt!
cant you do the ultimate Neve clone review that demos the great river ME NV-1, the vintech dual 72, the Dan Alaxander, the Brent Averil 1272, and the Pheonix Audio DRS-1.

I answered,

As far as the Averil, I have used them before. These only have 2 gain stages of the Neve pre design and don't have the same sound as the 1064's or 1073's which employed 3 gain stages. Actually the Alaxander pre only has 2 gain stages also. I will research the Great River and Vintechs, but I believe it the same thing.

So... it looks as if I have to backpedal on this one... I must be on something that has 3 letters in it! :eek: So this is something I need to revisit. I guess I will need to listen to the Neve clone designs once more and evaluate them again. If there is one benifit (for me) in my getting the chance to evaluate all these nice pres while I do these reviews, it's that I am becoming re-educated. Kurt

if you want a neve copy - check out shep.
i used to have 2 8078 sheps , and i compared
them to the real neve 8078 that old man rupert built
himself and i couldn't hear anything different eq or pre.
as for the in your face sound for a vocal , very little of that has to do with a neve module. if you are talking about a certain texture and color to the sound-
then ya - and the neves are cool.

Originally posted by stealthbalance:
. if you are talking about a certain texture and color to the sound-
then ya - and the neves are cool.

yeah stealth,

thats exactly the "thing" I'm looking for. I did try to look up the shep on google but didnt have much luck with the model number. I'll try with the 8078.

thanks