Neve has the most Neve-ness. Try starting with Brent Averill of Sherman Oaks, CA. The cheapest and most authentic way to get into Neve-ness is a Brent Averill 1272. May I recommend two channnels of 1272 so you can put up two mics from time to time.

If I didn't already own a couple of 1066 modules and since they're both about the same price (i.e.: BA's dual 1272), I would probably check out the Great River NV first.

It seems quite close enough in the Neve-style tone department and more versatile. I would even suspect it sounds just plain better and is a more useful all around tool.

Don't forget that the 1272 was not a bona fide micpre as far as Neve was concerned and (I don't know about Brent's but...) most retro modders/cloners crank all the gain on the first gain stage instead of distributing it properly ala Neve between the front and back one (and even to a 3rd stage above 50 dB of gain on the 10xx modules), often resulting in poor headroom and not the sound someone familiar with a 1073 would expect from the same gain setting, especially at both ends of the spectrum!

This is not to say that the 1272 repackages cannot be useful and valid tools in some situations but I don't think they add up to the same overall value and usefulness as the GR NV. Be sure to try them and decide for yourself though! :w:

That's a fair assessment. My memory is fuzzy but as I recall from lots of discussion on the topic the 1272 has two instead of three gain stages. The output should be wide open to keep the first one from getting past 12 o'clock where some say it produces ringingness.

I have been extremely happy with my 1272 and if fact have used it to run my midi/portastudio mixes through in stereo to give it a nice mastering effect.

I am in the market for another flavor of preamp and would like some recommendations for something that will work well in the DAW environment and complement the 1272 tone. I am not desireous of something completely different because I tend to favor the "vintage" sounds and roots music (rock, blues and country) and would probably create mixes that included the 1272 sound as well.

Would the hifi tone of Avalon or Grace Design fit this requirement or would I be more happy with another Neve flavor such as that by Great River.
I could get by with one channel but I also recongnize that two channels always comes in handy. Speaking of one channel, is the compressor in the 737 worthwhile?

The Brent Averill and Vintech sound almost identical to my ears.

"The Brent Averill and Vintech sound almost identical to my ears."

That's funny I would say the opposite. Averill's one is clearer in the highs and the Vintech brings out more of the bottomn. When I owned them I prefered the Averill 1272 on vocals and acoustic guitar and the Vintech on kicks,bass and keys. I got rid of mine a while ago but they both did a good job. In the end, I still prefered the real thing which is what I bought eventually(1066,1073's and 1081's).

I haven't used Brents modules recently but the Vintech is a godd bit cheaper and has metering on it. It is a reproduction though and doesn't use any original parts AFAIK. The Great River has some cool things on it like input and output metering plus switchable impedance for different sounds. I'm happy with my Vintech, but one day I hope to get an MP2-NV to go with it.

jeremyhillaryphd wrote:

The Brent Averill and Vintech sound almost identical to my ears.

Key word in that sentence? "almost". This is all too often a game of inches, each of those inches add up to a good bit of distance as you roll along. We can argue price points until the cows come home, but the fact of the matter remains that unless you do your level best to get every possible inch out of every piece of gear you own... you're at best doing yourself (and/or your client) a disservice.

From my experience I've found the Vintech's to be pretty 'flat' and 'unexciting' sounding... this leads to a less exciting presentation of the final product.

Your mileage may vary, but frankly, I don't feel that the Vintech units are worth using on the music I engineer... but to each their own I suppose.

Had a Vintech 1272 for about a year.... recently bought one of Brent's 1272 dual channel, and must say I like it better... When I first got the Vintech I thought it worked for some things, but always felt there was something missing. Having added some API's and the BA 1272, now I feel I'm getting what I thought was missing in these flavors... The Vintech is gone...

I really like my Great River NV so far. Haven't compared it to the Brent Averills or Vintechs though. Has made a world of difference in warming up my vocal chain into ProTools. Using it into the Cranesong HEDD 192. Trying out the SD U99 mic right now that was recommended with this preamp.
Allen :w:

Allen,
how is it going with them MP2NV and U99?

I am VERY curious.
Thanks

I love the sound of my GR-NV, When I first got it I stereo mic-ed a friend doing some Flamenco Guitar and it was sticking your head inside the damn guitar!! SSSWWWEEEEEETTTTTT.