I may be completely incorrect here but after working in broadcast for so long I can tell you that the Neve company has gone to numerous different ownerships. At NBC television in Washington DC, in 1996, they sold their old original Rupert Neve console and purchased a Neve 55 series broadcast console. That console was a total piece of crap and in less than 10 years time had deteriorated to the point of not being able to use it any more! That console was manufactured by the Siemens Corp. that had purchased Neve. It was a Neve in name only! So I think that the 44 series console you are talking about is probably a Siemens Neve broadcast board? I wouldn't touch it with a 10 meter pole and that my friend is about three times longer than most 10 foot poles!

Now if you can find some restored original 1073 modules, I think you would be better off with those? You would be better off with a knockoff imitation 1073 than that 44 series probably. That 55 series console was all surface mount components with very poor quality switches and potentiometers, no better than a cheap PA console. There was nothing to admire about its sound either. C'est la vie

Didn't Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear in St. Remy France?
Ms. Remy Ann David

Whoah! Thank you!

Well, I think I will follow your advice and buy a pair of 1073!

it's true that when I look at the mixer, it doesn't look like a neve mixer. the switches and potentiometers are very strange...

Thanks

RemyRAD wrote: So I think that the 44 series console you are talking about is probably a Siemens Neve broadcast board?

You're wrong, the Neve 44 series was designed and manufactured by Neve before Neve was bought by Siemens. Siemens just kept on manufacturing it after they acquired the Neve company...

RemyRAD wrote: That 55 series console was all surface mount components with very poor quality switches and potentiometers, no better than a cheap PA console. There was nothing to admire about its sound either. C'est la vie

Wrong, the 44 is a modular console, no surface mount, good pots (sfernice) and switches. Transformers are found on each mic preamp. I have been using one for years without any problem.

Moreover how can someone compare the benefit of 2 channels of 1073 on one hand and 20 channels of 44 on the other? If someone wants a console, it's probably because he needs to record more than two signal at once...

In summary, the Neve 44 console was certainly not the top of the Neve production but, depending on the price it is sold, it can provide 20 channels of very interesting preamps and EQs. The sound quality can easily be compared to the Studer 169 or the Sony MXP-2000 (MCI circuits) for instance.

dl