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anonymous 7 February 2004

I've looking to get my good mic preamp for rock type stuff. I read some stuff about the Speck and listen to the clips here and really liked what i saw. At the same time, both hear and at GS, it seems like the Great River NV pres are really nice and versatile (though more colored than the Speck I would imagine). Some day down the road, I'd love to own both, but for the time being, which do you guys think might be the better starter pre? Of course, the $200 difference can factor in too... Thanks!

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AudioGaff Sat, 02/07/2004 - 21:42

You have to decide if you want real clean or colored? The GR NV is very much like the Neve 1073 which is a VERY popular and liked sound. While it may not be the perfect sound for every mic and source, your not likely to complain about what you hear from it no matter what source you use it on. If it were it me, between the two I'd choose the GR NV.

anonymous Sat, 02/07/2004 - 22:22

Originally posted by AudioGaff:
GR NV is very much like the Neve 1073 which is a VERY popular and liked sound.

Hi, sorry to ask an off topic question, but...
Audio Gaff, when you say that the Neve 1073 is the popular and liked sound, how do you actually mean that. Can you really listen to a song on the radio or a CD and say, "yeah that's very trendy now, that's the 1073 pre on the vocals!!"
Sometimes I feel that I shouldn't even be in recording since I can't tell the difference between two SIMILAR types of preamps IN A SONG, and all the other ppl can. I mean it's easy to say "hey those Diesel shoes are really popular and liked at the moment, everyone wears them", because they're easy to recognise, but I think to recognize and differentiate between different types of preamps on different instruments in a song is a bit harder. How do you guys do it???
There was a preamp comparison on here some months ago by Kurt Foster of just single acoustic guitar recorded and there wasn't so many (in fact none I think) ppl who could tell what preamps they were recorded thru. And thats only an acoustic on its own...what happens when you hear a busy mix???? Can you really say "Hey thats a Sebatron on the acoustic guitar!!""
How is that skill achieved? ;)
thanks :c:

AudioGaff Sat, 02/07/2004 - 23:50

Audio Gaff, when you say that the Neve 1073 is the popular and liked sound, how do you actually mean that. Can you really listen to a song on the radio or a CD and say, "yeah that's very trendy now, that's the 1073 pre on the vocals!!"

Nobody can always tell with accuracy what was done with what in a mix. I don't really care or need to know that. You call only really tell the sound of different pieces of gear from experience when you use them as tools to do recordings. What I do know is that the professionals who recorded thousands of the greatest hits and/or sound recordings I have heard were done using some type of Neve mic pre and many of them were done using dozens of channels through a Neve recording console. Read any pro trade mag, go to any top pro studio, ask any top pro engineer which mic pres they use most often, and you'll find that the Neve mic pre is one of the favorite and top choices. The dozen or more Neve mic pre clone makers confirm how great and popular that specific type of sound is. It is not a perfect or always the best sound, but it is a popular sound and a very much liked sound.

Bobby Loux Sun, 02/08/2004 - 22:31

Originally posted by kidtexas:
I've looking to get my good mic pre for rock type stuff. I read some stuff about the speck and listen to the clips here and really liked what i saw. At the same time, both hear and at GS, it seems like the great river NV pres are really nice and versatile (though more colored than the speck I would imagine). Some day down the road, I'd love to own both, but for the time being, which do you guys think might be the better starter pre? Of course, the $200 difference can factor in too... Thanks!

I demo'd both mainly for my vocal as I could only buy one piece at the time...i really dug them both! I went with the ME-1NV due to the main fact that you truly get two sounds out of that box.

when I would back off the drive and push the output I was in a clean section (not quite as clean as the Speck but very close) however, when really driving the gain thats when the Nevesque thing kicked in (ideal for vocals, bass, kick, etc)..

plus, I knew I would never need the mix feature off the Speck and wasnt sure how much I was paying for that feature (as far as a bang for buck thing)..I'm currently looking for a very fast/clean pre for my snare drum at the moment and thought again about the Speck as it really sounds great!

one quick thing, I was pretty blown away by that "Big Upfront Sound" we commonly hear used to describe the many Nevesque clone mic pre's available these days. the Speck, though clean and naturaly not a neve clone, does have that big upfront thing going on in that pre.

good luck!

Johnson Cabasa Mon, 02/09/2004 - 05:15

i have both a speck and the great river. the great river doesn't sound like a 1073 at all, i think it sounds better. i hvae 4 of the speck 5.0's that i use like a little mixer from time to time since i cant afford the api mixer but the speck works great. sometimes i have even run my great river into the speck for the mixer part and that worked good to

anonymous Tue, 02/10/2004 - 11:52

Having both the MP2NV and Speck, my preference overall is the Speck for what I'm doing (mostly acoustic folk rock, vocals). I definitely dig the GR for its ability to drive the input/output, for the thick tone it imparts on most sources, but as far as "upfront" sound goes, the Speck is every bit as present as the GR, and its cleaner tone seems to help it cut more clearly through a mix. The GR is great for big sounds (electric guitar, drums, synths) but the Speck can handle those as well, with a bit less fat. I never use the mix node, but even so, the 5.0 pre is priced attractively for its level of quality. I think it would be worth it at an even higher price!

anonymous Tue, 02/10/2004 - 19:04

Originally posted by Sen:

Originally posted by AudioGaff:
GR NV is very much like the Neve 1073 which is a VERY popular and liked sound.

Hi, sorry to ask an off topic question, but...
Audio Gaff, when you say that the Neve 1073 is the popular and liked sound, how do you actually mean that. Can you really listen to a song on the radio or a CD and say, "yeah that's very trendy now, that's the 1073 pre on the vocals!!"
Sometimes I feel that I shouldn't even be in recording since I can't tell the difference between two SIMILAR types of preamps IN A SONG, and all the other ppl can. I mean it's easy to say "hey those Diesel shoes are really popular and liked at the moment, everyone wears them", because they're easy to recognise, but I think to recognize and differentiate between different types of preamps on different instruments in a song is a bit harder. How do you guys do it???
There was a preamp comparison on here some months ago by Kurt Foster of just single acoustic guitar recorded and there wasn't so many (in fact none I think) ppl who could tell what preamps they were recorded thru. And thats only an acoustic on its own...what happens when you hear a busy mix???? Can you really say "Hey thats a Sebatron on the acoustic guitar!!""
How is that skill achieved? ;)
thanks :c: I think you bring up some really good points. I can't believe how people toss around mic pre suggestions. Don't like your vocals? Try a different mic pre. BS I says! Try a different mic! It's important to use a quality mic pre so you can get a decent signal to tape, but the emphasis on tonal variations of different mic pres is just over hyped and out of hand. It's as annoying as arguing the difference between interconnects.

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