Sound samples

This is purely for fun and not meant to be a real scientific comparison, blah, blah, blah. I always enjoy this sort of thing so here's something I threw together this afternoon. Microphone is a Peluso P12.

http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/000api312.mp3 (DIY api 312 with Cinemag in / out)

http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/000redd47.mp3 (DIY REDD47 with Cinemag in, Sowter out)

http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/000neve-01.mp3 (DIY Neve 1081)

Steve

All sounds awesome! Hard to distinguish them, I'm no guitarman, but they all certainly got their own character.

Nice. Really like the Neve in the solo acoustic application. Seemed like the R47 rolled the transients off of bit more than the other 2.

Yeah. The neve sounds very nice. Almost sounds like a soft limiter or something...

D.

All great!
But I like the r47 most.
Neve only on third place :razz:

Thanks. I really like them all which is the fun of all this DIY. I hear the Redd as being thicker sounding which I've liked for vocals in particular. It's also interesting to note how much cheaper and easier it is to make the API style pre compared with the others. That has to be one of the best bang for bucks projects.

Steve

Which DOA did you use in the 312? It sounds really nice. Thanks for the samples.

A P

Yep, I thought the R47 might sound nice on vocals too. The API's just sound like rock and roll to me. Don't ask me to elaborate.

Funny how everyones' tastes are different!

Wow. I far prefer the 47. Whoa, it's totally different than the others. The neve is glassy and my least favorite, sounded almost smeary. The API very mid-rangy. The 47 has balls and still plenty of top end. The notes are so much more differentiated. Each articulation lives in its own space. Instead of all mushed and slurred together like the other two. Wow. Thanks, Steve!
cheers!

I didn't have the chance to listen the samples yet, but it would be much more fun to listen them without knowing which is which :green:

Names often paint wrong pictures in our brain :wink:

After listening on the Focals I say Redd47 has the most balls :thumb: but it is also louder than the other 2
Neve does sound a bit glassy on some passages but not bad at all...

I wonder how the all JLM iron BA would sound vs the other 3 :grin:

The RED sounds somewhat muddy in the low range. This may be due to an imbalance between the lows, mids and highs. The output transformer doesn't seem to be handling the program well.

The NEVE has the best sounding mids and highs. They are transparent and the low level signal recovery is the best of the three. You can hear this effect on the string fingering sounds and mids and highs in the reverb tails. The lows are being lost. This is probably an effect of DC appearing in the output transformer core, a weakness of all of the early NEVE amps. There is a tradeoff for getting that Class A sound.

The API has the best all around sound. The lows are full, the mids clear, and the highs are open. The low level recovery is good. I am also curious as to which DOA you used and which Cinemag input you selected.

The API was done with the Melcor opamp and with Cinemag cmmi-8-pca input iron and cmoq-2s output iron. I etched a few of the original style pc boards and did the Bo Hansen DI mod to them, added phase, phantom, and pad and all is done. Those are super easy and great sounding to my ears. I had to make an adaptor pcb for the input iron to sit on as they have more pins than the original but that wasn't a biggie.

Steve

[quote author="burdij"] ... The lows are being lost. This is probably an effect of DC appearing in the output transformer core, a weakness of all of the early NEVE amps. There is a tradeoff for getting that Class A sound.[/quote]

It's not Class A. It's A/B. I believe it's also a push-pull.

I believe the Class A Neves with gapped DC transformers are actually known for having a strong low end, not weak. If that's the design you were referring to.

Funny how everyone hears something different in the samples. I have to agree they all sound good. I woulnd't kick any of them out of the studio! :grin:

Steve, that's a great sounding room. Edit: What mic pattern did you use? And no reverb, right, just the room?

Cheers!

[quote author="guitarmaker"]Microphone is a Peluso P12.
Steve[/quote]

Yes, you are partially correct. The 1081 uses a plug-in single-ended output (not push-pull, implying a differential output) op amp and from the looks of the circuit, its going to be a AB. Perhaps guitarmaker can shed some light on why the bass sound subdued in this comparison. My theory appears not to be correct, in this case.

BTW- here is a link to the 1081 manual (circa 2000), if anyone is interested:

http://www.ams-neve.com/downloads_all/files/Outboard/1081_User_Guide.pdf

I really don't know why the Neve clone sounded light in the bass. The mic was in cardoid pattern and I really don't know yet if I like it. It's fairly bright but smooth. His C12 version. I'm going to try and do this again with a different mic on electric guitar. That acoustic is supposed to ship outta here.

The "room" is a Kurzweil Rumour. The real room is a 10" x 13" spare bedroom with a whole bunch of junk in it and a computer. Not good sounding at all.

Steve

Well, I'm not surprised there was a reverb, I think that accounts for some of the glassiness I heard. But at the same time it was quite good in giving a sense of space and it fooled me, at least towards the end. When I first heard the samples I thought I was hearing FX. Then, with more listening I wasn't sure...

anyway nice guitar playing too, BTW!

I don't want to get off topic, but have you tried a Pelusa 47? May not be so bright.

Yeah, I have to have some sort of reverb on the dry sound. The Rumour is a nice box.

Here is some electric guitar recorded with an SM7. Guitar is DIY Telecaster. Amp is DIY Vox AC30. Lots of DIY here :grin:

http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/nevetele.mp3
http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/apitele.mp3
http://www.pacinfo.com/~sholst/reddtele.mp3

I haven't tried the Peluso 47 yet. I think my next nice mic will be a ribbon of some sort.

Steve

Preferred the mid forward nature of the API and R47 here. They're relatively close. The Neve sounded dull to me. I'm suprised!
Craig