Neve style pre amps Vs Tube Pre amps,....Are N72 boards still here ?

Ive been reading about Neve amps pre amps & how good they sound......I have sadly never used...how do they stack up against good tube pre amps say.......I only have DIYed tube pres at the moment Re 47, V72 & some RCA copies & am looking for more sounds colours.....

Im thinking of DIYing a neve type pre amp.....i researched a bit & read a member here Fabio was selling boards bit like the N72......I can seem to find him, is he still about?

Also read good things about off the shelf china pre & compressor from golden age......Any good ?

Thanks for reading...

Dunno about the N72 boards, but search for EZ1290 and you'll find a guy selling Neve boards.

neve is cool
telefunken
langevin
api

even jensen transformers are good

Thanks guys been reading & reading about this neve stuff so many model numbers and combinations of modules.....its doing my head in

I cant seem to find where to get EZ1290 boards......

found a few kits here & there  but most seem to be partial kits & would need to buy more kits for PSU and so on, its working out expensive....

I like the look of the seventh circle N72 ....but tp get it shipped to UK seems to be more complicated then building it....

Sound Skulptor M73 looks good 270 ish pounds.....was thinking could build my own PSU & not buy their rack to save money...

or is it worth buying the cheapy golden age pre 73 at 250 pounds & some carnhill iron.

Give Don's NV73 and Pete's EQN a consideration. You need a lunchbox, API or 51x rack though. So far, these two are not a bad sounding combination with the limited time I have had to play with them. There's also Audio Maintenance 1073 version which he has the 500 series and rack unit version of.

sorry to be off topic, but...

Uncle CJ is back - again! 

back to the topic:

1272 good if you need about 45-55dB of gain, more than that go with a 1073/1290 circuit - both will sound excellent.  if you know how to etch you could etch a BA283 card and do a JLM hot rod mod to it (sounds great this way).  it cost me about $1500 to build a quad channel version of the 1272 with the JLM Hot Rod Mod and Carnhills (in/out), outboard PSU, engraved front panel and chassis, etc.  i'm sure there are cheaper ways of doing it.
kind regards,
grant

I built 1290s with Carnhill transformers and they sound fantastic - a friend bought the golden age and we compared them. Not even similar. I don't know if changing the transformers is the difference.

Thanks for yr thoughts guys......I dont need too much level I only need one channel hence the golden age angle, I kinda want a golden age but better sound ....its seems the off the shelf kits are card formats by the time I add the cost of the other parts I need it starts to add up.....sadly I cant etch ...I was thinking about vero boarding something like the N72 two stage version.....

There was a member (dfer?) selling BA283 boards in the BM recently, not sure if they still have any, also skylar made some a while back with screw hole wire terminals and shared the gerbers, so if you want to do a small run of those I'm sure you'll get rid of the extras in the BM.  Both 1272 and 1290 use the same trafos,  and both need a switch.  The 1272 uses a cheaper (2 gang vs 3 gang) switch than the 1290.  As far as gain, you should be able to get more than 45-50 dB gain out of a 1272, it just may not meet the distortion criteria mr neve meant them for?  AFAIK, the Avedi's MA5 is based on a 1272.

Don't overlook AML. They sell Neve-ish 500 series versions with Carnhills either assembled or in kit form. I just bought 2 EZ1073's and, man, having that EQ makes a big difference IMHO.

http://www.audiomaintenance.com/acatalog/aml_electronic_products.html

Good luck!

gary o said:

I cant seem to find where to get EZ1290 boards......
....or is it worth buying the cheapy golden age pre 73 at 250 pounds & some carnhill iron.

Click to expand...

You can buy the EZ1290 board from here: http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=22828.0 for $20 a board.  I'm pretty sure you'll be able to assemble a channel + PSU for less than £250.