A few questions about the DAV BG1

Cool. Where can we find this comparison posted?

sure thing, found samples here. One slighly misleading thing is that some samples are slightly louder than others, so what I did was run them through REAPER and made them all the same level.

The only sample that I like on the same level as the DAV is perhaps the
UA 610.
 
The BG-1 sounds like more than it costs, but it costs more than it should...

That about wraps it up...
 
In that particular test, I think it does really well.

For the most part, it's a lot different than most of the others in the lineup ... in the sense that it's one of only a few that isn't using the tubes or transformers. And along with the millenia and the True, the whole idea is the transparency and accuracy thing.

It does seem to do pretty well in that test, though. Very different from the others in the group.
 
I like my Dav BG1 a lot. A whole lot. And yet, oddly enough, I fell compelled NOT AT ALL to post samples.

I guess that makes me a douchebag.

Gotta tell ya, though, I wish they had a rackmount version when I bought mine.

Ditto . . .

Paj
8^)
 
You shouldn't need to have someone spoon feed you a preamp comparison.

Listen to the examples that exist and make up your mind. If you know preamps at all, and have some favorites that you already use and are familiar with, you should be able to judge the characteristics of the BG-1.

That's what I did anyway. Big Ray posted some examples of the BG-1, which I listened to and was impressed by. My next step was to order the BG-1, and it did indeed sound exactly as I expected from hearing Big Ray's recordings.

Besides, you must be aware of the amount of time it would take to set up a session to record all those different preamps. First, who has all of those sitting together in one room? Just getting them together would be a major job right there. To do the whole job from beginning to end is a giant undertaking. Why should anyone do that for someone here on a message board who is just casually interested anyway? It's not realistic.

Listen to the examples that do exist, and determine for yourself whether you like the tone of the BG-1. You really can hear the characteristics of pretty much any piece of gear without having to A/B it against other gear.
 
You shouldn't need to have someone spoon feed you a preamp comparison.

Listen to the examples that exist and make up your mind. If you know preamps at all, and have some favorites that you already use and are familiar with, you should be able to judge the characteristics of the BG-1.

That's what I did anyway. Big Ray posted some examples of the BG-1, which I listened to and was impressed by. My next step was to order the BG-1, and it did indeed sound exactly as I expected from hearing Big Ray's recordings.

This works easily enough, I suppose, for the BG-1 or my MixPre, which are relatively fixed in their application, but for a preamp like the Great River, be aware that there are so many variables that you will need a whole lot of samples to accurately portray all the sounds you can come up with. You can't just play one sample and say, "here's the GR sound". It can be almost as clean as my MixPre or get pretty raunchy. The GR, for example, has an initial gain and a final gain, so you can overload the first stage from none to a lot and still end up with a reasonable signal. You can change the input impedance. You can load the output transformer, or not. You can bypass the output transformer or use it. You can insert a processor after the initial stage and before the final stage.

Oh, and by the way, on the subject of DIs, the GR is an absolutely killer DI on bass. So much so that even I noticed it. :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
You shouldn't need to have someone spoon feed you a preamp comparison.

Listen to the examples that exist and make up your mind. If you know preamps at all, and have some favorites that you already use and are familiar with, you should be able to judge the characteristics of the BG-1.

That's what I did anyway. Big Ray posted some examples of the BG-1, which I listened to and was impressed by. My next step was to order the BG-1, and it did indeed sound exactly as I expected from hearing Big Ray's recordings.

Besides, you must be aware of the amount of time it would take to set up a session to record all those different preamps. First, who has all of those sitting together in one room? Just getting them together would be a major job right there. To do the whole job from beginning to end is a giant undertaking. Why should anyone do that for someone here on a message board who is just casually interested anyway? It's not realistic.

Listen to the examples that do exist, and determine for yourself whether you like the tone of the BG-1. You really can hear the characteristics of pretty much any piece of gear without having to A/B it against other gear.

Comparing and evaluating are two different things, as you say.
 
I like my new (used) DAV BG-1. I have no idea what they should cost, but Mick at DAV gave me a quote of $930 (shipped) to have one built and sent to me in Canada. I declined and ended up paying $650 shipped for mine. Regardless of what they should cost, I'm happy with my $300 savings. As it happens, I also dig the sound, so I am a happy camper.

I don't know, I've begun to put less and less stock in all of these online discussions about how great Preamp A is, how shitty Microphone B is, and blah, blah, blah. There's just so much posturing going on a lot of the time. For me, I find something at a price point I can afford, read up on it as much as I can bear, try to filter out the most extreme of the opinions and reviews, and then if I'm convinced I'll buy item X used at a price that I'm pretty sure I can resell it for. Then I put it through its paces and if I like what I hear I keep it. It's a process that's worked well thus far, and it has reduced my level of gear-sluttery substantially. Because, damn, a lot of us folks on these gear forums would make darned good evangelists or used car salesmen the way we talk about certain gear. When I first came on HR.com I was made to believe that Jesus himself would probably have used a Studio Projects B1 hooked through a DMP3 as his start-up HR rig. And then before I ever really tried the combination out I was already on the bandwagon telling other new folks just how great this setup would be for them. I know we're all well-intentioned, but we should get on some of these audio manufacturers to pay us a little commission or something. It's what I like to call the Gear Snowball Effect: I recommend Item X because I read that this guy on HR.com recommended it, and he recommended it because two other guys recommended it on Gearslutz, and they recommended it because three others did, and so on and so forth. And then one day someone investigates and finds out that none of us has actually used the piece of gear in question, and that the first guy that recommended it only did so because Harvey Gerst gave it a good review in Mojo Pie. It's a vicious cycle, man! :)

Anyway...
 
Last edited:
It's what I like to call the Gear Snowball Effect: I recommend Item X because I read that this guy on HR.com recommended it, and he recommended it because two other guys recommended it on Gearslutz, and they recommended it because three others did, and so on and so forth. And then one day someone investigates and finds out that none of us has actually used the piece of gear in question, and that the first guy that recommended it only did so because Harvey Gerst gave it a good review in Mojo Pie. It's a vicious cycle, man! :)

Right, exactly. And I'd speculate that *most* of the gear discussions on message boards are by people talking about gear they've never owned, used, or heard.

It also depends on which board you are reading though. Some that cater to professional engineers tend to have more actual gear owner/users. Like gearslutz.com or prosoundweb.com, for example. Engineers posting there will tend to have exposure to more gear in their work, and actual hands on experience. But you still have to read between the lines.

Ultimately, nothing anybody says on a message board can come close to actual time spent with the gear. Even in a bad listening environment like a Guitar Center.
 
I'm not too sure about that, I don't think folks would get so bent about something they haven't tried. I'm sure it happens, but I don't think it's THAT common.
 
These reasons listed above in this thread are exactly why I do not rely on internet and magazine reviews when I buy equipment. Sometimes those reviews may affect what equipment I may or may not add to my research list though. In the end, I talk to engineers whose opinion I respect and trust. That is how I make decisions when I can not do all of the hands on research myself. I listen to the people who I know, and the people who constantly do work that I admire and enjoy. This form of research has yet to let me down.
 
ok so my DAV has arrived. It's just as good as in the samples I listened to, I am very pleased as well as very shocked that such a good-sounding preamp could cost so little, regardless of it's supposedly primitive design and cheap components. In fact it not only sounds great, but it sounds like no other preamp I've ever heard; (but I admit that could have to do with my limited expirience) it has open detailed highs but it sounds...I dunno..not dark, but really thick.

I'm going to keep expirementing with it; A/B it to my RNP and try it out on different things. Right now my best mic is an mxl v67g; I am eagerly awaiting for my newly purchased akg 414 to get to my house. Maybe I'll post some samples.
 
I've spent the last little while comparing the RNP to the DAV.
I've had very interesting results. If I had the money, I would keep both,
because I really think that in some instances the RNP would be better, while the DAV would be better in other applications.

I first tested my voice, in a regular, fairly low talking voice. Through my headphones I couldn't tell a huge difference but when I listened to them through some nice speakers the difference was quite noticable. I don't even know if I like one over the other though, they sound completely different.
The RNP has more air, much more air. In some tests that added to performance and in others it made it sound thin in comparison to the DAV.

EDIT: Just finished more extensive testing with vocals, from speaking voice to singing in deep chest voice all the way up to head voice and falsetto, all at different tones. I've decided that if there was a showdown between the DAV and the RNP in a dark alley, the DAV would have the RNP running away with it's tail between it's legs crying for it's mother in no time.

But seriously, the DAV is knocking my socks off, but if I didn't have the $$$$ for the DAV I'd def. stay with the RNP, it is a great preamp nonetheless, especially for the price, but you just can't beat the thick, big, open and detailed sound of the DAV.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top