REVIEWS on CLONES: 1073, 1176, LA2A and more

CoolCat

Well-known member
Anyone bought the Clone gear?
Id like to hear/read some non-marketing truths to your opinions on the mass of 1073's with gain and crunch and the 1176 clones, with and without ALL IN mode....and the more pricey LA2A clones.

Seems like Ive played with 100's of pieces but never bought the # 1 classic strip-chain of 1073>1176 and /or LA2A.

PLugIn comparisons would be appreciated to...
 
I bit on this deal. Theres some decent reviews. Free Headphones tossed in, make it a decent deal.
Of all the preamps, never tried the most copied 73 transformer/ design...
 

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short first impression:

unit is heavy, well made, knobs feel smooth. really good looking.
plugged in everything works and unit is quiet, stepped input gain is a nice touch. the Impedance is 300 and 1200 like the others of this type clone design. The Impedance is something I could hear change tones. Theres a very nice soft-power up and down, excellent detail.

Its all discrete, with 3qty transformers, the overdrive distorts in analog way, no digital clipping even when hitting the red limit.
With the Input max'd at 80, the output low to 30%, it had the overdrive, but when the input is brought down to -55, output at 60% a nice rounded studio soft compression sound was achieved.

Tried the guitar/ instruments and again all kinds of gain, with clean tones or some edge-distortion can be achieved. Its not a FUZZ box FX pedal, this type distortion is more on the clean realm. The ability to get a huge signal into the DAW was impressive.

I just ran the Output into the Line In on my interface. Nothing else in the loop.
The 24 DC was a line lump, which was very decent with 3 -prong ac going to the stepdown, then the 24vdc cable going to the unit. No problem and quiet.
Im really over all impressed with it for the $250ish I cant imagine another design sounding 1000's$$$ times better. Ive never had that happen since my DMP3/RNC actually.

The mfg..... builds for other brands, going way back.... Alctron did foundry for many companys and once they learned the designs soon put out their own competing version. That might have rubbed some wrong...I guess they can complain to Rupert Neve about designs being copied?? lol
But here was have a CLONE of a Neve 1073 design, with all the different parts I suppose. The 1073 history reading gets out of control as miniscule parts weren't even consistent with the original let alone the obsoleting of parts etc...etc.. and fast forward to todays Clones, so many trying to compare OEP to CARNHILL to SOWTER to CUSTOM WOUND to JENSENS to all that is a bit much for me.
I have had transformers in units, the Joe Meek One Q lets the user have IRON ON or OFF.(that was kind of eye opening...)

For the desktop version like this MP73v2, theres obviously the GAP Premier and the Great River ME1 similar looking and design. Besides parts alone, adding cost, in general, I'll bet the sounds and units are pretty close. For me I don't have the ear to hear a difference of a Carnhill vs SOWTER vs a OEP.... being in engineering world I know the costs of parts can be large, brand names with good reputations worth some extra cash too.

So which clone do you buy?
ALCTRON MP73v2 has it done right and probably at the cheapest price point for the 1073 CLone genre.
Theres so many 1073 preamps, now with grey and red & blue knobs etc..discrete parts, with input transformer w/ gain driving the second stage output transformer with gain. It makes my dry and plain interface IC sound sterile, which is why these outboard boxes exist. They do sound better.

Compared to my "standard" setup of Cloudlifter and JDI, the Alctron MP73v2 had more controls, the impedance, and metering was a win.
Both costing the similar price around $250 the Alctron MP73 has Mic IN, Line IN, and Instrument, and the sound is little more smoother or "rounded" especially with the 300 Z, while the 1200Z seems to clean up the sound a bit. It gets to splitting hairs here.



Im starting to get a pile built up again, Aphex's and Alctrons...and a LDC I cant ever seem to use because it picks up the downstairs fans. lol
Seller said I have 7 days to return it...with restock fee and I pay shipping. Very admirable online option for test driving gear.
Sometimes stupid stuff like ergonomics of a desktop or Rack is a deciding factor.

The Great River and this have the same "large" layout, of 10" deep! these are serious weight units, a lot of metal. I compared those specs too.
its 8" wide...10" deep! dang it was a lot bigger than I had expected.

DAY 2> hr 5 min 32...… Hardware vs PlugIN

Re-listen to tracks, the Alctron/Neve 1073 can do some really smooth tracking. There is a very nice something going on in discrete component land with transformers.

Pulled up my Neve 1073 Plugin and the Hardware sounded much better to my ears.
Seems every time I use RealTime plugins my mind wants to go through the Latency exercise check, maybe because in solo rabbit hole silence I hear the darth vader phaser sound a tiny bit....I doubt a young band playing energetic music would suffer over it. The Alctron/Neve aka Hardware in general has none of that vader vibe.
The software seems to exaggerate the Neve 73 Distortion by cranking the Input Gain and lowering the Output knob. I try to always avoid EQ when tracking because it never works well for me, and my Tracking headphones lie about bass and treble and mids...

This Alctron/ Neve 73 preamp is really nice in simplicity and sound. The Mic distortion is slight, the electric guitar shows the distortion much easier, but I prefer the smoother sounds with the Gain down and Output up....not sure but the 300 Z might be adding some smoothness too.

Why do I feel like Im going to want another Neve 73 pre, if I don't keep this one ? and the prices keep going up....
Alctron MP73....GAP Premier73, Great River ME1.... all the desktop 1/2 rack with the Neve flavor dual transformer In/Out, Impedance 300/1200.
Save the EQ for the Mix time, not during Tracking...

ADD> DAY 7 or 10....listening to this MP73v2, its nice sounding, and bit different in a nice smooth sound. The design of In/Out transformers all discrete parts ...a $200+ price its really impressive in all ways. Alctron has a great piece, though personally I think all these clone companys should be sending Rupert a royalty check,,,,oh well.
 

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I tried a few of the 1176 clones compared to my Rev F UA. The Hairball kit, a newer UA reissue and a Warm. It's tough. The only real conclusion I came to is that every piece of gear within the same lot is different, so there's not much point in sweating the clones. OR.....you can have an original UA rev D 1176 that sounds so different than a REV F that comparing a clone to either of these is pointless.

If it sounds good, it is good.
 
thanks... interesting and confirms what many say.
all I know is that Alctron knock off, sounded pretty damn good. I still have the tracks to compare to my dry and others.
I'll never own a full blown NEVE for $10,000 or whatever. And as you said 25 real NEVES might sound different! so down the rabbit hole one can go if they want.

sounds like some good gear you cloned, Hairball is pretty well spoken of. WARM isn't cheap imo.

yeah, if you get the sound your seeking, that's the game
 
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