any word on Vintech (Neve 1272) mic pres?

[Jerry Kahn]

I've been doing some post Christmas shopping for mic pres, and came across a bunch of Neve 1272 ads in Ebay. Turns out they aren't actual Neves, but come from a new company, Vintech, and made from "Neve components" according to the Vintech web site-- guess that means either new clones or frankensteins from vintage Neve pieces. Geepers! (I thought). I called the Vintech founder, a guy named "Dallas" who lives in Florida, who then in turn referred me to a local distributer in Brooklyn. Both guys actually seemed like pretty savvy engineers. The distributor claims their product uses the Neve design-- completely discreet parts (ie no IC chips), and beats Focusrite Red! And at 1300 clams for two channels, it seems quite reasonable, for what they are selling. There's a one year warrenty, and even a 1 week trial. Anyone hear anything about this or have any thoughts?

 

[ametth]

I have one. I dont see how it "beats" a focusrite red, they are different pre-amps. Anyway, the Vintech is a good pre-amp. What are you using it for? Will it be your only pre? If so, I would recommend getting something with less colour. While the "Neve" sound is a cool one, it doesn't work for everything.

 

[Jerry Kahn]

thanks ametth. I am not sure about that Focusrite comment. I think he was talking about workmanship mostly. He was particularly proud of the discreet components and, I've since found out, the vintage (canabalized) Neve transformers. The Vintech comes in a very plain blue box, not a lot of knobs, and only a couple of buttons and meters, whereas Focusrite Red looks to me like a nuclear detonation device. But his point was that it's just a showey faceplate, and if you looked inside at the guts of it, it just wasn't all that electronically exciting. I don't know about any of that, myself-- I just care about sound.

But could you elaborate more on the "too colored" thing?

Right now it's my only pre, unless I return it. I was hoping it would work well for legit/classical vocals, for starters --a lot of my friends, (and I myself) are classically trained singers. A few of my friends have asked me to help make operatic, broadway or nite club style demo CDs. I also want to get into recording original music containing live woodwinds, live strings and acoustic guitar combined with sequenced syth stuff and some fake amped electric guitar (Pod/sans amp). Mic-ing a drum set or Marshall amp will probably not be a priority of mine-- at least for now. Thanks again.

--jk