Hi guys,
happy owner of Sasha's B.Bird 2x73ST here! :-) Glad to see that his work is presented in a right place for it.
First of all, I'd like to thank Sasha for being such a person! I met him through his work, but I am happy that I earn a very good friend of mine. He is a great musician, great songwriter with really really good ideas. That was a first sign for me that I am on a right way. Don't get me wrong, but I think that an engineer has to be a good, experienced musician in order to go the right way for us, musicians.
His work is extremely dedicated and passionate. As you can read above, he finds very rare components and wire them in authentic way. It was a pleasant surprise when I saw inside the 1073 preamp/eq module from '70s Neve BCM10 sidecar console, and comparing it side by side with his preamp, I realized that those cards are identical! When we pulled them out, I didn't recognize which is which, honestly.
If you wanna learn the essence of Neve sound, design and topology, he is the right guy. Also, because of that, when you look inside some of the clones from today's market, you realize very fast why some things are not happening in the sound you are creating. I will mention the most important one - the POWER SUPPLY! If we go back to meaning of word "analog", we immediately realize that the end of a chain depends from the beginning. His power supply is like from BCM10 sidecar, with enormous headroom in current and voltage. That was Rupert Neve's biggest concerns when he designed those devices.
B.Bird has everything that a recording engineer/producer/musician/artist would like/expect to hear from his work. It has big body, precise details, serious punch, drive without affecting resolution, and rounded transients in most musical way. I must say that I was shocked, comparing it with other preamps, because it was a 30-40% of difference in a way of getting the final sound. When you choose the right instrument and right mic for the situation, it sounds like it was appropriately eq-ed and compressed, almost finished sound, finding its position in a song only with a fader. When I started working with it, i started learning why this preamp was, and still is, so popular. It helps you finish a song faster! :-) I must say that I didn't have those level of results with Neve clones on today's market, and also with some of today's AMS Neve products. Recording punchy drums with Neve-kind preamp - I heard stories about it, but I didn't know how to achieve it, until I tried B.Bird's 2x73ST. Earlier, everything was mushy, lazy, without detail, but when I put 2x73ST on Kick In and Snare Top close mics - I started laughing like a kid! It was a sound that I heard on thousands of records, body, punch, detail, drive, everything!
ST stands for "switching transistor". There is a switch on a front panel which says "Vintage - Modern". In real life, there are two output transistors inside, a feature that you won't find on today's products. Whey you try it for a test, there is a small but significant difference, but when you start working on a project, I must say that it is a life saver! When you want to round transients of some modern, hairy, fast transient mic and put it in place in Pro Tools, Motorola 2n3055 output transistor (Vintage mode) will do the job for you. Also, whey you want to speed up some old Neumann large condensers, TIP4 output transistor (Modern mode) is here for you. Basically, for a serious recording engineer, two preamps in one.
I can write until tomorrow about it, but it is better to hear your questions and feedback, I am here for you.
P.S. His EQP-1 eq is finished and on the way to our studio! I can't wait to put my hands on it!
Cheers,
Goran