UAD Neve 1073 vs. Kush Audio Transformer Model N

The Kush Neve and API sound great. Very colourful. Both emulations really " solid " up the sound source and can be driven into a nice distortion.
I have no idea if they sound close to a Neve or API but they sound really nice!;-)

I think the "driven" Neve thing is pretty overrated. Martin, you play acoustic music. How often are you going to be over saturating your stuff?

VEQ3 and VEQ4 are Neve style eq's.

Thanks John. I was mainly wondering if a Neve style pre would be a better match for my Blackspade UM-18R than the Dizengoff D4. I should probably ask a friend if I can try his Great River pre one day, just to see.

From what I've heard, the Dangerous D-Box or 2 bus sure does give you what I'm looking for, and I hope to get a summing mixer at some point. Right now my priorities are new guitar amp this month, (I think I'm getting the 5 watt Bad Cat Bobcat), a new computer, and a new Apollo.

It's true, I'm probably Mr. Unsaturated. I like the clarity of productions like Lyle Lovette's "Road to Ensenada", or Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia".The only noticeable saturation on those records might be the electric guitar.

I would suggest a CAPI VP28 with Litz transformer. It can be super clean with tons of headroom. You already have the D4 which is going to add a little sheen on top. I think a Neve style pre would sound great, but you're not gonna really need it to drive anything unless you're going for that on purpose. Borrowed Randy's RTZ and it really is a fantastic sounding Neve style pre. Also, I think littlesicily is selling a Neve 1073LB. Those are great. And then, of course, you've got the Heritage or BAE...but we could argue for hours about those

Your mic probably runs hot to very hot if it's based on the U47 and M49, so the D4 isn't a good match. It runs hot itself, and has a pre-set amount of headroom regardless of gain settings. That makes it a preamp much better suited to driving low-sensitivity mics, like dynamics.

Because of your hot output, what you want to look into is a pre with plenty of headroom and big low-end balls. Neve would be perfect. Will make a big difference to your overall sound (matching a mic with a suitable pre is important).

Thanks John, that's food for thought. I've always been curious about Capi's, Jeff Steger's posts are great fun.

Thanks Jake, that really does make a lot of sense, I've been struggling to get the sound I want from the Blacksapade/D4 combo, and it's a bit too forward, if that makes sense.

The UM-18r is probably the best mic around at its price point, but when I used the Soyuz 0-17, things just felt right. The 0-17 is its own entity, but the capsule is K67 style I believe.

Ooh, didn't see that, thanks kcat. I usually hesitate to do free trials though, I had instances where the demo expires but iLok sees it as me trying to use an unauthorized plug and shuts me out. I guess I'd have to uninstall before the demo time runs out.

I have about every plug in EQ ever made and I use those two more than any first. If I need more sculpting I go to Fabfilter or Waves Q10.

Just hit the "DEMO" button on the UAD Neve and get tracking! No iLok involved at all. It'll tell you a lot about whether you want that style of a pre.

You have good ears, Martin. I don't think ultimately you'll be sataified with the UAD emulation or even something like the GAP. Do something like the Great River/Heritage/BAE or get an SCA N72. That would save you some coin.

But demo those plugs right away so you get a sense of whether you even like the combo of your mic and a Neve style pre.

re: the "not needing saturation" comments or no saturation on the Lovett / Knopfler productions.....

You might be surprised.  If you like fat, and shiny - then the chance of saturation is great.  Most people overdo it - heading towards stomp box land.   A little goes a long way, and if you track, overdub, and mix through a transformer based box with discrete DOA's like the Silver Bullet, what you end up with is multiple layers of what some call "sonic varnish" which add a beautiful patina to your "clean" - or what some might call sterile - sounds.  If you like tape, you like saturation.  If you like classic recordings made with discrete transformer based consoles like Trident's, Neve 80 series, or API's, you like saturation.  Saturation is not always distorted.

I wasn't perfectly clear, and you're totally right drbill, thanks.

I realize the sound quality I like has inherent saturation. I've recorded on 16" 2 track through a Trident board, (talk about low end, yikes), I've been at Electric Ladyland when Hendrix's gear was still there, did my first demo at Bell Sound where Buddy Holly recorded in NYC, was at Unique Recording in NY, on the same board Steve Winwood did "Back in the High Life", all 24 tk tape to 1/4" stereo, so I must admit, I probably like me some saturation ;-)

I guess what I poorly stated before was I like the clean and clear production style on albums like "Road to Ensenada" and "Sailing to Philadelphia". I've thought about this a bit, and I think what I'm getting at is I like productions that are vocalist centric, combining acoustic and electric sounds, not a huge modern 110 track pop production. Ryan Adams walks the line pretty well, he's got a band on most tracks, two acoustic guitars, electrics, piano, organ, bass, drums, yet the focus remains the lyric and the feeling the singer is channeling.