Originally Posted by andrew montreal ➡️

Hi all,

The other day I compared the AMS Neve 1073N with the Heritage Audio 1073. We were tracking various styles of vocals using a Heyne-modded U87 and a Bock 507. I was surprised by the difference between the two units and would like to discuss the experience with others who've made the same comparison. I was also surprised because in terms of character and tone, my experience seemed to be the opposite of many out here. I found that the AMS Neve had more charactered than the Heritage... In a good way for me, in a not so good way for my buddy Max with whom I was doing for the test.

(As a side note... I recognize and respect that for some people the importance of how similar either of these models is to the originals is very important. Though that is definitely a part of the conversation I hope to have, it's not my main focus. I wish to discuss the actual sonics of the two units regardless of their heritage.. I am presently on the search for a pair of preamps to add to my arsenal - Main reason is vocals as the API is just not cutting it and I happen to really appreciate the tone and saturation of the Neve-style preamps.)

The Heritage was very classy... It had the Neve tone but was less dense/charactered than I recall the vintage Neve units I've heard in the past being. It was clear... No big lower mid cloud. The highs on the Heritage were transparent but not magical. S's would come out sharply and uncoloured... A good thing to some and less a good thing to others. I could see it being a pleasure to work with... Not too aggressive and yet open. Perfect for post-production film work. That being said, it had less character than the AMS Neve and I like character. In some cases, when you want that thickness and forwardness, I don't know if the Heritage will give you that. In fact, when pushing the gain it went fom pretty clean to unusable distortion whereas the AMS Neve would get thicker and thicker till it eventually became unusable.

The EQ on the Heritage was very "clean". Again, useful but I wonder about character. I wasn't in awe of what I was hearing. The high shelf, on the other hand, was definitely not to my liking... It seemed to go too low into the upper mids... It brought out a harshness in signals that I didn't like.

All in all, a very clear open preamp with the Neve character. My buddy enjoyed how it didn't impart too much character to the signals thus making them easy to layer.

The AMS Neve on the other hand was thick with lots of character. Loved the sound. A bit more aggressive (which could be good in some cases, less good in others). Thicker sounding as well... Which is sometimes amazing, sometimes something I find myself having to deal with during the mixing process when I'm using the API and pushing the gain on it.

The EQ was something else... It had that tone that I recognize and love. Very coloured and solid throughout. I could feel it moving frequency ranges forward in a thick manner whereas the Heritage seemed a little pointier. The highs were grainy and magical. I was loving it though I was aware... Was all of this character too much? It was denser than the Heritage and not as open and classy (by classy I mean clean pop). While I was in heaven listening to it, I do recognize that as compared to the Heritage, it may be more challenging at mix time.

Please share your thoughts.

Andrew

Originally Posted by andrew montreal ➡️

Hi all,

The other day I compared the AMS Neve 1073N with the Heritage Audio 1073. ...

Originally Posted by Aaron Rash ➡️

Hmm,

Interesting thread. I kind of feel the exact opposite from you. I have owned 6 different AMS Neve 1073 reissues and 1 Heritage audio module so far. I also have a pair of vintage 1073's at the moment.

Every reissue from AMS Neve I have owned except for the first one I had all sounded way too clean for my taste. No magic whatsoever. They didn't sound like the originals. The Heritage audio was spot on. The first time I heard it I emailed Peter and congratulated him for actually building a module that sounds like the originals with new parts.

The first AMS Neve reissue I had however sounded just like the Heritage. Being that I have owned only 1 Heritage audio module... I'm hoping they all have the same sound as the one I have here now. All the AMS modules I have all sound different from each other. I would think they would be able to match them closer these days with modern components but some sound like they have a blanket over them.


Also, I picked up my Heritage module for 2 grand. The AMS ones are around 3 grand if you get a demo deal unit from vintage king. That's what I have always done.

The BAE have always been the least exciting sounding units to me.


I have never been a huge fan of 1073 EQ's but they are part of the circuit. For the most part I just use the pre and EQ later.

Originally Posted by Trev@Circle ➡️

Nice to hear from someone who has all the units to hand simultaneously (including the vintage one). Thanks for chiming in!

Originally Posted by psykostx ➡️

Hi OP. Neve 1073 style preamps always sounded transparent and hifi to me. I don't hear the muddy midbass. In fact, clarity is what I use them for. I think the people that say they are muddy and saturated are using too much gain. It sounds to me like the Heritage reproduce the original more closely while the AMS seem to emphasize the "mythology."

Originally Posted by andrew montreal ➡️

Unmasked truth... To be clear, I'm not looking for someone to tell me which one to buy. I know what I like and why. I can hear what the units are doing and I'm sharing this with others. I enjoy dialoguing with others about gear.

That being said, if someone has experience in certain contexts with this gear, I'm open to hearing about it. I spent s couple of hours with the units, not months as many here have. I didn't work with layers. So on. It's about sharing experience.

Also, I was surprised that I had an opposit experience to many out here.

Originally Posted by Aaron Rash ➡️

The originals have absolutely zero "mud" in them at all. The Heritage and AMS also don't have any low mid buildup. The only one that does is the BAE but it's very slight, you have to listen for it.

Originally Posted by mart ➡️

what kind of racks (power supplies) were you using these with?

For those who don't know: the 1073N is partly SMD technology and comes with a switching wall wart power supply.

There was a slight change in tone when I moved my 1073N to an AMS Neve rack, but it might also have to do with the output pot.

Originally Posted by andrew montreal ➡️

So much experimenting has gone on since my first tests and I'm glad to be able to share my findings.



Firstly to address the "mud". This is true and I apologize for using that term. Thickness is more appropriate. And indeed I was finding the AMS Neve 1073N to be thicker than the Heritage Audio 1073. But it was also less clear. More on that...



Having tested out the 1073n with three different power supplies I can attest that the power supply makes ALL the difference. A noticeable improvement was made on the clarity of the unit when I tested it with an AMS power supply as opposed to the wall wart that comes with the unit. It brought about the clarity that the Heritage unit had while still retaining a lot of the colouration/mojo thus resulting in a more refined tone.

What really blew me away though was when I tested it out with my friend Stacy's own power supply. A brilliant producer/engineer, he used to work at Le Studio up in Morin Heights. His approach to power supply is in keeping with the military approach... Supply above and beyond the nominal needs of the unit for it to perform unhindered. And perform it did. The high end was more focused. The lows actually deepened. When going back to the wall wart, it was as if an octave was taken of the resulting signal. It was quite impressive. Also, in terms of dynamics the signals that passed through felt less compressed. A truly eye-opening experience. It's easy to forget that were always dealing with electricity at this stage... Never skimp on your source.

Originally Posted by Aaron Rash ➡️

Every reissue from AMS Neve I have owned except for the first one I had all sounded way too clean for my taste. No magic whatsoever. They didn't sound like the originals. The Heritage audio was spot on. The first time I heard it I emailed Peter and congratulated him for actually building a module that sounds like the originals with new parts.

Originally Posted by lordnielson ➡️

Which Heritage product was this ?

Originally Posted by andrew montreal ➡️

Their 1073 with EQ.

Originally Posted by andrew montreal ➡️

So much experimenting has gone on since my first tests and I'm glad to be able to share my findings.



Firstly to address the "mud". This is true and I apologize for using that term. Thickness is more appropriate. And indeed I was finding the AMS Neve 1073N to be thicker than the Heritage Audio 1073. But it was also less clear. More on that...



Having tested out the 1073n with three different power supplies I can attest that the power supply makes ALL the difference. A noticeable improvement was made on the clarity of the unit when I tested it with an AMS power supply as opposed to the wall wart that comes with the unit. It brought about the clarity that the Heritage unit had while still retaining a lot of the colouration/mojo thus resulting in a more refined tone.

What really blew me away though was when I tested it out with my friend Stacy's own power supply. A brilliant producer/engineer, he used to work at Le Studio up in Morin Heights. His approach to power supply is in keeping with a military approach... Supply above and beyond the nominal needs of the unit for it to perform unhindered. And perform it did. The high end was more focused. The lows actually deepened. When going back to the wall wart, it was as if an octave was taken of the resulting signal. It was quite impressive. Also, in terms of dynamics the signals that passed through felt less compressed. A truly eye-opening experience. It's easy to forget that were always dealing with electricity at this stage... Never skimp on your source.