The idea of going completely custom and building 1073 clones from scratch is still very appealing here and I do believe we could build something unique for considerably less outlay than the kits we've investigated so far. I can probably get most of the semiconductors, caps and resistors if you'd be willing to look into sourcing the transformers in the most cost effective way. You mention here that you are quite good at sourcing components. You know, after investigating these kit options and looking over the schematics, I think we may indeed be able to pull something together ourselves by sourcing our own parts.
#Neve 1073 preamp free#
I've even got free parts (that normally require orders of 500+) by bullshitting them and saying I'm prototyping a new product and am testing out various component options. I'm not good at reading schematics, but I am VERY good at finding parts sources. My brain is just likes to imagine cool things like total from scratch builds and community help with sourcing parts. I need to stop looking up all this drooly vintage gear or I'll start getting sad. maybe when i win the lotto I'll send you a PM about it. Make sure you take off the lid when you snapping pictures! My dream build would be just a channel strip based on or at least highly inspired by a neve 1084 and a UA 1176. I'm working with him on a soundtrack for a documentary next week so I might see if I can get some photo's of that preamp and post them here.
We've actually recorded quite a few live albums with that setup although these days the DAT machine has been replaced with a laptop. I designed and built that for him fifteen years ago and he still uses it.
The unit I designed and built for him had phantom power, five channels of preamps, headphone monitoring and PFL circuits for the headphone output and Dolby ProLogic surround encoding with a stereo output for his DAT machine. Interestingly, the case Neve1073lover used for his build is the EXACT same case I used to build a custom preamp I built for a friend for location recording in surround. There's still a lot of labour involved though. Perhaps you could source the important and difficult parts in building one of these. My brain is just likes to imagine cool things like total from scratch builds and community help with sourcing parts. Yeah, I just thought it was a cool build. I can design and build a very good PSU for significantly less than $279. We might be able to save some dollars there without sacrificing quality. I'm considering a custom design for the power supplies though. I was originally considering doing all the parts sourcing and making custom PCB's etc., but by the time I factor in the labour involved in that process, the SCA option becomes quite appealing. seems I'll need 1k to throw around before my preamp dreams all come true. Then we have assembly, case, power supply.
I just don't have the funds for it at the moment - probably 400 or more dollars just for the kit +shipping costs to NZ and back. I'll just regret any other choice because I've been eyeballin' that one for years. if I'm going to get an SCA kit it's has to be the twin servo. I'm going to have to do the responsible thing and get my fivefish kit fixed instead. I was expecting a parts sourcing thing which would probably cut the cost of materials in half (or less). I didn't realize it was going to be a SCA kit thing.