Golden Age Projects Pre-73 vs. Vintech 473 – A Neve 1073 clone shootout
Yes, ANOTHER Neve 1073 clone shootout. Just what you always wanted….
I FINALLY got my hands on a Golden Age Projects PRE-73 to compare with my Vintech 473! Obviously it would be nice to have an actual 1073 to compare to, but hey…..I’m not made out of money here! (but that may be coming later on down the road. Stay tuned)
Now, just like with all of my shootouts, I’m not going to go into great detail about what I thought for two reasons.
#1 My opinion is really irrelevant. The audio speaks for itself. Download and listen. I could go on for 3 pages about what I think, but that’s completely pointless. A [clip of audio] is worth 1,000 words.
#2 I loath reviews and shootouts where the reviewer goes on about how “transparent, warm, airy, 3D, up front, smooth, detailed, etc” a piece of gear is. That’s just a bunch of crap that most reviewers put on the page to make minute differences seem big; or a $10,000 piece of gear SEEM like it’s worth every penny compared to a $500 piece of gear. Audio is a game of inches. Don’t let anyone fool you or tell you otherwise.
What I WILL say is that I liked the 473 better. But it’s BARELY different. The two preamps are VERY close to each other. I wouldn’t be completely disappointed if I had a rack of 4 Pre-73s rather than my Vintech. Well, I take that back. Yes I would, because my Vintech has an AWESOME EQ on it. The point is, if someone swapped out my Vintechs with GAPs, didn’t tell me, and put a sheet over my rack, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
THE TEST
Keeping phantom power out of the mix I used a Shure SM7 mult’d (split) at the patchbay going directly in each preamp at the same time and then going directly to Pro Tools.
SM7 -> patchbay split -> Vintech & GAP -> Digidesign 192
The interface was a Digidesign 192. Both the GAP and the 473 are stock from the factory (no mods or special transformers)
I recorded snare and voice. The voice was mine and a snare was a vintage Ludwig Black Beauty. I recorded myself speaking a few sentences and then recorded 3 hits on a snare drum. These are all separate files available to download below. You will also find a phase inverted file that shows the difference between the two preamps. I took one of the three snare hits (level matched) and inverted the phase between the two preamps. The last file is the phase inverted difference between the two preamps. They do a pretty decent job of canceling out all things considered!
Gain on both preamps was set at 50db for voice and 30db for snare with the output all the way up on each. The GAP was 3.5db hotter on its output.
I set up a Pro Tools HD 9 session at 24bit 96kHz. There was no processing anywhere from mic to final file output. I set the level to be equal between both pre’s in Pro Tools and normalized the files to -3db. (with an SM7, the output on speech can be quite low.)
Files were exported to 24bit 48kHz WAV files for download.
THE FILES
Below you will find a download link with 5 files.
1. GAP Pre-73 – Voice
2. Vintech 473 – Voice
3. GAP Pre-73 – Snare
4. Vintech 473 – Snare
5. Phase inverted snare
Get the files here -> DOWNLOAD!
ENJOY! Don’t forget to leave feedback and let me know what you think!
Vintech 473 – http://www.vintech-audio.com/473_info.html
Golden Age Project PRE-73 – http://www.goldenagemusic.se/goldenageproject/uk/index.htm
Recording Studio Life 