Rupert Neve Designs 511

Tämä on toinen etuaste jonka hommasin WES-audion Supercarrier räkkiini. Odotin pari kuukautta ennen kuin kirjoitin arvostelun ehtiäkseni testailemaan sitä kunnolla. Vertailin tätä muihin etuasteisiini, kuten esimerkiksi noin kaksi kertaa kalliimpaan Chandler Limited Little Devil Preampiin.
511 on hyvin monipuolinen mutta todella simppeli etunen, enkä voi kuin ihmetellä miten monenlaista soundivalikoimaa siitä löytyy. SILK toiminto tuo lisää vintage henkeä, etenkin kun texture-nuppi on väännetty puolen välin yläpuolelle. Mutta ilman sitäkin tämä on erittäin käyttökelpoinen pehmeäsoundinen etuaste.
Mielestäni Chandlerin Germanium soundi toimii paremmin esim. akustiselle ja sähkökitaralle, mutta Neveä olen suosinut enemmän laululle. Level-mittari on erittäin hyödyllinen, sekä säädettävä high pass filter, molemmat nopeuttavat työskentelyä.
Gain ja level säätimet ovat taas asia, jota itse pidän välttämättömänä pro tason etuasteissa.
Kaikin puolin hyvä laite, päihittää mielestäni monella tasolla kalliimmatkin moduulit. Aion ehdottomasti hommata toisen tällaisen.

If you are looking for an entry point into the Neve sound this is it. The unit is super clean and quiet, but it includes the Silk Feature as an option, so it is not a sterile mic-pre.

The Silk feature is subtle but it works. It's also great to have the variable built-in high pass filter.

For me, this mic-pre is "just what the doctor ordered"!

Very happy with the unit.

The Neve Designs Portico 511 is a great microphone preamp, capable of everything from clear and uncolored to thick and vibey sounds. The adjustable amount of silk introduces 3rd order harmonics that can be just what the doctor ordered on certain voices and other sound sources. The sweepable highpass filter is a great feature to have on any preamp to reduce unwanted rumble or lowend sounds from fans, traffic and many other sources. Tip: Record just the ambient noise of your room with the highpass off, and then bring up the signal high in your DAW and check what's going on at the bottom. All the unwanted lowfrequency energy will steal headroom when hitting your AD converters and to get rid of it before the converters is so much better than to highpass inside your DAW later. Trust me on this. This preamp is capable of truly professional recordings and at this price it is a steal. I put 4 stars on quality because one of my knobs are a little looser than the others, which I think is intended because I have 2 units and both act the same. Still, I would have preferred if they had the same smooth solid feel as the fourth knob.

Well, coming from a built in audio interface preamp from RME Babyface, the difference is mostly in the interaction with the device, being able to adjust the trim, gain, silk (which is subtle) and HPF without looking at the screen, helps one concentrate solely on the sound. To my ears the sound difference was not really huge as both preamps are clean. I really love the HPF on this device, works really well as you can get rid of some low end before recording. Not bad for the money.