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| Neve Portico Mini-Review [message #68711] |
Sun, 28 May 2006 00:19  |
Neil
Messages: 1645
Registered: April 2006
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Senior Member |
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So far have used this on two tracks by the same male
vocalist... one was a soft vocal track using my "Claytor-67"
tube mic, and as I said in a previous post, I was thoroughly
unimpressed & immediately went back to the Chandler TG2 for
that application. Tonight I had a chance to try it on a harder-
edged vocal track with a TLM-103, and it worked out pretty good
for that. The previous mic pre we'd been using for this was the
Focusrite ISA 428 on the ISA 110 impedance setting, and the
Portico definitely imparted a slightly thicker or richer, and
also a little bit smoother, quality to the track, but I
wouldn't call it a "warm"-sounding pre, necessarily. I liked
the "silk" setting - not sure what that circuit's all about,
but it worked for this application, and imparted a little bit
of color to what I'd consider to otherwise be a fairly dry-
sounding preamp.
I am tending to think that the Focusrite is a much faster preamp
than the Portico, because some rasp inherent in this guy's
voice was reduced (in a positive way) with the Neve, whereas
with the ISA it was VERY apparent, and in fact, I'd say it was
even emphasized (this was one of the things that guy liked
about the 428, actually, until he'd heard the takes a few times
& started "not" liking the emphasized rasp so much. The Portico
let some of this through, but it definitely had a smoothing
effect on it.
So in my first good use of the Portico, I'd say my first
impressions are that it's:
* Pretty clean, with little coloration
* Almost drab with the "silk" button disengaged
* Pretty Smooth
* Seems to have no shortage of headroom
* Is definitely what I'd call a "soft" sounding pre
* Has the potential for some "air" - I could hear it wanting to
try & throw some stuff around up there, so maybe with a
different mic, it would be more effective for this. Like
maybe Deej's Stephen Paul U-87, or my modded M-147 (going to
try this mic next).
Overall, I was hoping for more coloration & character, I guess,
but I think I could definitely find some uses for it,
regardless of that. So I'm right now I guess you could say I'm
in the "not blown away, but not disappointed" category with
regard to this pre. lol
Judging from using it with a -103, I think it would sound great
for overheads with this mic, and if you have a u-87, I have a
feeling it might take away some of the "honk" & add some air to
that one. I have a feeling it might be too smooth for a lot of
rock or metal guitar, but not having tried it on that yet, this
is just speculation based on what I heard tonight.
Bottom line - If you're expecting a classic "Neve" sound, this
ain't it... there's no wooliness in the lower mids, it's
not "mushy" or "creamy", and it's MUCH quieter & cleaner, IMO.
It sounds familiar to something else I've used before, but I
can't put a finger on it... it's the type of "smoothness"
quality it has that makes me say this; it's reminiscent of
something, but I can't figure out what just yet.
Anyway, there it is so far.
Neil
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