After
some beard scratching we finally decided to drill two holes
in the side of the pre -73 case and mount the Carnill on its
side using its two fixing screws
We
then connected the correct pins to the points on the board using
short lengths of colour coded wire and replaced the original
capacitors with the tantalums
Finally
we replaced the knobs
with our favourite chunky retro knobs and stuck on the Carnhill
Stickers.
So I guess now you are thinking
"what did it actually sound like"?
We tried the
modded pre 73s in the studio on a number of different sources
and our initial reaction just reinforced the fact that the stock
pre 73 out of the box was just a fantastic piece of kit for
the money: We could hear an increased air at the top end particularly
on bright sources like the acoustic guitar but we pretty much
agreed that 90% of project studio owners simply wouldnt be able
to hear any difference on a vocal recording. In the end we all
agreed that overall it just sounded indefinably "posher"
( you can pay a lot for something a bit posher!)However we're
a busy commercial studio and with so much work on at the moment
it was hard for us to spend a lot of time setting up sessions
to compare the pres. However we do know a man who has probably
the best set of ears in the business and who lives not to far
from us. Producer/ performer John Parr has worked at the highest
levels of the music business with international artists like
Meatloaf, Bryan Adams and tina Turner and is an old friend.
John is just completing his fantastic new state of the art studio
"Somewhere
in Yorkshire" and has equipped it with the best gear
that anyone can buy at the moment so he was pretty interested
to try out our modded pre-73
Somewhere
in Yorkshire: April 2010
For the
sake of these test we will rely on all factual, technical and
description data being a given.
NB: This test was only to make a direct comparison against the
Neve 1073
VOCAL
The first test I carried out was on my vocal with 3 of my favourite
mics which I know well: Neumann 87i, a Brauner VM1 and a Marshall
MXR. I have a number of mic pres but the obvious comparison
to make was with and original Neve 1073 which made it quite
an easy test.
Basically all 3 mic’s displayed their natural character
sound through both the GA73 and the Neve 1073 with no obvious
differences. However I felt that the Neve was somehow better
- it just had a little bit more bottom and overall size on all
3 mic’s. That being said the GA was certainly surprising
and at £250 against the Neves £1800 it really is
a great unit for the price and punched well above its weight.
Ultimately I suspect if you didn’t have the Neve to measure
it against you would be 100% satisfied with the Golden Age
GRAND PIANO
Two mic’s were used in this test – The Brauner VM1
and the Neumann 87i and again the comparison Pre amp was the
Neve 1073. For me this really is the acid test – a nice
grand piano is a large beast to capture both from a mic and
pre amp perspective. Once again the GA stood its ground well
and we are talking maybe only 15% smaller in size and roundness
than the actual Neve.
CARNHILL MODDED GC73
I’ll cut to the chase here. I can hear the difference.
It’s not subjective – there certainly is one. For
me the Carnhill and the odd couple of replaced capacitors bring
the GC slightly closer to the Neve – How close…?
Maybe another 5% nearer than the un-modded GA Pre-73 but ultimately
for the money both the stock unit or the modded version are
a no brainer – It’s a pro mic pre for semi pro money.
I would add that all these tests were done with settings mirroring
the Neve settings – however the GA Pre 73 offers an interesting
extra feature allowing you to overdrive the transformer –
thus offering massive or minimal color. As the actual Neve 1073
does not have this feature we did not explore this fully.
John
Parr
somewhereinyorkshire.com
