While this may be true in a strict A-B comparison, it wasnt something that I noticed or was concerned about.

Some might argue that this re-engineering has an audible effect on the sound character that was undoubtedly influenced in part by the hand-wired looms and plug-in amplifier circuit board arrangements of the original units.

However, the method of construction is obviously very different, simply in order to fit everything into the constrictive Lunchbox module format.įor example, the original expensive and bulky multi-level gain switch has been replaced with a simpler one controlling relays to provide the functions instead. Ill discuss the EQ section more in a moment, but first lets look more closely at the 1073LB. These two Lunchbox modules are designed to be used together via a bespoke insert mode configuration, which recreates the original signal path from the preamps input stage, through the EQ and back to the preamps output stage.Īlternatively, each unit can be used entirely independently, and to that end the EQ module is equipped with its own electronically balanced IO stages.

The 1073LB is the preamp proper, accommodating the transformer input and output stages into one unit, while the 1073LB EQ contains the separated equaliser section. Its popularity is not lost on the current AMS Neve company, of course, and the same core design is still manufactured in four different formats, including the retrofit 1073 preampequaliser module, the 1073 DPD and 1073 DPA rackmount dual preamp, and the subject of this review the new 1073LB version, intended for use in a 500-series Lunchbox chassis, which provides the housing, power supply and IO connectivity.Ĭonsequently, AMS Neve has split the 1073s preamp and EQ sections into two separate but related Lunchbox modules.

The control knobs and buttons match the original styling very closely and work in exactly the same way.

Neve 1073 Preamp Eq Collection Torrent Series Mic PreampĪnd while we may boast about this quality, the sheer number of hits it has helped produce over the last 40 years, the fact it is manufactured to the original specification of the original module as designed in 1970 and by no means least, manufactured completely in England, the readers of Sound On Sound magazine took an independent and worldwide vote.

Neve 1073 preamp