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[compasspnt]

I've seen no mention of the Daking stuff...not that it's necessarily a Neve clone.

Does anyone have experience/reports on Daking?  I've always wondered about it.

[zmix]

compasspnt wrote on Mon, 27 December 2004 13:41

I've seen no mention of the Daking stuff...not that it's necessarily a Neve clone. Does anyone have experience/reports on Daking?  I've always wondered about it.

The Dakings are Trident A-Range clones. Class A push-pull outputs. Not at all like a Neve Class A single ended design.

I have had a pair of their pres for many many years. I remember that I had expected them to be more like a Neve, and my first impressions have basically stuck:

Very clean
Lots of headroom
the EQ is very hi-fi, as in home stereo (baxandall)

Shortly after I got them, I cut a record on a Trident A-range. They were quite similar to the Trident, but all the switches and knobs worked perfectly...

Now, years later, I would add the following comments:

Nice when pushed a bit
Sweet top end.
Can add a certain midrange presence to a lead vocal, somewhat like an LA-3A does.

Apparently the guitar sound on Led Zepplin's "Black Dog" ("hey hey mama said the way you move", etc...) is the Trident Mic Pre, direct, overdriven,  then triple tracked.

[compasspnt]

Thanks, Chuck.  Very informative answer.  Sounds like a good thing to have around as another choice.

[Fletcher]

FWIW, while I like the Daking stuff quite a bit, I have found that I like the EQ a bit more than an original A-Range EQ, and the mic pre far less than an original A-Range module's pre.

The pre seems a bit less "deep" than the originals, while the EQ seems a bit clearer and better defined [which I generally find is a plus].

[zmix]

I'd like to add to Fletcher's comments on the Daking.

As I stated previously, I cut an album on a Trident A-Range shortly after I purchased the Daking modules. There were certainly differences in these devices, however, the Dakings were brand new and the caps were not all dried up. Geoff did his board design from the ground up, so the layout of the Daking is much more modern in terms of grounding, etc. The A-range has quite a bit more iron and less nickel in the output transformers, too. After much discussion, Geoff sent me a second pair of output transformers for my modules that were more like the Trident. These had quite a bit more 3rd harmonic in the low end than the production model. Pretty minor difference when using a single channel. The major difference in the daking module is that the mic transformer (a reichenbach RE-115k) has some issue with the termination... I don't recall exactly, and I don't think that Geoff ever sent me the schematics he promised..
In any case the input has a HF rise above 15khz which gives the device a bit more delicacy than the original Trident.

I know that there are several other manufacturers who have done an A-Range clone, I've seen them at the AES. Has anyone heard these? I recall that one of them had 'dust trap" slide pots for cut and boost, just like the original.

[zmix]

Doesn't look good.....

 http://www.audiobanter.com/q-t_13972-Toft-Trident-A-Rangeany one-got-em.html

[Kev]

ouch

looks like Alan H. had something to say

[J.J. Blair]

If that new line of A Ranges (which by all accounts I've ever heard was a piece of shit compared to the original) is redesigned Malcolm, that will be really cool.  Since MTA had been started, I don't recall him doing anything discrete.  I own one of the first MTA 980s they sold, and it's just such a great fucking console for making rock and roll.  

Rob Harvey rigged up 8 stereo pairs (16 total) of A Range modules for some guy here in LA, and they wound up on eBay last year.  Work was slow for me at the time, so I couldn't justify buying even more pres and EQs.  However, I was very, very close to talking myself into getting them.  Talk about sexy.  All those sliders in a row.

BTW, since I'm only familiar with the A Range from Cherokee, anybody care to comment on the B Range?  Purple Audio had been selling a bunch of pairs of those that they reracked last year.  Also, since nobody mentioned it as another pre/EQ option, somebody is making Quad Eight modules again.  Anybody care to comment on the reissues?

And Fletcher, how do the new 1073s sound compared to the old?  I don't know anybody with first hand experience.

[skygod]

mr.T wrote on Mon, 13 December 2004 06:58

Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I'm working as a producer/musican/songwriter in Norway and am currently shopping for a new two or four channel preamp. I already have a UA6176 which works fine for vocals with my M149, but I'm going to track drums in January and therefore need something special. I have tried to find some answers here on these pages, but find it hard to draw any conclusions based on what I've read. Seems just like Harmony Central where people review things they've allready bought and totally slander it once they're bored with it. I want to buy some Neve-clones and this is the list I've ended up with: Aurora GTQ2 Great River MP2 NV (mercanary ed.) Phoenix Audio DRS2 Vintech 473 ORAM Octasonic (not a Neve-clone, but still......) and possibly the Seventh Circle stuff. Seems like you can't go wrong with the Great River gear (what happened with the MP4 by the way?), but still the Aurora preamp is made of a former Neve-engineer who should know what he's doing (?). I'll have to buy one of these without testing them as this is pretty exotic stuff in my country. Could any of you give a good advice on which to pick based on your experience? As mentioned I'm going to use them for drums, but also other things. The Neves I've heard have a distinct character to me which just feels right and this is what I'm after. I'm after the SOUND, not the marketing strategy nor the exact historically correct blueprint of a 1073. I guess this has been disgussed to death allready, but I would love to hear some realworld experience on this topic.

Tom and anybody else out there listening:

That

[J.J. Blair]

Skygod, why the anonymity?  If we don't know who you are and what you've done, we don't what to listen to you of yours and say, "Hey, I think the way this sounds.  I'll take his advice."

[Vertigo]

Why dredge up a post that's almost 2 years old? And why does this always seem to happen in Fletcher's forum? Trippy!

It was fun to re-read though. I've since built the SCA N72 (sounds fantastic) and gotten my hands inside of a lot of other pre's as well. What I find funny is that regardless of the design (push/pull, class A, opamp, etc), the transformers always seem to account for the bulk of a preamp's character. It's surprising how good even a $1.99 TL082 can sound when combined with great trannys.

-Lance

[ShakesTheClown]

Quote:

If you need your ego to be complete by posting your audio gear on the Internet, then you�re cracked to start with. Get a fukking life already!

Isn't that what you just did?

[ronin]

skygod wrote on Sun, 30 July 2006 12:22

... or flooding because you chose by your own free-will to live in a known flood zone in LA and FLA or on the Mississippi, or the annual tornado victims in the Midwest, guess what? You and yours are gonna die someday in a sinking crushing, collapsing suffocating, drowning, horrible death. So enjoy the sunshine, and peyote, and new age crystal chanting-stargazing-douche bagging ... because its all good, you're gonna be permanently gone soon ...

Wow, I poke my head in for some neve-a-like talk and I get my (inevitable, it seems) fate laid out before me. "sinking crushing, collapsing suffocating, drowning, horrible death".. bummer.

Maybe I should have my olfactory epithelium removed and move to the safety of the Garden State.

This thread was a fun read though!

[Frob]

im sorry i only got about 2 thirds of the way through that. when does the clif-notes version come out.

[Slipperman]

ronin wrote on Tue, 01 August 2006 15:59

Wow, I poke my head in for some neve-a-like talk and I get my (inevitable, it seems) fate laid out before me. "sinking crushing, collapsing suffocating, drowning, horrible death".. bummer. Maybe I should have my olfactory epithelium removed and move to the safety of the Garden State. This thread was a fun read though!

I like skygod.

He's a little understated for Jersey, but he'll probably warm up if ya pummel him a little bit.

I'll bet my right testicle he's over 50 years of age. Maybe 60.

Grouchy old bastard. Reminds me of my mentor.

Anyhoo.

That's how it works here in the Garden State.

The weak are fleeced and beaten, killed and eaten.

No place like home.

SM.