Today's question and answer...Neve vs Portico

Hi,

can you give an opinion of the Portico 5043 vs AMS Neve 33609 reissue?

Aiden

Dear Aidan,

Well, it's a bit like comparing a cheese and an onion.

The 33609 is closely based upon the classic Neve unit of the same designation - discrete and

transformer balanced, with separate compress and limit sections, attack and release,

threshold, gain makeup and accurate PPM meters.

The Portico isn't

Regards

Mark

Thanks Mark,

 I guess that answers the question. I suppose it’s a bit confusing when

reviews in SOS and Mix claim "the 5043 outdoes the 33609".. Hard to know

what to think of the reviews.

Dare I ask; portico 5042 tape emulator vs Empirical Labs Fatso?

Regards

Aidan

Dear Aidan,

Have you EVER seen a bad review in these mags? As long as the distributor/manufacturer advertises, they'll get a good review.

In terms of any piece of kit 'outdoing' another, this is an utterly meaningless thing for anyone to say.

Certain gear works well on certain programme material. It isn't a question of being 'better' or 'outdoing' another. Recording isn't a competition.

Neve have been making the 33609 in various varieties for the best part of 40 years, and most leading engineers use it always or occasionally. It's a good tool for certain jobs, such as tightening mixes, limiting drums and suchlike. I'm sure the Portico also has its uses, but here - I've slammed a tenner on the table to bet that it won't still be made in 40 years. No, come on...that's too one-sided. Twenty quid says it won't still be made in ten years (and judging by the amount of Portico gear we get offered second hand, I doubt any original purchasers will still have it active in their racks by then).

The Portico Tape emulator is basically a module with transformers that give a signal better definition and allows for typical transformer overload. That's a decent idea, and one I approve of, but not at a grand. You could knock something similar up yourself for a couple of hundred squibs or buy the BAE equivalent for not much more. The Fatso, on the other hand, is a compressor that messes with phase to give third harmonic distortion but also allows for much more tailoring of the signal (but no transformers, methinks).

The only true tape emulators use true tape.

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit cynical, but I'd be happy to scrape another tenner (my last) out of my moth-eared wallet to bet that every treasured album in your collection was recorded and mixed using the same small collection of gear, including...

Whatever mic preamps were in the desk

Urei 1176

Fairchild, Ear or similar Vari-Mu compressor

Neve 33609

AMS delay and perhaps reverb

Lexicon 224, 224XL and/or 480L reverb (and maybe a PCM70)

EMT Plate reverb

Neve or SSL eq's (in the desk)

Maybe a Pultec or three

AKG, Neumann, Beyer and Sennheiser mics

DBX compressors

plus a relatively short list of standard  toys and fx (Roland Dimension D, MXR phase and Flange, Roland tape echo et al…)

Why reinvent the wheel? Every day sees some new-fangled variety of the wheel hit the market – square ones, oblong, three sided, plastic, bitumen clad and so on. But do today's records sound any better than those of days gone by? No. Quite the opposite, in fact. So why does every Gearslut try to convince the world that they need the latest mic pre/compressor/tape-phase-bifribulator?

No...concentrate on getting the song tight, the performances true, the mics properly positioned, the signal to noise optimised and the sound full, fat and focused.

It's ultimately down to the music, and that's the start and the finish. The boxes are tools for a job and in my opinion, every technological 'advance' in the last thirty years has more to do with lowering the cost of manufacturing than increasing quality.

Apart from that...

Have fun

Mark

Welcome to the New Eccentric Blog

  

I was supposed to be an historian I suppose. At least, that's what I studied in Oxford back in the days of flares, prog rock and visions of a better world. Maybe I would have been had I spent less time touring with bands and more time submerged in my studies. But music won and the 1970's were spent building large PA rigs and doing tour production for the likes of Selecter, The Beat and Haircut 100 in between sessioning in studios such as Rockfield and theatres around the country (guitar, sax and flute).

Fate intervened once more in 1980 and a period spent managing Roy Harper and launching his record label were followed by a decade at the sharp end of what was then a record industry, managing bands and producers and doing A+R consultancy for the likes of A+M, CBS, MCA and others.

Like all music professionals, part of my accreditation was the Virgin Records rip-off, leading to a nasty legal quagmire feathering the nests of slick lawyers and an accompanying dissillusionment with the record industry but not with music. Refocused if not yet entirely re-energised I returned to recording my own music in the early 1990's, and within the context of assembling my own modest recording rig found myself sourcing juicy bits of equipment for friends and acquaintances in the industry. As so often in my past, an accidental adjunct to the main event turned into the main event itself and the rest is history.

A monster with three heads, Funky Junk now operates from London, Paris and Milan meaning (if nothing else) that I get the occasional good meal and frequent good company. One thing is for sure, though...a life of accidental twists and turns holds other unexpected aventures in store.

At least, I sincerely hope so.

Specialities

Pasta.

Education

University of Oxford

MA, History and Economics

1967 – 1970

My greatest claim to fame was being appointed to the board of the world's oldest historical society, the Dervoghila Society, founded in the twenth century by my college founder, John de Balliol. The next day the rest of the committee resigned, leaving me as Chairman. I promptly designated remaining funds for a blow-out meal for members and wound up the society the following day, thereby erasing eight centuries of tradition overnight.

Activities and Societies: Debauchery

What?

A blog about gear. And about music. And about life. And about the whirlygig of gossip, innuendo and blather surrounding them.

Opinionated? Probably. Wise? Probably not. True? Well, as straight as the next horizon.

All views expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of the company. However, those here who dissagree face summary dissmissal.

When?

As often as inspiration or the need for verbal vomit dictates.