I'm not aware of any power amplifier made by Rupert Neve itself. or its company...He's definitely the best in the mixing recording gear industry, but we could consider him a genious when talking about amplifier circuits theory in general and mostly in small signal amplifiers in particular .
At the same time youmade me think about the Mackie 1400VLZ and M1400 amp , but i don't know their designers...
At the same time youmade me think about the Mackie 1400VLZ and M1400 amp , but i don't know their designers...
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Both of them are sadly no longer with us, unfortunately.
Also, I would argue that the Marinair LO1166 output transformer that is largely responsible for the sound of the Neve 1073 microphone preamp is perhaps the single most influential transformer ever designed. Even though few studios still use a Neve 80xx series console, thousands of them use Neve 1073 preamps, either original or clones. It's truly amazing just how many influential recordings have passed through that circuit.
Something "off topic" but might be interesting. I've worked on the famous Neve 1073 mic preamp (clone) some years ago and know the circuit well, lot of tantal caps in the signal path, input and output transformer etc. Distortion is fairly low, about 0.05% but dominant harmonics are 3rd and 5th and you can clearly hear that it sounds like "effect box". The similar story is almost about every famous studio gear piece, it's about it's own sound, not the fidelity.
There are many good, but for me Nelson Pass is the master in solid state transistor amps, from his work at Treshold to his actual work at Pass labs and First Watt. From those i heard these stand out above the competition. Jean Hiraga is also very good, and the only one that comes near Nelson Pass for me.
Bruno Putseys (Hypex NCore/Purifi) is the one that makes Class D (also solid state) amps that i actually can stand (and i'm a class D hater say many) for hifi.
Bruno Putseys (Hypex NCore/Purifi) is the one that makes Class D (also solid state) amps that i actually can stand (and i'm a class D hater say many) for hifi.
Yes, but nothing drastic if transformer is good.. as I said, it's an "effect box" with all sorts of nonlinear parts in the signal path, I'm just puzzled why people like the sound of odd harmonics... Maybe easily just a marketing driven vintage gear myth...
What on earth do you mean by best?
This is a good opportunity to express my thanks and respect to a number of folks who have been inspirational and helpful to me on my journey (the list of names are not in any particular order).
Nelson Pass - My thanks to Mr. Pass for his generosity in sharing his acclaimed designs with the DIY community, and simply the encouragement to go ahead and build something by yourself. Reading his write-ups and watching videos of him has also been educational and a lot of fun! Keep going Mr. Pass!
Hugh Dean - Another very generous personality on diyAudio, whose contributions often don't get the attention or thanks that they deserve. A prolific designer with great ideas, Hugh's designs use readily available parts, easy to build, and of course, perform well. Really nice amplifiers from a very nice man! Thank you Hugh!
George Anderson (aka Tubelab) - Tubelab, the crazy dude who likes blowing things up! George's Simple SE is the first Tube amplifier I built. George's website and posts are generous with lots of information and insights. He makes his PCBs available at a very reasonable price too. George's post on diyAudio cover various topics and are a joy to read.
Bruno Putzeys – Have enjoyed Bruno’s articles and interviews over the years. Great mind, amazingly articulate, and love the stuff he’s been doing over the years.
My post would be incomplete without mentioning Tom Christiansen, whose Modulus-86 amplifier I use on a daily basis, and enjoy. Thanks Tom for the excellent Modulus amplifiers. The documentation that Tom provides for his products is meticulous, and his tech support is top notch too.
This is a good opportunity to express my thanks and respect to a number of folks who have been inspirational and helpful to me on my journey (the list of names are not in any particular order).
Nelson Pass - My thanks to Mr. Pass for his generosity in sharing his acclaimed designs with the DIY community, and simply the encouragement to go ahead and build something by yourself. Reading his write-ups and watching videos of him has also been educational and a lot of fun! Keep going Mr. Pass!
Hugh Dean - Another very generous personality on diyAudio, whose contributions often don't get the attention or thanks that they deserve. A prolific designer with great ideas, Hugh's designs use readily available parts, easy to build, and of course, perform well. Really nice amplifiers from a very nice man! Thank you Hugh!
George Anderson (aka Tubelab) - Tubelab, the crazy dude who likes blowing things up!
George's Simple SE is the first Tube amplifier I built. George's website and posts are generous with lots of information and insights. He makes his PCBs available at a very reasonable price too. George's post on diyAudio cover various topics and are a joy to read.Bruno Putzeys – Have enjoyed Bruno’s articles and interviews over the years. Great mind, amazingly articulate, and love the stuff he’s been doing over the years.
My post would be incomplete without mentioning Tom Christiansen, whose Modulus-86 amplifier I use on a daily basis, and enjoy. Thanks Tom for the excellent Modulus amplifiers. The documentation that Tom provides for his products is meticulous, and his tech support is top notch too.
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In the british Electronics World, I enjoyed the ideas or articles by Ian Hegglun (two power amplifiers, if I remember correctly; more, recently), Van de Gevel (only one power amplifier). They are both members of DiyAyudio, writing very pertinent posts. Here, I also admire Elvee with his lot of ideas and the lovely laboratory prototypes he builds.
Yes, but nothing drastic if transformer is good.. as I said, it's an "effect box" with all sorts of nonlinear parts in the signal path, I'm just puzzled why people like the sound of odd harmonics... Maybe easily just a marketing driven vintage gear myth...
Ah, but Neve 80 series consoles have been used for more hit recordings than probably any other. There is, of course, the frenzy over vintage gear, including some that is pure dog dung using a cheap transformer and a 741. The Neve 1073 is something pretty special, and there are a lot of people (including some very, very successful artists and engineers) who fell in love with it when it was new in the early 70s, and continue to love the sound of it to this day.
Neve circuits are, from an electrical engineering point of view, far from perfect. It does seem, however, that Rupert Neve figured out exactly what set of imperfections was ideal for the task at hand. Whether it was intentional I do not know, but it certainly worked.
Rupert Neve also designed the Focusrite ISA110 module sometime in the 80s. Incidentally, that's another preamp that a lot of people would call "the greatest mic preamp ever made". It's the polar opposite of the 1073- very clean, very low distortion. I've measured an ISA One, which is, IIRC, almost the same circuit without the EQ. It's pretty impressive.
David Hafler is the owner,not designer.Erno Borbely designed also, the most for David Hafler.Preamp DH101,DH110 ,MC phono preamp DH112 to power amp DH120,DH200/220,DH500.XL280 etc.
He designed also a tuner model for DH.After Borbely left DH, Jim Strickland became designer for DH.
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James Strickland came from Acoustat. His Mosfet Transnova amplifier already caught the attention of many people. The first model had an input stage built with only four Mosfet. In the Hafler versions, this stage was modified, the last one using only bipolar transistors. In all the versions, the impedance seen by the input of the Mosfet power stage is high, the configuration does not work not as a voltage follower but as a transimpedance stage.
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