Fingerstyle guitar with Neve style preamp
 

I'm not an audiophile nor a pro studio engineer. Just a home studio guy.
Looking to expand my selection of preamps and there are a couple good deals on the market for a Portico 5012 or 5016.

What could be expected from a Neve preamp?

I hear it everywhere - "Neve style" "Neve color" and it's usually associated with drums. So am I stupid to by a Neve unit for some mellow, clean guitar?

There is also a decent deal on Warm Audio WA273.

I was going through a preamp search about 18 months ago and after a few trials and a lot of research brought in the WA273...it had just been released. Search over! Absolutely love it, and gives me exactly what I was looking for. Fingerstyle guitar is the only thing I use it for. Strongly recommend that you check one out.
Mike

Neves have lots of headroom and are smooth sounding. The high end is rounded rather than shrill. I spent the first fifteen years of my recording career recording and mixing on Neves and then moved on to Solid State Logic. Both were excellent, but the Neves are just smoooooth. I've got a Portico 5015 preamp sitting in the rack next to me right now because I love the sound. If you want extreme crispness you may want to look elsewhere. Neves are smooth and musical. Between the transformer-isolated input and the "silk" control you'll sense this.

Bob

Smooth and round sounds good to me!

I am presently working with built in pre's on a Steinberg interface and I would describe the high end as shrill and harsh. That's ultimately what I'm trying to get rid of. Because I don't think it's my mics. They have a very nice and smooth frequency pattern.

Again, all of this coming from a very very novice home studio guitarist.

One of the great things about Neve-style preamps is that they have two gain stages. You can turn the first one up and drive the second one into saturation (a little or a lot, up to you) and then turn the output trim down to a good level for your converter or interface. This saturation, in gentle moderation, can enhance the "intelligibility" of soft, delicate sounds like fingerpicking and help them cut through in a mix.

Neve preamps are a great choice but we're lucky enough to live in at a time when there are many great choices.

Jim, you commented on an old post of mine and recommended the Demeter VTMP-2B. I've been looking at that. There are two for sale at a really good price on Reverb right now.

I guess in my mind, $800 ish for Demeter or Neve- Neve seems safer? If I hate it, I can turn around and sell it. Whereas Demeter brand may be a bit more unknown?

What mics will you be using?

Stereo pair of SDC

MBHO Haun 440's

Very little info online about them. Basically a poor man's Schoeps.

http://www.mbho.de/products02_04.htm

The Neve may be the better choice then. If you were using 1 or 2 LDC mics, I'd point you towards the Demeter which does something magical to non-tube LDCs.

Liquidity is always top of mind for me. There's lots of great gear and instruments out there, and some things are simply way more flippable than others.

I don't worry too much about that when I'm buying used gear so long as I've done my homework and have minimized the chance that I'll hate the piece once I've got my hands on it. I don't rush into purchases anymore because I can get by fine on what I have. But those early years... sheesh, I took a bath on every bad decision back then.

I have done much better on this too by actually talking to, and listening to people I have come to trust. Especially some people here. But about 30 years ago, I must have bought and traded every kind of amp and pedal combination that was not a “Marshall” trying to get something cheaper that would sound like one. A fool’s errand is all that was. My experience with that led me to know that it’s cheaper in the long run to wait and buy what you want once than to get impatient and buy almost what you wanted several times.

So, to the OP, take your time and be happy with your purchase.

Ended up with a Portico 5012.

Got it at a price below any of the "Sold Listings" on Reverb or Ebay, so I feel like I got a good price. My wallet sure does hurt, though! Excited to use it.

Thank you all for the help! As one comment said, it's easier to feel good about a purchase when people much wiser than me have given it a green light.

Very true and I tell people that all the time. I don't recall a time in my life I ever regretted investing in quality, but I can tell many stories about how cheaping out cost me more in the long run.

Congrats and enjoy!