| Hi fafalio,
I've had three preamps which are considered to be in the 'clean' school...the DAV BG1, Earthworks 1022, and the Millennia. I still own the DAV.
I'm also a bit like Omnicron_9 in that I'm very fussy about equipment noise unless it is intrinsic to a sound I want and/or unavoidable (Leslies, guitar amps, some FX units, etc).
I've found that the type of noise can be more distracting than its level...noise which is 'pitchy' (60Hz), buzzy or static-like seems more prominent even at lower levels than a more broadband, smoother noise...also, some pres have a noticably louder noise profile on the channel closest to the power supply. I've tested all my preamps, by---a) running a -50 DBfs tone into the pre---b) increasing the gain to achieve -2 DBfs---c) muting the test tone---d) measuring and listening to the resulting noise...I seriously jack my monitors at this point.
Keeping in mind that all three of these preamps provide more than acceptable levels of noise, especially at the levels indicated by hughesmr (30 to 40 db of gain)...
The Millennia was the quietest, very closely followed by the Earthworks, then the DAV. The noise spectra I prefered was the Earthworks...it sounded like the 'woosh' of the ocean very, very far off in the distance...soft, smooth and steady...not grating at all. I should have sampled the Earthworks noise before I sold it...it would have provided excellent low-level glue for tracks that need that kind of thing. The Earthworks has wonderful transient and bottom-end reproduction, but does not flatter (augment) the source at all. The sound of the Millennia has been debated on these pages countless times...no need for further comment.
I kept the DAV because I prefered the very slight color it imparts. The minor amount of additional noise has not been an issue, though I've never used it at full gain. My brick-style BG1 has a slightly (1-2 db) higher noise profile on the channel nearest the power supply.
An interesting finding of my preamp listening, was that some 'color' type pres are not necessarily much noisier than the 'clean' types.
Cheers,
wellyouneednt |