Neotek Series I and II?

[MattioliCo]

Just wondering how the pres and Eqs on these Consoles sound.
I ran across a few channel strips with good prices!

[w2w]

Buy em.

Nice pre's & EQ's are very nice.Great bang for the buck.

Im sure a few others will chime in.

[Plush]

NeoTek

Made in Chicago
Made right.

Series I and II are outstanding.

[MattioliCo]

Any difference bet I and II I should be aware?

[kt66]

Wow....

Maybe the Series II I worked with had some serious problems, but I was NOT a big fan of that board. The pre's were nothing special and the EQ was not that great either.

The Neotek may have been a great bang-for-the-buck in it's day, but I would much rather invest in a rack of Seventh Circle pre's and a couple of Speck ASC-T's instead of Series I/II channel strips.

[MattioliCo]

Thanks for the opinions guys!
Anybody else care to jump in?

[SHIRK]

I bought 2 racked up series I strips from Structured Loud a year or two ago. I used them so much that when started getting the itch to get out of the box, I bought a Series III desk. I'm having it totally rehabbed along the lines of what w2w did in his "Restored my neotek" thread. It will be installed in January...can't wait.

I like em.

Fast sound...very useful EQ. I use them next to my MP2-NV, Pendulum MDP1 , DBX 786, Chandler Germanium, True Precision 8...the Neotek's hold their own for sure. Not the most colorful...but they always get used.

[idylldon]

I have a 28-channel Series II that I completely rehabbed and it's got great sounding pres and a pretty fine EQ section. These are dead easy boards to work on and most of the parts are off-the-shelf and still easy to come by. The special EQ pots are perhaps the hardest thing to find, but I have a stash of those that'll last me until I retire. I recently added the ability to switch between the normal 2-mix output and a Neve Class-A, transformer-balanced output. Gives me another option at mixdown.

Neoteks are fine boards and if you can find a decent Series I (make sure it's a later one with the 4-band EQ section) or Series II, go for it. You won't be sorry.

The Neotek mailing list is a good resource as many fine techs and owners hang out there and are very helpful when you need info.

Neotek Mailing List

BTW, I'm up in Idyllwild, which is about two hours away from LA up in the San Jacinto Mtns., and if you ever want to come up for some fresh air and check out the board, just let me know.

Cheers,
--
Don

[MattioliCo]

Hey Don, I really appreciate the invitation and I'm definitely take advantage of it
I'm out of the country till the end of february but I'll look you up when I get back!
Happy Holidays and thank you all for replying the thread!

[matskull]

Are the serie 3 as good?

Anybody have a picture of a channel strip of those console?

[rocksure]

I worked quite a bit on live to air TV doing sound for a while about 2-3 years ago using a dated 24 channel Neotek console. I don't know what model it was. It had a row of both long throw and short throw faders and you could flip between which of them you used for the main mix or for listening to source..if that is any help in identifying it. Anyway.........I really liked the sound of it. Admittedly I was only doing voice recording and feeds from other sources not making music on it, but I left there thinking if I ever get a chance to get a channel strip or two from one I would grab them ( or the whole console if they sell it for an ok price).

[SHIRK]

I'm a series III owner (rev f to be exact). From what my tech tells me, the Preamp and EQ design is pretty much the same between the Series I, II and III. The differences are more in the layout and flexibility of the desks. Series III are inline (I think series II are as well), and include a few other bells and whistles I guess. Nothing that makes them more desirable sonically though. Series III are, however, probably harder to maintain because of the extra switching, routing, etc.

I owned a few channels of racked up Series I's before I jumped into this series III console and I don't hear much difference. In terms of the sound, the pres are fast and clear, very neutral. The EQ's are VERY useful as well. Other than the required maintenance, I've been very happy with mine.

[matskull]

Can the Serie I be easily used in a multitrack recording studio?

I'm asking cause I don't think it's an inline console, it's not split either and it doesn't seem to have a lot of routing and aux send options.

I'm still curious about it.
I saw a couple of nice board for sale in the last week, some of them are just too wide for my room, it sucks...

Does the Neotek have transformers on every in and out, is it all balanced?

[bjornson]

No transformers, unbalanced patchbay on old series i and II.
Still cool. I have 10 modules in a rack after I decommed a 24x24 series II

[matskull]

Originally Posted by bjornson

No transformers, unbalanced patchbay on old series i and II.
Still cool. I have 10 modules in a rack after I decommed a 24x24 series II

Ah ok, I thought it would have transformers in it for some reason...

[heyman]

Matt, there are plenty of boards without transformers that sound good. But I think you should take a good look at the trident 70/80 series boards.

[zandurian]

Originally Posted by kt66

Wow....

Maybe the Series II I worked with had some serious problems, but I was NOT a big fan of that board. The pre's were nothing special and the EQ was not that great either.

The Neotek may have been a great bang-for-the-buck in it's day, but I would much rather invest in a rack of Seventh Circle pre's and a couple of Speck ASC-T's instead of Series I/II channel strips.

I must agree. I don't miss my series ii at all. Especially how every freaking channel connection had to be de-soldered/re-soldered for repair. I'm sure in the hands of a better engineer it could have sounded better - and it did have a unique sound and certain geniuses may have used it to their advantage? Oh how I wish I had seventh circle pres back in the day....

[Karloff70]

Used to have 2 channels of series II racked up. Foolishly sold it. Did miss it for ages.....nice papery eq and clear yet musical pre.

[idylldon]

Originally Posted by zandurian

I must agree. I don't miss my series ii at all. Especially how every freaking channel connection had to be de-soldered/re-soldered for repair.

Most Series II aren't hardwired. Mine is not and its dead easy to work on. It also sounds great! I'll never give it up.

Cheers,
--
Don

[llmonty]

Originally Posted by idylldon

Most Series II aren't hardwired. Mine is not and its dead easy to work on. It also sounds great! I'll never give it up.

Cheers,
--
Don

Same experience here. Though the molexes are touchy

[jeremyglover]

recorded through an ELAN SERIES II last month. sounded great!
these get called clean but to my ears it had that big, deep and wide console sound.

[Jim Williams]

I have rebuilt series 1 modules for sale, one input, a group, aux and master section, $500 takes all of them. They are fitted with Burrbrown OPA134 series opamps and low noise mic pre transistors, new caps too.