Is the DAV BG-1 the "best bang" pre under $1000??

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by doliver

Thanks for the address. I was doing so research on another site, and one user reported it as being quite noisy. I didn't hear any other complaints about it so I'm assuming that it has some defect, but has anyone else experienced these problems?

that actually turned out to not be an issue with the amp, but another part of the signal path..the amps are completely quiet.

[MaTr1x2051]

Well Mick has another happy user here... I just bought a DAV BG2 about a month ago and can't imagine living without it now. Its clean but not sterile; transparent yet polished. It seems to be able to add a sort of magic touch to everything it touches. I ordered one without ever hearing it in person... just from reading reviews here and elsewhere. When I need 4 or 8 more channels of AMAZING clean pre, this is exactly the place I will look: no need to spend more on a Millennia or Grace.

[burrencrawler]

The DAV BG-1 is an amazing piece of kit, extremly versatile, as good on vocals ang guitars as it is on bass drums and toms. I give this pre my full thumbs up, no modding needed, but like any pre you can mod them to the hilt with burr browns or better transformers, so what? these rule as they are. I have just ordered a DAV BG-6 stereo compressor to follow my BG-1, I am curious to see what it will be like as they are relatively new out. Anybody heard them? worth a try, golden age in sweden are doing a specail at the moment on them for €379!! I am there with bells on.......

[Joey333]

Originally Posted by mds

DAV pre is great. I've yet to run into something I didn't like about it. It is a clean pre with a little extra fat, but not a colored pre by any means. Super smooth and detailed. I love it.

+1 yes man.

[FFTT]

I'm waiting for an interface that can easily handle the DAV BG-1 +4
signal and with thunderbolt I/O

The trouble with a great pre amp like the DAV BG-1 is the realization that
the rest of your gear is crap.

Eagerly awaiting Apogee and Metric Halo on a thunderbolt I/O

[Geoff Poulton]

Originally Posted by FFTT

The trouble with a great pre amp like the DAV BG-1 is the realization that the rest of your gear is crap. I/O

Quote of the week!

[monkeyxx]

to answer the original poster's question, I would say, "no"

well, especially if you consider DIY. that's when your real bang for buck can step in. it's easy enough with kits and pre made PCBs like from SCA, ClassicA.P.I., Hamptone, JLM Audio, FiveFish. Once you get the hang of these, the options for affordable DIY open up even more, and you can start building 1176, LA2A, REDD style tube preamps, etc

but also the majority of 500 series preamps are well under $1,000

and then you have the single channel units from Universal Audio, Focusrite, Daking, Grace (two channels), and the four channel from Sytek, etc, all under $1,000

I have a hard time believing with this many options available that "the DAV BG-1 is the best bang for the buck pre under $1,000." One, because I generally prefer transformer based preamps, and two, because the simple odds of 1 vs 100 don't seem to be in 1's favor.

all the BG-1 praise is nice enough and all though... there's just a lot, lot more options out there at $1,000