Neve 8068 or Amek 9098i
I´m about to sell my Amek Mozart 56 i/o with 24 Neve Channels. Nobody of you wants to buy it. It´s complicated and to ay say the truth: the hell to work with it.
i got offered an Amek 9098i -a friend gives up his studio- and i loved to work with it and of course-- the sound.
but i´m making up my mind buying an neve 8068. ..
now i´m in trouble. what would you guys prefer? less comfort with an neve 8068 but THE sound, or an uncomplicated 9098i with automation and "sheen" and "glow" button for the vintage sound?
they cost nearly the same, so it is just sound. what would you prefer?
the amek has 56i/o the neve about 32.

JohannS

Its a hard question but user friendly is user friendly. How much of a cachet is the neve for the customers in germany. We know it should not rate that much more but somehow they do. Hard question that one.
Regards.•:*¨¨*:•. ¸¸.•´¯`•.Mark Fairfax-Harwood, Engineer Springvale Studios

how much does your friend wants for the 9098i ?

Are you primarily tracking, mixing, or is it both equally? What kind of records do you typically do? Are you really looking for pres that you'll use or will you stick with outboard? How much do you currently use console automation? Do you or would you like to have built in dynamics on each channel? How much routing do you like to do when tracking or mixing? Do you use lots of sends, mults, bussing, etc.? How important are mix recalls in your life? What kind of multi-track size are we typically talking about? 24 channels? 48 channels? How big are the respective consoles' footprints and will they work ergonomically in the room? What's the history and current condition of each console respectively? Do you have access to a good local tech who could service one or both of these? Are you trying to attract outside clientel to hire this room or is it pretty much going to be your own workspace? What's the price difference? How much outboard do you have? How much do you rely on console pres, or EQs or dynamics? Do you do surround work?


Many questions whose answers are far more important in making this decision than our (gearslutz) off the cuff opinions and preferences. You can make a great sounding record on either console. You really need to answer these questions and many more like it AND have a real plan on how this is going to integrate into your workflow before jumping in to such a major purchase. Good luck!

Is that a serious question?

I would sell my grandmother for a Neve 8068...

both are around 180 k (euro)

You'll get alot of consoles for 180k Euro. For example a SSL 9000, Neve VXS or a fully blown Harrison Series 12. I am not sure the market value of a 9098i is 180k Euro these days..... Plus you can get THESE fairly cheap to compliment the above mentioned consoles.

Cheers,
Lindell™

You need to work on both and decide what sounds the best to you and what will keep you productive and happy. I couldn't knowingly compromise on the sound of the board for a few extra bells and whistles. Also, the Neve may go up in value, the AMEK will only go down in value.

I think if you are planning to spend 180k on a used Neve or Amek you need your head examining. Most dealers are having problems giving large format consoles away, by your own admission you can't sell your Amek Mozart, surely you should be getting the picture. This is one of the reasons that both Neve and SSL were sold earlier this year, the bottom has fallen out of the market. A Neve VR60 was recently sold in the UK for £26,000, personally speaking I think even thats too much, but possibly the buyer had enough work to justify it. The successful studios I have seen of late have outed their Neve's SSL's and replaced them with Pro-Tools Icons, at around £70,000, (less if you strike a deal) for a complete system it makes comercial sense.

If you are still hell bent on spending your money on either a Neve or the 9098 I would probably give the Amek a miss, or at least check with a respectable engineer that you can get hold of any part you might need maintain it.


Regards



Roland

I bought a Neve 8058 (identical to the 68, with 4 fewer channels) in 1998 and haven't regretted it for an instant. You'll want to have a good tech work out any issues (recapping, adding features??) but once those are ironed out you'll just need to spray a pot once and awhile. You can hotrod it as you're cash allows. We went wild modding ours (60 total inputs, extra class A line inputs, speaker selection matrix, class A 2mix insert ..........) but over a number of years.

It's the matter of choice... I would always choose to drive oldtimer Rolls Silver Shadow in great/very good condition... Not the Mercedes C class ( 6 years old )...

Talking on pricing... C class is now 6 times cheaper then it was new... The Rolls costs as new! Or 3 times more!

You choose... Cheers!

As lovely as the Rolls is (and I've driven them, ridden in several and my grandfather sold them) bits fall off them, they have britax seatbelt clips, fine as a hobby/labour of love for the enthusiast.

Converting this into sound recording terms, I do this for a living so I need reliability, economic sense and something that is going to take my business forward to the future, not a retrospective of the past.

Whatever your position, I do seriously suggest that the £120,000 JohannS is talking about spending is too much. I've seen SSL9000J's advertised at around this price, but given the state of the market and the amount that are comming available I would be expecting to pay much less than £100,000 in a real deal. There are some wonderful analogue desks available for much less than £40,000.

Regards to all


Roland

Do you want to support a console thet no one wants?? 8068...but please pay a reasonable amount for it

The 9098i is an amazing desk.

A decided joy to own and operate.

It's current market value gives no indication of what it's like to make records on this desk.


Best regards,

SM.

Stupid question: Do you want the Amek 9098i because it is a flexable large format desk like SSL or Neve VR? Or do you want the 8068 because of it's colour? If It's analogue summing through a console from PT, why not get an older class A Neve like 8038/8048 w/ flying faders? Or a new custom Daking desk? The Daking doesn't have nearly the featues as the Amek or Neve.

My favourite console is the Neve 8038 at Sear Sound in NYC. The first console I ever saw was the 8068mk2 at RCA studio D in NYC. They later put in an SSL and then turned the entire joint into a giant storage closet for the IRS.

If I remember correctly, Rolls driver.... He asked about 8068 and 9098i???? Or am I wrong...?

Offcourse I would always buy an SSL console! I own one, too...

But if we're answering his questions, we should suggest the better of TWO alternatives he has!?


Hey, maybe he could buy an apartment on Hawaii and rent it to Rolls drives in next 15 years? Hmmm, damn...dfegad


Cheers!

If I remember correctly it was you that made the analogy to a Roll's Royce. I gave my opinion on the two desks much earlier in the thread if you care to read. SSL owner or not £120,000 is too much money to pay for ANY secondhand analogue desk even SSL and fantastic Neve's can be had for around £30,000. The Amek is as I said before possibly a lemon. Now Amek are defunct there could potentially be a problem with spares and this is something that needs to be checked out with an engineer before even considering a purchase.


Regards




Roland

Neve is a strong name and attract clients. A Class A Neve console also have the sound and will either hold or go up in value. Amek won't. You can always break a Neve 80 series apart and sell the modules or rack them. The key is not to over pay and in my personal opinion 180,000 euro is a bit too much.

I own an 8068 in Europe and am very happy with the sound, it has the fattest modules there are (31102's), and the sound of the actual board is amazing. However there is only one person in Europe that i know of who can maintain these boards and he is always really busy, I would have someone check it over before buying as purchasing one of these boards is like paying money over on a vintage car.. if it's the Daniel Lanois 52 channel board which i think was around this price - Buy it ! If it's only has 32 channels it's waaay overpriced..

freaks.
i brought the 8068 (48 channels) FF Automation...

Really? Can she remove her teeth?


While this thread is trying to compare the magnificence of a '68 Camaro that has been worked to the tits vs. a Lamborghini Gallardo the fact of the matter is that they're both great.

With the exception of a Trident A-Range I have never met a desk with the opulence and depth of a 9098i. I've worked on a lot of 8068's which while better and deeper sounding than 8078's still don't have the clarity of a 9098i [in this idiot's opinion... YMMV].

If it were my studio and I planned on tracking and mixing there and working in my own room as the main engineer I would get the 9098i without hesitation. If I had to sell time to vagabond engineers I would get the 8068 because they all know the "N word" and it's an easier sell. While I think the 9098i sounds a hell of a lot better than the 8068 the fact of the matter is that the "N word" sells time and when you're running a 'sound hotel' that is what you need to do... sell time.

Just as we all know singers, guitar players, etc. that are way better than any of the crap on the radio the fact of the matter is that these players/singers/etc. don't have the marketing push necessary to get them to 'household world' status. The same with the 9098i... it was never able to crack the "but hits are made on SSL's" bull**** so it never got to be as popular... but as someone who has used "all of the above", to me... it's one of the best sounding consoles ever designed.

Best of luck with your search.

I'm not sure how many 9098's were ever sold, but I would agree totally that it would be difficult to sell the time on one at the moment. I would also be a little bit nervous since the demise of Amek as to how easy servicing is and if there are any specific parts that might be difficult to obtain. I do think that anyone looking to hire a large format console room is on a bit of a hiding to nothing these days, my guess is in 5 years time there will be more Icon rooms than anything else.

Regards


Roland

congratulations !

enjoy !

<sarcasm>It really sucks that you have to choose one of those two consoles. Why not get something cool like a Mackie digital 8 bus?</sarcasm>

Hey. where is your studio and who is the tech?

Hi all.

Interestingly enough, I have had next to zero issues with my 9098i in the last 4 years. In fact we just did a full tune up two weeks ago and it really hadn't drifted a bit. I have never had a module fail(out of 72), fader fail, switch or button fail. It's like the "Maytag" desk and I'm not complaining. We've also been as busy as we want to be.

How does it sound? Glorious! It is a joy to work on especially with Radar or PT with Prism converters. I don't know how much it's worth but it's built like a tank with no compromise. The thing I like most about it is it's basically uncolored allowing you to bend the mixes at will. Also, it receives tracks from SSLs and API's very well without imposing its sonic will. 48 buses, 16 sends, and 144 faders handles anything you could come across. Is it a good investment? It has been for me but ymmv...

Go to the links below and listen to the different bands/tracks if you want to hear it in action. Most of the mixes were done here along with quite a bit of tracking.

www.astonish.com

Click on "Astonish House" the artists and music.

www.sweeptheleg.com

http://www.myspace.com/soular
"Love, Crash, Heal"

http://www.myspace.com/aranda

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endID=65262243

Cut and mixed entirely. "Colorado" vocal will give you an idea of the unadulterated sound of the desk.

Anyway, I thought this might help take the thread from a subjective nature to more of an informative nature.

Best,
Ted.

Nice work on the bands btw. I really like the sound of Soular.

Thanks Randy,

All of the engineering both tracking and mixing was primarily Craig Alvin.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...iendid=6504934

The new "Aranda" stuff is amazing... It will be released in June I think.

Another example of the desk would be all of the vocals on Toby Keith's, "Honkey Tonk University" and on "Greatest Hits 2", the 4-new songs.

Best,
Ted.

Here are a few other examples going down a different road.

http://www.myspace.com/colourmusic

Cut in a garage in Stillwater and mixed on the desk. Check out "Yes".

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=19296269

Mixed here. This is a great record...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=132599627

These are one hour roughs. "FYI, "Shed a Tear", features Mike's/Wonder Audio's, new 47 using the desk pre. All cut and tracked here with Russ Kunkel on drums a few weeks ago..