Roll Your Own ProductionsThere were, as one might expect, a few suggestions that recurred in the various reviews and forums on both sides of the Atlantic and one of these was the DAV unit. After careful consideration of present and future needs and trying a few units out where possible, I decided to invest in the DAV thinking if the worst came to the worst I could always sell it.
Having lived with it for a few months now I thought I'd finally get around to reviewing it for the site to let you know my experiences with it in the context of my humble but functional set up. Hopefully this review will be of use to others in a similar situation to mine.
Overview:
Digital Audio Visual Electronics is a small company with an ever increasing
reputation for creating quality professional audio products. The company,
based in Twickenham, was formed in 1997 by an ex Decca engineer.
DAV design & manufacture high performance Microphone Pre-Amps (BG No 1, BG No 1U, BG No 2 and BG No 8), Equalisers (BG No 3), Limiters/Compressors (BG No 4, BG No 6), Audio Channel Units (BG No 5) & Mastering Units.
They also provide servicing of audio & video equipment as well as a comprehensive studio installation service .
The Broadhurst Gdns No. 1U (or BG1u for short) is a dual mono microphone preamplifier with a direct injection box incorporated into channel one. That's it, it has no other functions. It doesn't add compression, it doesn't change the frequency of the applied signal, it doesn't even make the tea and support the talent through emotional crises! So what does it do?
Well, it does accept a wide dynamic range of analogue, microphone level signals and amplify them without detracting from or adding to the source sounds. It also accepts a similarly wide dynamic range of 'hi-Z' instrument level signals courtesy of its front panel, 1/4" TS jack socket.
Set up/Installation:
The BG1u is the rack-mounted version of the slightly cheaper,
standalone 'brick'-type BG1, which has proven to be a popular choice
amongst project studio owners over the last few years. It's supplied in one of
two ways; either direct from the
BG1u
site or through KMR
Audio - either way the price is the same so I got mine direct from DAV.
Knowing what I did about the unit I didn't expect it to weigh a ton, but I was
still surprised at how light the box felt when I picked it up. I opened the
plain, cardboard box to reveal a neatly and securely packaged yet plain, metal
box within. Whilst not ugly and certainly not garish, the BG1u isn't
likely to receive any accolades for beauty, it's more an example of function
over form.
The unit was calibrated at the factory before being dispatched to me and a
quick aural 'test' of each microphone channel, using the same microphone and
lead of course, showed that they were close enough to use effectively in a
stereo recording.
The BG1u doesn't require 'breathing space' in the rack and that,
coupled with the fact that it only occupies a one unit space in the rack (as
the name suggests), meant that finding room and fitting it into my rack was
much easier than it might have been. The built-in rack ears are sturdy enough,
especially when you consider the weight (or lack thereof) of it.
Interface:
The BG1u has two female and male XLR connectors (one for each
channel) for balanced microphone input and line output respectively located
around the back of the unit. There is also a pair of unbalanced 1/4" jack line
outputs, which can be used in conjunction with or instead of the balanced
outputs as required.
In my set up the inputs each have a 20 ft. microphone lead attached, which can be fed into the live room where they're connected to one of a few other microphone leads, which in turn are attached to my microphones. The balanced outputs feed two channels of my MOTU 24i/o and the unbalanced outputs are connected to my patchbay.
The front of the unit has a series of buttons, LED's, the previously mentioned DI input and, of course, the stepped gain knobs. From left to right, the first thing is the red 48v phantom power indicator LED with the associated red control switch next to it. These are followed by the DI input (channel one only), then the three switches that control the pad function, phase reversal and 'hi-pass' filter. Three more LED's are used for basic metering above which is the gain pot. With the exception of the DI input the pattern repeats itself making both microphone channels identical in operation.
Technical specifications:
I could just spout off a list of figures here that I gleaned from the DAV website but that would be pointless, especially because I wouldn't know what I was talking about and, furthermore, I have no way of verifying the information anyway - you've seen my pics, you know I don't have that kind of set up.
So, instead I'll urge you to follow the earlier links to the DAV website and check out the numbers for yourself. If you're a numbers person, I've no doubt that you'll be impressed at the quoted figures. However, I'm sure most people reading this review are much more interested in its sound than its figures and so on to the next part of the review.
In use:
The first thing I ran through the BG1u following installation was my
Peavey electric bass guitar - now at this point I should point out that I'm
neither a vocalist or a player of instruments, so my performance wasn't
exactly top notch - however, the tone of the bass was thick, full and vibrant
and made me want to be able to really play the bass Stanley Clarke stylee.
I made a short recording with the outputs connected directly to inputs on my
Alesis HD24 using its metering to help set the trim on the BG1u.
I repeated the exercise with the outputs plugged directly into inputs on my
MOTU 24i/o going into Cubase.
In both cases the resulting recordings were clean and accurate. A little too
accurate for my liking considering the performances! Anyway, the bass'
character was all there in a way that I hadn't been able to capture before and
this made me happy. My guitar playing is even worse than my bass so I didn't
bother to do more than a cursory check with that. Suffice to say if you want
or need to capture a clean signal for whatever end purpose, you could do a lot
worse than use the BG1u's DI input, especially where bass is
concerned.
I was due to record a new project for one of my clients so I took this as an
opportunity to hear how the BG1u fared in its primary function -
microphone pre-amplification. The session went well and the client was very
pleased with the results, even before I had a chance to do anything more than
a quick level and pan mix.
I recorded three tracks with the new client plus another song with one of
my regulars that day and was very pleased with the way the BG1u
allowed me to stack the vocals without any hint of muddiness or
unintelligibility.
Later on I had the chance to go to town on the recordings with multiple
processors and effects, just to see how much punishment the tracks would take
compared to earlier recordings made with the pres in my GS3. The
difference in quality was marked although it must be said that I have improved
additional things in my recordings along the way, notably the acoustic
environment and not least my technical skills - practice makes perfect, as
they say. However, the quality of the signals themselves was still perceptible
and would become even more noticeable in a project containing lots of audio
recordings (as opposed to mainly MIDI and/or samples).
Conclusion:
I don't own any 'boutique' pres to compare the BG1u to but over the
years I have used and/or heard used such devices and I think it's fair to say
that the DAV unit is not what one would describe as a 'character pre'.
Nevertheless, the BG1u does what it promises to do and it does it
very well.
I have yet to use it in anger on an acoustic instrument recording but when I
do I'll come back and update this review with my findings. In the meantime, if
you're looking for an improvement in your vocal recording chain and you can't
afford or don't want to pay for any of the 1000+ pres or channel strips on the
market, this unit is well worth investigating. There are other options
available, e.g. the Grace 101, FMR RNP, etc., but for the UK
market the DAV unit represents very good value for money in terms of the
quality it delivers.
In short, if asked the direct question would I recommend it, the answer would
be yes!