Neve Portico: which model is best bang for bucks?

[Griz]

Greetings.

I'm mainly interested in either the 5015 or the 5032. If you could only afford one of these, which would you pick and why?

TIA for advice.

:D

[zenfreud]

My company (Tidepool Audio) sells the RND Portico line. Which is the best value depends entirely on your needs! All the mic preamps in the line sound identical (great, imo), it's just a matter of deciding what other features you want.

With the 5015, you get one channel of compression (identical to one half of their 5043 compressor, probably their most popular device). With the 5032, you get a three band eq. The 5016 is the mic pre and a d.i. with variable phase, very handy if you want to mic a cab and take a direct feed at the same time. Finally, there's the 5012, which has two channels of their mic pre.

[Griz]

My company (Tidepool Audio) sells the RND Portico line. Which is the best value depends entirely on your needs! All the mic preamps in the line sound identical (great, imo), it's just a matter of deciding what other features you want.

With the 5015, you get one channel of compression (identical to one half of their 5043 compressor, probably their most popular device). With the 5032, you get a three band eq. The 5016 is the mic pre and a d.i. with variable phase, very handy if you want to mic a cab and take a direct feed at the same time. Finally, there's the 5012, which has two channels of their mic pre.

Thanks for the info, zenfreud. I am aware of the differences between the various Portico units. I know how the 5012's preamp sounds, so I'm sure the other Portico models also have great sounding preamps.

I'd be interested in both their compressor and their EQ, but can't afford to get both this time. And since a designer often has particular strengths in one area over another, I'm thinking that it may be the case that one may be more outstanding than the other.