• Account
  • View Shopping Cart

Menu Search View Shopping Cart Call Us
desktop

Great River Electronics MEQ-1NV Pre/EQ Combo  From Great River

Bundled EQ-1NV and ME-NV (EQ and Mic Pre) with FREE Rack Mount! The Great River pre is a Neve-inspired preamp boasting incredibly deep and punchy lows and an instantly recognizable mid-range.

Great River Electronics

$2,750.00

Retail:  $3,575.00

"Experience the Difference"

Sound Pure's 3-Year Warranty

Close
Our Free 3-Year Warranty!
In addition to the standard included manufacturer warranty, virtually all new products carry our exclusive, industry-leading, absolutely free, Sound Pure 3-Year Warranty, which includes PARTS & LABOR. This high-value perk is our way of providing the ultimate in added value to enhance the unique personal touch our small, dedicated team contributes to each purchase.
Learn more »

Lifetime Support

Close
Free Lifetime Technical Support!
Our small team of dedicated experts is here to help the original purchaser for the lifetime of the product. Why? Because we care about building real relationships with our customers for life and stand behind every product we sell.

Free Shipping

Close
This Product Ships Free!
Products ship from our well-located, climate- and humidity-controlled warehouse absolutely free (inside the continental USA). Low-cost international shipping options exist for most products.
Contact us for details »
Ships Quick!
Usually ships 24 - 48 hours after order processed.
Payments as low as $62/mo.

What We Think

Great River has taken a familiar design and in a lot of ways improved upon it. When it comes to sound, the often unwieldy low-mids that a classic 1073 (or 1073 clone) will tend to have is much tighter and punchier with the Great River preamp. Also the Hi-freq response reveals much more detail than its inspiration. Key features like the “loading” button that engages a 600 ohm resistor before the output stage opens the door to a ton of sonic variations. Also, switchable input and output metering really set this preamp apart in the ever growing sea of Neve inspired hardware.  
 
When I use it on rock vocals, it adds a weight and texture that is simply to die for. This is also my go to pre for overhead recordings, where the high frequencies are delivered in a warm, controlled manner and the drums sound punchy and thunderous. Being a Neve-inspired unit, it shares the same source flexibility, so while I have my favorites, it performs exceptionally all throughout the studio. I also really like the DI of the Great River. They managed to implement a FET-buffered route for the instrument signal to pass through the custom wound Sowter transformer. This makes the DI much more than an afterthought which, lets face it, on some mic pres thats exactly what it is. I often go with its DI over my pricy dedicated DI units. 

1073-Style Preamp Blind Shootout: WA273-EQ vs. Vintech X73i vs. BAE 1073 vs. Great River MP-2NV

In this BLIND 1073-style preamp shooutout video, we put the Warm Audio WA273-EQ, the Vintech X73i, the BAE 1073, and the Great River MP-2NV up against each other on acoustic guitar & male vocals. Can you tell which is which? FOR THE RESULTS AND A COPY OF THE HIGH RES AUDIO FILES:(without YouTube compression), give us a call at (919) 682-5552 or email us at proaudio(at)soundpure.com.

Manufacturer's Description from Great River

The new MEQ-1NV is the Great River channel strip – discrete Class-A, incredibly versatile. The EQ-1NV (four-band parametric, true inductor/capacitor, ’70’s British “1081/1083”-style) is routed via the patch loop jack on the ME-1NV (two-gain-stage, dual-meter, '70's British “1073”-style mic pre).

In this configuration, the EQ is inserted between the mic preamp gain stages, providing a wide range of gain-based effects. With higher input gain / lower output gain, the EQ sections can be driven slightly harder for increased harmonics; with lower input gain / higher output gain, the EQ sounds very transparent. With its ultra-high headroom and ultra-low noise floor, the MEQ-1NV is an indispensable tool for modern recording.

Great River Electronics

About Manufacturer

Great River Electronics Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets superior quality professional audio products that are built to perform and capture your sound with integrity, character, and accuracy. The company has an experience base in excess of twenty years in analog and digital domains of audio processing. In addition, the company also designs industrial control systems used in commercial applications. Great River Electronics Inc. is located just southeast of the capital city St. Paul, Minnesota. Dan Kennedy, co-founder of Great River Electronics Inc., began designing microphone preamplifiers to solve noise problems associated with recording orchestral music using ribbon microphones. Intelligence, perseverance, and passion yielded product designs that are supremely quiet, clearly transparent, and extremely musical across all musical genres and tracking formats. The combination of crystal clear high-end coupled with tight, solid low-end result in precise, full sounds that realize their natural sonic positions within any mix. In addition, Dan has designed an equalizer, EQ-2NV and EQ-1NV, to complement the NV Series preamplifiers or to function as a standalone equalizer. The design philosophy at Great River Electronics Inc. has always been to utilize the minimum circuitry necessary to provide maximum sonic performance. Legendary Jensen and Sowter transformers optimized for Great River Electronics Inc. are used in all microphone preamplifiers. In addition, all units are equipped with gold plated switch contacts, operate on externally switched 110 or 220 volts, and have a standard two-year warranty with registration. These preamplifiers are widely used internationally in professional recording studios, digital project studios, and road recording rigs. The units are designed as perfect front-end additions to digital audio workstations (DAWs). Two design types of preamplifiers are currently available - Original MP Series, the clean series, and the newly developed NV Series, the vintage sound series. The Original MP Series, the MP-2 and the MP-4, are two channel and four channel units that offer the most pristine, definitive sound clarity and accuracy available today. These units have optional output transformers to isolate and balance the signal. The NV Series, featuring the MP-2NV and the ME-1NV, modernize vintage sound. Both units are tunable preamplifiers that offer the same definitive sound and solid craftsmanship as all Great River Electronics preamplifiers with the ability to 'tune that sound' a la 1970's 1073's. The equalizers, EQ-2NV (two channel) and EQ-1NV (one channel), are loosely based on the topology of vintage 1081/1083 models. The newly-designed class A, discrete single-ended amplifiers in the EQ-NV Series bring greater clarity and dynamic range to the musicality and control of the 108x models. The EQ-2NV and EQ-1NV use the same internal components and have identical and stunning sonic performance capabilities. Great River Electronics Inc. understands the needs, demands, and mission of today's busy recording professionals - produce great music with great sounds and great performances accurately articulated and meticulously defined every time.

Specifications

Preamp:

                Multiple In/Out connections: XLR balanced; ¼" -10dbV output for 'no-latency' DAW monitoring; high-Z input on front panel (disconnects mic input): TRS ¼” insert patch point for compressor or equalizer ahead of the output amplifier

                Adjustable gain stages: input in 5db steps to 60db; output from -25 to +10db; maximum overall gain 70db; 2 to 3 stages of single ended solid state amplifier gain blocks, depending on gain structure; high-current 70ma Class A bias on output stage

                Input and output meters on each channel (dual-stage metering is a Great River exclusive)

                Front panel switches: polarity; phantom power; input impedance (1200 / 300 ohm); output loading (600 ohm resistor across output transformer)

                High quality, custom wound Sowter transformers

                Gold plated switching contacts

                Local power supply regulation on each channel

                110, 220 volts, either 50 or 60 Hz operation with external selection

                3 year warranty with registration

                'Big Iron Vintage Sound' from custom-wound transformers

                'No-latency' output monitoring for DAW users

                High-Z input is ideal for bass, guitar, and sound modules (FET-buffered and routed into the input transformer, a Great River exclusive)

                Gain stage monitoring via dual meters (also a Great River exclusive)

                Ultra quiet noise floor for outstanding performance at any gain setting

EQ:

                One channel, discrete Class-A design

                Multiple In/Out connections: XLR balanced line in and out; ¼" -10dbV output for 'no-latency' DAW monitoring; TRS ¼” insert patch point for NV Series mic preamp (inserts EQ between NV preamp gain stages)

                Wide range of input sensitivity from +8dbm to -20dbm with selection between line in and insert patch point

                4 bands independently enabled with +/-15db boost/cut

                Hi and low bands selectable between peaking and shelving

                Hi-mid and low-mid bands each have 3 selectable Q positions

                3rd order selectable frequency high pass filter

                Hardwire bypass of equalizer section

                Internal low-noise shielded power supply (externally selectable for 110 / 220 volt; 50 / 60 Hz)

                3 year warranty with registration

                Professional and semi-professional level I/O

                Multi-purpose: operates with NV Series preamps and as a standalone EQ

                Effortless sound shaping and frequency manipulation

                Flexible band use; 1,2,3, or 4 bands can be used simultaneously

                Simple pushbutton selection between Q positions and peak/shelf

 

Sound Clips