these photos are of the neve ten81 i finished making in june09. believe me it was quite a mission. not only for its complexity but also due to the instructions being incomplete and sometimes incorrect. the ten81 has a mic/line input and an equalizer in four separate frequency sections and a powerful high and low filter section. a truly fabulous sounding tool. a surgical sword and sonic sledgehammer in one.  heres some conversation between my australian client and myself post delivery (he loves it and its his favorite toy) Hi Eke, Well some of the controls are still as deeply lost to my understanding as hieroglyphics– I mean I want to understand it with my right brain ( or is that left?) but my left ( or is that right?) tells me to just go with it and play into it like a saxophone. Between the different clunks and turns seems the ability to do with sounds what I have been wanting to for ages. There is so much right about the sound of this pre/eq that I don’t know where to start. Is it possible to make it sound bad?? How?? Every combination I’ve tired for the last few hours just seems to work. I think I want to just learn to understand it instictively – that my hand reaches for it and with a few turns the lighting on the sound sweeps over the different clefts and niches of the sound.  Dull sources get this kind of beautiful ancient light shone on them.  ( my reply) “hey. so glad you are loving that.  shes a powerful axe and best treated with care tho.. for she will.  as is womanly want .. bite you when you least expect it.  recording too much boosting of frequencies as to shine a sound up sooo much. as then when mixed in with all the other shined up sound morsels. the soup will be all brightened tastes with reduced depth. too many shiney things for anything to shine gently anymore.  delicious miso mixes uncomfortably with ice cream. miss neve is very good at wipeing away a sound into a lovely murky background too . setting the mysterious glorious black back wall of fat black big blackness” Wise words on the soup recipe, chef. the new shining powers it holds might just burn my eye out occasionally. It’s a chainsaw and a scalpel. hilariously powerful and being able to go so far as adding 18db seems like it should bust some law of audio. but it doesn’t. I’m just about to get going on another dive in …  am finding that I have fallen in love with things like acoustic guitar all over again – it just sounds so good through that pre. everything really. I just tuned up the pianos as well to give them a workout on them over the week end. that overdrive is legendary for front end boosting and they pair wonderfully well with the fat ladies as well for maximum girthosity. ah.. they really have kicked me off and I have a few new tunes brewing.”

well .. theres not much as satisfying than a satisfied and inspired client. perfect for me AND a great ad for rupert neve actually . thanks man. you designed a good thing and the challenge of repeating your work was so enlightening and confidence building. thankyou!