I'm currently looking at upgrading my pre amp from the Art Tube MP. The Art was cheap and all I could afford at the time of purchase, but now a few years down the road I'm looking at perhaps trying a solid state pre instead of a valve. I don't have a huge sum of cash to spend but recently saw a Neumann V472 for sale at what seemed a reasonable price.
The question is, does the vintage gear do a good job in the modern world of computer recording. The 70s and 80s seem like a world away compared to what can be achieved these days.
Vintage Neumann should do a SUPERB job if it is still in good working order. Likely is, only thing that really ever goes bad are the caps, which can be replaced without breaking the bank. The caps can dry out if the thing was left unpowered for an inordinate length of time.
Cool, I'll do a little research and try and get a handle on the good and not so good and what to look out for. From what I've read so far, quite often vintage gear has been 'modified' which is not always a good thing.