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The Warm Audio WA73-EQ Microphone Preamp adds warmth and character to a signal, and the extra EQ section allows vintage-style tone-shaping to improve or sculpt a recording. Recording voices, guitars, drums, and other instruments is common.
Handcrafted with top-quality parts
Boasting weapons-grade build quality with discrete, handwired Class A circuits and top-drawer parts such as UK-made Carnhill transformers and Blore Edwards mil-spec, dual-concentric switch pots, the WA73-EQ has 80dB of gain on tap so you can capture subdued sources with your favorite ribbon mic. Your ribbons and condensers will sound heavenly; you’ll even be gobsmacked when you hear how authoritative your dynamic mics sound. Cranking the input stage and backing off the output gain enhances your tracks with tasty vintage-style coloration. Topping off the feature set is an instrument jack, polarity reverse, 48V phantom power, and switchable impedance for tonal variation and to optimally match a variety of microphones.
Optimize every source — and microphone
There is no source that doesn’t sound amazing through the Warm Audio WA73-EQ. With judicious mic selection and placement, drums are larger-than-life; DI bass and keyboards sound massive and synths become trance-inducing; electric guitars soar; vocals rule. Pianos and acoustic guitars are resplendent. Orchestral instruments — strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion — achieve ineffable lushness and dimension. You can even use the WA73-EQ as a tone-shaping tool to run stems or complete mixes through. Hear what the WA73-EQ can do for your own recordings. It’s transformative.
Definitive British EQ
The EQ section of the WA73-EQ adheres to the classic 1073 circuit topology. The vintage 1073 is the holy grail of EQ, and the WA73-EQ nails its sonics and behavior (complete with its fabled harmonic distortion). It’s a three-band affair, with HF shelving at 10, 12, and 16kHz; midband peaking with selectable center frequencies at 360Hz, 700Hz, 1.6kHz, 3.2kHz, 4.8kHz, and 7.2kHz; and LF shelving, selectable at 35Hz, 60Hz, 110Hz, and 220Hz. A highpass filter, selectable at 50Hz, 80Hz, 160Hz, and 300Hz, lets you trim your signals of unwanted low end. If you’ve never worked with a 1073-style EQ before, all we can say is: you’re in for a serious treat. It’s worth noting that the original 1073 offered only a fixed 10kHz shelf, and the additional high-frequency flexibility afforded by the WA73-EQ is most welcome.
UK Custom Carnhill transformers
1073-loving engineers perk up when the conversation turns to the component history of these classic circuits, and signal transformers are a frequent topic of discussion. Vintage 1073s used different transformer variants throughout their production run; but the most coveted were the very first ones made by Marinair Radar, due to their fluid and forgiving nature that saturates sweetly when pushed. They have been known to bring engineers to tears when they hear how gorgeous their mixes sound through them! Warm Audio turned to Carnhill Transformers of Cambridgeshire, UK, to design meticulous replicas of these most desirable early 1073 transformers. The results are stunning, and — to our ears — tantalizingly close to early vintage 1073s.
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