Warm Audio WA73-EQ mic pre

[JTyson]

Warm Audio's clone of a Neve 1073 at a killer price, so far it works with really well with every mike I've thrown at it- 57's, MD421's, Royer R121 ribbon, Sennheiser E609, AKG414, Neumann TLM107, and a Bock 195. 80+ db of gain, so its got plenty for ribbons, and gets that sweet color and sheen when you throttle it up. Dont have a real 1073 to compare it to, but I'm really impressed so far. The 1073 style inductor EQ is fantastic, I started to get the model that came without the EQ, but I'm really glad I got the EQ model. Custom Carnhill transformers, and an expanded HF frequency option. Sounds punchy and aggressive with a really sweet attack from your pick.
Well done, for the money, this thing is gonna be hard to beat

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Oh wow. I have a buddy who has a lot of top end studio gear and he also likes the Warm stuff.
I kind of ant a Chandler Germanium but the Warm products are calling me. Maybe also that 6176 or LA2A clone

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

These look killer for the $$$. I was looking at the 273Eq too. And if it sounds great with the Bock U195... slam dunk. Cool review. Thanks.

 

[JTyson]

Oh wow. I have a buddy who has a lot of top end studio gear and he also likes the Warm stuff.
I kind of ant a Chandler Germanium but the Warm products are calling me. Maybe also that 6176 or LA2A clone

That Germanium Pre is fantastic, you couldn't go wrong with that one, and from what Ive heard and read, it works great on everything you run through it. I have no idea how they would compare head to head, but it would not surprise me if the Chandler was better, I think the WA unit is really good for the money, and its a lot less, but it didn't "bring me to tears" like the advertisement info on the WA said regarding the old school engineers reaction to the early Neve 1073's. Its def worth its price though, and works great on guitars

 

[JTyson]

These look killer for the $$$. I was looking at the 273Eq too. And if it sounds great with the Bock U195... slam dunk. Cool review. Thanks.

Yeah, I kinda wish I had gotten the 273EQ, I just wasn't sure how good it would be, and if I was disappointed, I would have 2 of them to be disappointed in
Well worth it

 

[JerEvil]

I’ve heard great stuff about the Warm Audio Gear. I was contemplating doing a 500 series thing but that seems like a really bad idea for me...

 

[JTyson]

I’ve heard great stuff about the Warm Audio Gear. I was contemplating doing a 500 series thing but that seems like a really bad idea for me...

Hmmmm.......
Are you married?
We have to pick our spiraling out of control black holes carefully

 

[Cordoba]

Great review, thanks for posting. I've recently fallen down the mic pre black hole myself. Got a Golden Age Mark II on backorder. The wait is killing me. 30 days in now MF is saying another 30.

 

[dirtyfunkg]

Long been considering the WA-412 for a quad of API style pre's that get reviewed highly. When I do up a studio, I think Warm is going to be strongly featured on the front end. A couple of 412's and maybe a pair of 273's for a total of 8 API style and 4 Neve style pre's to feed my RME's.

 

[Chubtone]

It's a good thing that Warm Audio 1073 doesn't come in a 500 series or my wallet would be out.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Honestly, if i were you guys, I wouldn't go down the 500 series lunchbox trap. Unless you use your preamps regularly then it is a money pit. I bought a 500 series lunchbox and a golden age mic pre and ask me how many times i have used it or any of the other recording stuff I bought recently?? (including mics)

I would just get a good mid quality interface ( I went with the audient ASP880 and id14 for conversion) and then use a console emulation of Neve plugin to give you the color you want. You aren't going to notice that much of a diff. What is important is a good clean signal in that you can work with. All that vintage sounding goodness is wasted on a lot of us just jamming along to bass and drum tracks.

Your welcome, I just saved you thousands ..

disclaimer: I likely won't sell any of my stuff either because as a fellow gear addict, I LOVE to hoard pedals and sound equipment.

 

[JTyson]

Long been considering the WA-412 for a quad of API style pre's that get reviewed highly. When I do up a studio, I think Warm is going to be strongly featured on the front end. A couple of 412's and maybe a pair of 273's for a total of 8 API style and 4 Neve style pre's to feed my RME's.

Yeah, the 412 looks nice, some API style punch X4 would be a useful addition for us, and its half the money. The Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt interface we just changed over to gives you the option of bypassing the internal mic pres so you can run whatever you like without passing the signal through the built ins. I will say the built in mic pres in the Apogee are super clean and usable for a lot of things, but its good to have the outboard option for stuff like guitars and bass.