Warm Audio WA73

The legend of the 1073 lives on in Warm Audio's beautiful WA73.

You might say; the legendary 1073 set the standard for characterful microphone preamplification. This venerable circuit helped define the punchy sound of '70s rock - and countless recordings and live concerts since. Today, this coveted tone for a song can be yours, with the Warm Audio WA73 microphone/line/instrument preamp. In both design and performance, the WA73 pays homage to the respected British console line that started it all. Throughout the audio industry, the 1073 is considered the holy grail among preamps, with a rich, sweet and bold tonality ideal for making bold statements with your music. After years of R&D, meticulous reverse engineering and countless hours of listening, Warm Audio has perfectly captured the sonic essence of this classic in their boutique WA73. With 80dB of gain and a fully discrete transformer-balanced signal path, the sound is a revelation: harmonically rich bottoms, focused midrange and slightly resonant highs.

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Handcrafted with top-quality components

The WA73 boasts weapons-grade quality with discrete, hand-wired Class A circuits and premium components like British-made Carnhill transformers, and has 80dB of gain so you can capture muted sources with your favorite ribbon microphone. Your ribbons and condensers will sound heavenly; in fact, you'll be amazed to hear how authoritative your dynamic mics sound. Increasing the input stage and decreasing the output gain will make your tracks sound even more vintage-style. Finally, there are instrument connections per channel, polarity inversion, 48-volt phantom power and switchable impedance for variation in sound and optimal tuning to various microphones.

Optimize every source - and microphone

There's no source that won't sound great through the Warm Audio WA73. With judicious microphone selection and placement, drums are larger than life; DI bass and keyboards sound massive and synths become trance-inducing; electric guitars soar; vocals reign supreme. Pianos and acoustic guitars are brilliant. Orchestral instruments - strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion - achieve unspeakable lushness and dimension. You can even use the WA73 to edit voices or complete mixes.

UK Custom Carnhill Transformers

1073-loving engineers at Klundert Music get happy when the conversation turns to the history of the components of these classic circuits, and signal transformers are a common topic of conversation. Vintage 1073s used several transformer variations during their production; but the most coveted were the very first made by Marinair Radar, because of their smooth and forgiving nature that sweetly saturates when pressed. They have been known to bring engineers to tears when they hear how wonderful their mixes sound through them! Warm Audio turned to Carnhill Transformers of Cambridgeshire, UK, to meticulously design replicas of these highly desirable early 1073 transformers. The result is stunning, and - to our ears - tantalizingly close to the early vintage 1073s.

Warm left no stone unturned

An essential but not often discussed component of these classic British circuits are the various types of capacitors and output transistors used. To maintain the integrity of the original circuits, Warm decided to use high-quality tantalum and polystyrene capacitors in the signal path and an output transistor selection that delivers smoother results at higher gain settings than what is common in today's 1073-style preamps. All in all, Warm Audio's monumental effort to design an uncompromising product has paid off. You will appreciate this every time you plug in the WA73 and press record.

Specifications

• microphone preamplifier
• very faithful replica of a famous British preamplifier
• 80 dB gain
• polarity switch
• 48V phantom power supply
• high pass filter with 4 positions
  connections:
  -XLR microphone input
  -TS jack Hi-Z instrument input
  -TRS line in
• XLR and TRS line out
• TS jack send/return
• LED indication