Warm Audio WA73-EQ Mic Preamp ​ ?

[jesse g]

I recently had death in my family, as one of my Presonus Eureka's died.  The Eureka's are single channel mic preamps with Compression and EQ built in.  I've had two Eureka's for quite a while in my home studio.  Well, in it's place I went and purchased a Warm Audio WA73-EQ, which is a clone of a Neve 1073 Preamp.  I love the way this sounds and the impact the EQ has on the preamp is amazing.  In addition, I like the tone button which changes the impedance for the mic between 300 and 1200 which gives a very sound a nice sound.   This Preamp is simply beautiful.

Neve 1073SPX Microphone Preamp & EQ

Warm Audio WA73-EQ Mic Preamp

Edited March 14, 2022 by jesse g

[Alan Tubbs]

Good tone.

[jesse g]

Yes,  the tone is great.  I really like the EQ, as I turn off the Mic Pre and process the vocals separately from other songs in Cakewalk using it at times.  I am now on a hardware binge.  I'm looking for other Warm Audio gear to acquire.

[Alan Tubbs]

Their 1176 is probably their best emulation since it is so simple.  I was just listening to an old song with the la2a and I don’t know if I achieved a real la2a sound but the effect is Heavenly.  Just the perfect amount of bloom in the female vox.

if you have only or mostly used transformerless pres etc it is really an eye opening experience to drive better units into saturation.  It is lovely.  The first time I used the 1176 at home I had to smile getting a facsimile of the sound I’d heard on records all my life.

the only negative thing specifically about Warm is their sound, mostly from the similar sounding cinemag  transformer add to the sound.  Warm and  thick sometimes is too much if you use multiple Warm units in-line.

[jesse g]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:38 AM, Alan Tubbs said:

The only negative thing specifically about Warm is their sound, mostly from the similar sounding cinemag  transformer add to the sound.  Warm and  thick sometimes is too much if you use multiple Warm units in-line.

AWE  Alan,  and  I was just going to fill my rack up with nothing but Warm Audio gear !!    LOL ?  

But seriously, I do want the WA-76. next added to my rack. I am saving my pennies for that now.  It's time to step buying what I can settle for and buy what I really want.   I was going to settle for the ART Pro-VLA II Compressor, but I said no, I deserve some good gear.  

YEA ME!!!  ?

 

 

[Alan Tubbs]

Jesse,  the warm thing is just something to watch.  It can happen but isn’t a sure thing and Warm stuff works great together most of the time.  It helps my chain usually includes an RND portico ii.  On the female vox capture above I had the RND comp set fast like an 1176 (kind of) and went out to the wa2a.  Like I said, gorgeous tone and whenever she pushed her voice it got even better sounding, tube saturation sitting on the edge of distortion but not crossing that  line.

warm brings classic tones to modern recordings at a price many more can afford.  It emulates, not copies the tone which I can live with since I can afford it.  My wife would shoot me if I spent $2-3K on a UA 1176 since I could never recoup that cost as a business.  I’ve got a nice “home” studio, not commercial business.

rock on, Jesse.

@

[jesse g]

Thanks Alan,

I know the wife story oh too well, LOL ?