Warm Audio worked closely with Carnhill Transformers of Cambridgeshire, UK, to design faithful reproductions of these most coveted, early version transformers. We at Warm Audio have not yet heard a modern day '73-style preamp sound as sweet and musical as does our WA273 with these beautiful custom Transformers.
An important part of classic British tone not often discussed are the different styles of capacitors and output transistor used in '73-style circuits. We found it important to maintain integrity to early British designs by using tantalum and polystyrene capacitors in the signal path and an output transistor choice that is much smoother in the high gain settings than what is typically found in modern '73-style preamps.
Hand Wired & Hand Assembled
Classic '73-style preamps were often hand-wired and so is the WA273! Guru’s claim that a portion of the sought after classic British tone can be attributed to the hand-wired nature of the build. The WA273 is hand-wired and hand assembled, including the pcb components that are all populated by hand.
Technical Specifications
- DUAL CHANNEL, CLASS A, '73-STYLE BRITISH MICROPHONE PREAMP WITH EQ
- UK MADE CARNHILL TRANSFORMERS
- UK MADE - BLORE EDWARDS EQ DUAL-CONCENTRIC SWITCH POTENTIOMETERS
- HAND WIRED, HAND ASSEMBLED
- 80DB OF GAIN - RESISTOR STEPPED GAIN SWITCH
- FULLY DISCRETE
- TONE BUTTON - CHANGES INPUT TRANSFORMER IMPEDANCE FOR VARYING TONE
- POLARITY SWITCH
- 48V PHANTOM POWER
- LOW BAND BOOST/CUT - 35, 60, 110, 220 HZ
- MID BAND BOOST/CUT - 360, 700, 1600, 3200, 4800, 7200 HZ
- HIGH BAND BOOST/CUT - 10, 12, 16 KHZ
- ADDITIONAL HIGH BAND FREQUENCY EQ POINTS ADDED (COMPARED TO VINTAGE 1073)
- 4 POSITION INDUCTOR BASED HIPASS FILTER - 50, 80, 160, 300 HZ
- XLR MIC INPUTS (FRONT & BACK)
- LINE LEVEL TRS INPUT
- TS SEND/RECEIVE INSERT JACKS
- XLR & TRS LINE LEVEL OUTPUTS
- DIRECT IN, INSTRUMENT INPUT
- OUTPUT CONTROL
- LED LEVEL INDICATION
- FREQ RESPONSE 20HZ - 20KHZ +/-.5 DB
- 19" RACKMOUNTABLE
- INTERNAL IEC 115V/230V POWER INLET