The legend of the 1073 lives on in Warm Audio's beautiful WA273.
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 WA273-EQ microphone/line/instrument preamp. In both design and performance, the WA273-EQ 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 WA273-EQ. With 80dB 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 WA273-EQ features rugged, hand-wired Class A circuitry and high-quality 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; you'll even 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 WA273-EQ. With sophisticated microphone selection and placement, drums sound more than life-size; DI bass and keyboards sound massive and synths become trance-inducing; electric guitars soar; vocals cut through your mix. Pianos and acoustic guitars are brilliant. Orchestral instruments - strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion - achieve unspeakable lushness and dimension. You can even use the WA273-EQ to edit voices or entire mixes.
Legendary British EQ
The EQ section of the WA273-EQ is based on the classic 1073 circuit topology. The vintage 1073 has a legendary EQ, and the WA273-EQ has totally captured its sound and behavior (complete with its fabulous 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. With a high-pass filter, selectable at 50Hz, 80Hz, 160Hz, and 300Hz, you can rid your signals of unwanted bass. If you've never worked with a 1073-style EQ before, all we can say is: you're in for a serious treat. Worth noting is that the original 1073 offered only a fixed 10kHz shelf, and the added flexibility in the high frequencies that the WA273-EQ provides is very welcome optimal match with various microphones.
UK Custom Carnhill Transformers
The 1073-loving engineers at Klundert Music get happy when the conversation turns to the history of these classic circuits, and signal transformers are a common topic of conversation. Vintage 1073s used several transformer variations during their production run, 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 sought-after early 1073 transformers. The result is stunning, and - to our ears - extremely 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 choose an output transistor 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 and record the WA273-EQ.
WA273-EQ Specifications:
- preamplifier and EQ
- 2-channel, Class A 1073-style British microphone preamp with EQ
- Carnhill Transformers, manufactured in England
- Blore Edwards EQ dual-concentric potentiometers
- hand-wired and hand-built
- 80 dB gain, stepwise
- completely separate signal paths
- tone knob that changes transformer impedance for tone versatility
- polarity switch
- 48 V phantom power supply
- 3-band EQ with high-pass filter, 4 positions: 50, 80, 160 and 300 Hz)
- connections:
XLR microphone inputs (front and rear)
TRS line inputs
TS jack send/return
XLR and TRS line outputs
DI, instrument inputs - output controller
- LED indicator
- frequency response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz +/- 5 dB
- 19 inch rack mountable
- dimensions: 63.5 x 38.1 x 13.97 cm / 25 x 15 x 5.5 inches
- weight: 8 kg
- included: power cable
