Warm Audio WA273 Dual Channel British Microphone Preamp & EQ

Warm Audio WA273 Dual Channel British Microphone Preamp & EQ

DUAL CHANNEL MICROPHONE PREAMP & EQ
 
A Dual Channel ’73 For The Rest Of Us:
If there’s one style of preamp that professional engineers would unanimously agree has defined the tone of pop/rock records for decades, it would most definitely be the venerable ’73-style of mic pre. ’73-style preamps have been massively used in recording and live applications for many years and are still considered to be the “Holy Grail” of preamp choices today. The Warm Audio “WA73 Family” consists of single and dual channel ’73-style preamps (with & w/out EQ), that each pay careful homage to British audio history.
 
When we at Warm Audio decided to release the WA273 it was imperative that it met vintage expectation in both design and performance. The tone and sweet character that vintage ’73-style mic preamps impart is so unique and familiar, that we had only the pure desire to release sonically accurate reproductions. After years of R&D, intense research, and countless hours of auditioning, the WA273 was born!
 
The WA273 is a “Desert Island” boutique preamp, but it can also be classified as a studio and live work-horse. Classic ’73-style preamps are known for being versatile tools that work with all kinds of microphones from Condenser, to Dynamic, to Ribbon. The WA273 equally shines on all types of microphones and sources including; vocals, acoustic/electric guitars, bass, drums, percussion, orchestras, keyboards, and even as a tone shaping tool to run partial or complete mixes through. With 80dB of gain and a fully discrete Carnhill Transformer balanced signal path, there’s no recording, mixing or engineering task that the WA273 can’t handle.
 
UK Custom Carnhill Transformers:
Enthusiasts unequivocally get excited about the components used in classic ’73-style British preamps. The signal transformers are a common topic of conversation. Vintage units used various versions of transformers throughout the years, but the most coveted were the earliest versions. These are regarded as the most desirable choice due to their fluid and forgiving nature. They saturate sweetly when pushed, and have been known to make engineers cry when they hear how beautiful their mixes sound through them!
 
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.
 
Capacitors & Signal Path:
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.

Features

  • Dual channel, class a, ’73-style british microphone preamp
  • UK made Carnhill transformers
  • Hand wired, hand assembled
  • Fully discrete
  • Tone button – changes input transformer impedance for varying tone
  • Polarity switch

Specifications

  • 80dB of gain – resistor stepped gain switch
  • 48v phantom power
  • 4 position inductor based hi-pass filter – 50, 80, 160, 300 hz
  • XLR mic input
  • Line level trs input
  • TS send/receive insert jacks
  • XLR & TRS line level outputs
  • Direct in, instrument input
  • Freq response 20Hz – 20kHz +/-.5 dB
  • 19″ rackmountable
  • Internal IEC 115v/230v power inlet


RETURNS

The majority of items that we sell are covered by the Distance Selling Regulations in the UK which gives you 30 working days from receipt of the goods to cancel the contract and return them. There are some items which are not covered by the DSR's including Software and Hardware that includes Software needed for it's operation and Music items (Records, CD's DVD's and so on), (mainly in ear headphones and microphones).

If you do wish to return an item then please contact us and we'll give you the relevant information - buyers are responsible for the cost of shipping items back to us and also for ensuring they arrive back to us in good condition. If the returned items arrive back to us in a damaged state, or the product's original box/packaging is damaged, we reserve the right to deduct an amount from the refund in order to compensate for the damage. This amount will be decided by our staff after inspection of the items.

If you have received an item and it is faulty then please get in touch straight away. We will do our utmost to sort out any problem quickly and to your satisfaction.

Where items are faulty within 7 days from date of purchase, they will be classed as an out of box failure. These items will be collected, and replaced with an identical product (subject to availability of stock).

We may ask you to post small, low cost items, such as headphones, back to us.

Any items over 30 days old will need to be returned to either our service department, the manufacturer or their appointed agent for warranty repair. We will always advise you of the return address details that you should send the goods to where this is not our normal returns address.

SHIPPING

We use different couriers depending on the size, weight and value of your equipment: Royal Mail van for smaller stuff or UPS for larger boxes. If we're using a trackable service (Courier, Tracked, Special Delivery) then we send you a tracking number by email when we ship your order so you know what to expect.

Shipping services to Mexican and Russian addresses are currently unavailable.

For courier deliveries we use a next day service (Mon - Fri only) and they get there over 99% of the time but if you need a timed service for a before 12 or before 10AM delivery then just let us know and we'll get you a reasonable quote. We can also do Saturday deliveries (on items under 2kg only) if you need something for the weekend and you've left it to the last minute (as we all do sometimes)! Northern Ireland and other non-mainland locations might be a two day service and of course the Scottish Islands may be a bit longer again.

If you've any questions before you order, please call 0141 882 9900 (Option 2) between 10AM and 5PM (Mon-Fri)

PAYMENT METHODS