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.
An important part of classic British tone not often discussed are the different styles of capacitors and output transistor used in '73-style circuits.
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
80db of gain - resistor stepped gain switch
Fully discrete
Tone button - changes input transformer impedance for varying tone
Polarity switch
48v phantom power
4 position inductor based hipass filter - 50, 80, 160, 300 hz