hi all. i was hitting a local pawn shop that i check in at maybe a few times a month in my area. for some reason this shop attracts pretty solid studio gear and i've scored some real gems over the years here. while i was poking around today i saw a box amidst a stack of other random boxes that jumped out at me bc of a flash of that iconic bluish grey with a dark red and dark blue knob with some off white rectangular buttons..

Holy shit! is that a neve!?

it wasn't . but it was a WA73-eq.

i've never owned a 1073 but have used many emulations in plugin form a long time. the ua 1073 plugin specifically. its a regular in every mix for me. so obviously i'd be interested in owning something that could get me close to that sound to put in my modest (very. modest.) rack. so i checked the retail prices online, checked reverb for used pricing, and then checked the price sticker on this units box. they were asking $450 usd. im thinking "o shit, thats the cheapest i've seen". then asked the salesman if he'd take $350. he said yes. i couldn't resist. didn't even check reviews or anything. total impulse.

i've obviously been scouring reviews this evening since buying it and the vast majority are very positive but reviews are... reviews. wanted to see what any of you guys/girls who have experience with this unit thinks. how to get the best out of it, things to avoid, look for. tricks/tips on use etc. was it worth the $$ spent? whats it sound good on?

i'll post a pic of the hardware i have currently in my rack as well. let me know how they play together if anyone has any of these units too. i'm really looking forward to diving in to this thing but will welcome opinions and help to shorten the learning curve. thanks!

*will mostly be used on vocals (hopefully), bass guitar, maybe some guitar as well. main vocal mic used will be tlm103 at the moment.

 

No idea, but that's a nice DIY rack.

 

its great! its not quite a neve, but they are still a great piece of gear. They shine on vocals, but really work on anything. The hi shelf is a bit of magic on a vocal. Its easy to overdo it, a few db is plenty. The low shelf is also nasty, insane on bass and kicks etc. Very punchy. The mids are of course nice too. Punchy as well, without being too muddy or gross when boosting. Try a gentle dip in the mids on a vocal. I forget what the frequency ranges are, i think its 360hz or something that is where you would want to dip. That paired with just a touch of the hi shelf, can really bring a vocal to life. Congrats on the score, enjoy!

 

Warm Audio WA73-EQ costs 888 @ at thomann and is ranked 22nd in the sales ranking of preamps.

User rating:

Usually only very small boosts/cuts are required to improve a signal, but even with extreme settings you get fantastic sounds. This device brings out an incredible amount of detail, brings the sound forward (especially with the tone button pressed), makes it pleasantly round for the ear and always sounds extremely musical no matter how much the signal is deformed - a "character amplifier" so to speak. Basses sound warm and centered or crisp and crunchy, keyboard sounds get a large dimension, vocals sound round, warm and close, drums and percussion sound real, etc.

 

I might be popping for a used Neve 1073 today. I've listened to both the Warm had had for a short time before flipping it a Golden Age MKII. The Neve shines wayyy brighter than over the other two but the Warm gets you 85% of that sound. I use a Warm Tonebeast most every time every time when recording acoustic guitars or percussion instruments so I'm not hating on the brand when I say that. Have fun and make beautiful music with it.

 

Oh yes, good impulse response man for $350. Very good impulse response, indeed.

Warm has many great products that aren't exectly luxury priced. Love the company. This is a lovely preamp, or/and Tonebeast which is a beast for recording (glad you like it Lois! :P it's been on my to-buy list for years), paired with their 1176 - WA76 or WA2A and excellent WA47(jr is also great) mic would make a top notch recording channel. Really nice stuff.

edit: I'm of the opinion that having just a little rack with a couple of nice analogue compressors, EQs and preamps is not only fun, but very useful for sound shaping and gives your production a lot of nice, warm mojo you simply can't get ITB. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, either.

Enjoy!

 

Last edited: Feb 1, 2025

Actually the chain on that side is Tonebeast into a WA-76, the other the Daking Mic Pre One into the Audioscape Opto. After that further shaping is done in the box after printing the colors of those hardware boxes. I use a Gefell UMT70S for my vocals on the Daking side and guitars and percussion on the Warm mostly with a Beyer MC930. It sounds good to me.

 

Oh yeah, I would have bought that for $350 easily. It's not a full on 1073 as others have said, but it's a quality piece of gear that you are certainly not going to regret at that price!

Win. And enjoy.

 

Good choice. Haven't used their 1073 but own several other pieces of their gear. Good quality and well built.
Put it good use!

 

Thanks!! built it when i built myself a new desk a few yrs back in my backyard (borrowed the design of the platform studio desk). give me a few sheets of plywood and a saw and ill take forever and leave my back patio a mess for days but something cool usually comes out of it

 

dude! lots of great info. thank you!

 

really appreciate everyones thoughts! consider my impulse fully justified as far as i'm concerned. about to get into playing with it rn and very excited to figure this thing out.