Warm Audio WA73

I recently decided it was time to upgrade from the built in preamps in my Focusrite Sapphire to a 'real' external preamp. My budget was about 600 EUR. Afer a LOT of online research, I narrowed my options down to 6 preamps, in roughly the same price range. The preamps were:


ART Pro MPA II
Warm Audio TB12 Tone Beast
Black Lion Audio B173 Preamp
FMR Audio RNP 8380
Warm Audio WA73
Focusrite ISA One Analog

As I will be using the preamp mostly for vocals and bass, I tested both those signals.
I plugged my Ibanez 600 in passive mode into my BSS DI, into the preamp. For vocals, I hooked up my SM7B straight into the preamp, into Logic X. The results:


The Warm Audio WA73 is a great pre, and almost ended up being the preamp I chose. It sounds amazingly large, it has limited but great sounding tone options, and heaps of warm gain. I ended up going for the ART PRO MPAII, because it has that comparable warmth, but with two channels and more options.

What can i say, it just sounds good.

It is simple to operate, it doesn't brake the bank and it looks great.

I use it in combination with the WA76, a sm7 and the thomann fetamp to boost the level and my vocal never sounded better, crisp, warmth and depth, from whisper to scream, it can handle everything.

If this preamp where a human I would start a relation with it ;-)
I just love it! :-)