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Golden Age
Premier PRE-73 DLX PREMIER vintage style preamplifier
The
PRE-73 DLX PREMIER is a one-channel vintage style microphone-, line- and
instrument preamplifier. The signal path uses only discrete components
like resistors, capacitors and transistors. The line and microphone input
and the line output are transformer balanced, using three different
transformers, each one optimized for its purpose. This
is the way audio components were built before integrated circuits became
available. The subjective sound quality delivered by vintage equipment is
often prefered over the one delivered by modern products, a situation that
is even more obvious now when music is recorded with clean sounding
digital audio equipment. The
circuit used in the PRE-73 DLX PREMIER is similar to the preamp section in
the classical 1073 module with a corresponding sound character that is
warm, punchy, sweet and musical. These classic characteristics have been
heard on countless recordings through the years and it is a versatile
sound that works very well on most sound sources and in most genres. The
essence of this sound is now available at a surprisingly low cost, making
it available to nearly everyone.
FEATURES
- Vintage
style electronics. No integrated circuits in the signal
path.
- All
soldered, connector-free internal design for the purest and
most reliable signal path, the only connector used is for
the gain switch,
- UK-made
Carnhill mic input and line output transformers and high
pass
inductor. The output
is balanced and fully floating and can drive a 600 ohm load
up to about 28 dBu.
- Traditional
23-position 1073-style gain switch that is also used to
select the mic or the line input jack.
- Combo
XLR/TRS mic and line input jacks and separate output XLR and
TRS jacks for flexible connections.
- A
Neutrik XLR/TRS combo jack with gold over nickel plated
bronze contacts is used for the mic input.
- Maximum
gain on the mic input is 80 dB, enough to handle passive
ribbon mics with quiet sound sources.
- Switchable
impedance on the mic input, 1200 or 300 ohms. Changing the
load impedance will change the tone of many mics.
- Gain
range on the line input: -20 to + 10 dB.
- An
active instrument input for guitar and bass that passes the
signal through the mic input transformer, with selectable
input impedance, hi-Z or 100 kohm, by an internal jumper.
- Switchable
phantom power and absolute phase.
- Traditional
gain switch plastic knob and metal knobs for the other
controls.
- The
phantom power can deliver up to 10 mA according to the
specification standard. The 6.8 kohm phantom power resistors
are matched to within 0.1% to maintain good common-mode
rejection in the circuit.
- Selectable
1073-style inductor based highpass filter at 50, 80, 160 or
300 Hz with a slope of 18 dB / octave.
- Selectable
two position AIR EQ with a boost of about 3 or 6 dB at around
30 kHz.
- Insert
jack for inserting EQ´s and other units. The insert jack can
be switched in/out from the front panel. An internal jumper
can select if the insert jack always has an output signal or
not.
- The
output level control makes it possible to make fine gain
adjustments and also to overload the main gain stage(s) for
more character and then lower the signal to a suitable level
before the output stage.
- An
output pad allows the user to add character by attenuating the
output signal after the output transformer by -7, -14, -21 or
-28 dB for overdriving the output stage and the output
transformer by adding gain and then lower the output signal to
a suitable level with the pad.
- A
simple but effective 4-step LED output level meter.
- Tantalum
and polystyrene capacitors in the traditional positions.
Neutrik XLR/TRS combo jack is used for the mic input.
- Switches
on the back panel for 600 ohm output termination and ground
lift.
- Relays
are used to control internal switching for phantom power, mic
low-Z, insert and DI for shorter circuit board signal paths.
The relays are controlled by front panel switches.
- Circuit
board star grounding scheme.
- Power
supply with separate regulators for the audio circuit and the
relay and LED circuit.
- External
power supply to avoid interaction with the audio circuits and
transformers.
- A
solid build quality that will last many years of normal use.
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