Golden Age Project Pre-73 Jr MKII Vintage-Style Microphone Preamplifier

Golden Age's take on the classic 1073 preamp circuit, this "Junior" edition of the Pre-73 gives you an all-discrete-components signal path for a great price.

$259.00

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Golden Age Project Pre-73 Jr. Microphone Preamplifier

No longer available at zZounds
Warm up microphones or DI sources with this "Junior" edition of the Pre-73, and get Golden Age's take on the Neve 1073 preamp for a more affordable price.

The Golden Age Project PRE-73 Jr is the little brother to the big seller, the PRE-73. It uses the same discrete (no IC's) signal path with a transformer balanced in- and output. In order to be able to offer this classic and musical sound character at an even more affordable price point, Golden Age Project did scale down on some features that are seldom used.

Features:

- Vintage-style class-A electronics -- no integrated circuits are used
- GAIN switch range 20-70 dB
- Switchable phantom power and absolute phase
- A high-impedance instrument input for any sound module, electric guitar or bass
- A simple signal LED indicator
- The output level control makes it possible to make fine gain adjustments, and to overload the main gain stage for more character and then lower the signal to a suitable level before the output stage.
- Combo XLR/TRS input jack and separate output XLR and TRS jacks for flexible connections
- Insert jack for inserting EQs and other units
- The circuit board is prepared for the Carnhill input transformer
- External power supply to avoid interaction with the audio circuits and transformers
- A solid build quality that will last many years of normal use

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Web: https://www.goldenageproject.com/contact/

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. (6 ratings)
Submitted September 13, 2017 by Aaron C in Calumet City, IL

"GAP Pre-73 Jr. Mic Preamp"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
This is my first mic preamp. So far, I am very happy with this product. I'd like 3 more to install into a rack unit. It would also be great if zZounds carried the GAP EQ units.

Sound
This is my first mic preamp so characterizing the sound is a bit difficult. I'm kinda new to recording but have dabbled in the past. I feel that, with the Pre-73 Jr, I am finally able to deliver a killer distorted guitar signal to my DAW. I use this with a Sennheiser e906 mic to record distorted tones from within an iso-cab. This unit is definitely compatible with hard rock. I haven't used the Pre-73 junior in any other settings yet, but works great with my e906.

Features
The Pre-73 Jr is a stripped down version of the Pre-73. It has DI, 48V and PI, that's pretty much it. I think it's important to mention that the Pre-73 Jr has the "insert" feature. This allows you to use the GAP EQ, or other studio EQs that only have a 1/4" out. A feature that I really dig is that the Pre-73 Jr. can be modified. The circuit board includes soldering pads to install a Carnhill VTB-9045M mic input transformer available from GAP.

Ease of Use
Too me, the sound from this thing is great. There's two knobs; gain and output. I'm recording distorted rhythm guitars right now and I feel that less gain and more output gives me a good sound. Although more experimenting may get me closer to that tone I'm looking for. read more My mic placement impacts my sound more than the unit does.

Quality
The Pre-73 is enclosed in a heavy metal housing. The output pot had a bit of a tight spot, but that's gone after turning it a few dozen times. The knobs are kinda cheesy but high quality aftermarket knobs are available. Pretty paint, solid unit, got some weight to it. Nice.

Value
This is a bare bones non-IC preamp with no bells or whistles and $150 less than it's big brother. Yes, this thing is a deal. Big deal, small package.

Manufacturer Support
I sent an email to GAP inquiring about transformer upgrades and was responded to by Bo Medin, the founder of GAP. That's pretty cool, right?

The Wow Factor
I would give the Pre-73 Jr a high degree of "wow factor". What would make me want this product even if I could make good music without it is the fact that I've never experienced an audio interface, within my budget, with built in pres that sounded decent. The Pre-73 Jr sounds great and I look forward to recording with it and buying more GAP stuff.

Musical Background:
I have been playing guitar and writing for over 20 years.

Musical Style:
I mostly enjoy rock 'n roll and classical music.
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