Golden Age Project PRE-73 DLX MKII Half Rack Preamp

Golden Age Project PRE-73 DLX MKII Half Rack Preamp

The MKII version of the PRE-73 DLX preamp uses almost the same circuit design but has classic style white rectangular switches and sturdy toggle switches, a reduced number of internal circuit boards and connectors, a beefed-up power supply, a revised 48V phantom power supply design that can deliver the full 10 mA current according to the standard and a two-position AIR EQ.

Main Features

The PRE-73 DLX MKII 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 preferred 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 MKII is like 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.

Key Features:

• Vintage Style electronics, no integrated circuits in the signal path
• Enough gain to handle passive ribbon mics with quiet sound sources
• GAIN/LINE mode switch, the gain is reduced by 30 dB in LINE mode
• Selectable two position high frequency AIR boost eq, 3 or 6 dB @ 30 kHz
• Selectable 6 dB/octave two frequency high pass filter
• Tantalum capacitors in the signal path
• Switchable impedance in MIC mode
• Switchable phantom power and absolute phase
• A high-impedance instrument input
• A simple but effective
• 4-step LED output level meter
• Combo XLR/TRS input jack and separate output XLR and TRS jacks
• Insert jack for inserting
• EQs and other units
• The PCB 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