You'll Hear the Family Resemblance Right Away
The Golden Age Pre-73 Jr mic/instrument preamp is the little sibling of the Pre-73, a favorite here at Sweetwater. Like its big brother, the Pre-73 Jr inherited its superior sonics from its parents' infatuation with the classic Neve 1073 — the legendary console module that wrote the book on characterful mic preamplification. The Pre-73 Jr employs the same discrete signal path with transformer-balanced I/O as the Pre-73. Golden Age omitted a few of the more esoteric features to scale back both the pricetag and chassis size, but the little tyke delivers the same big, punchy, authoritative sound. If you record drums or more than one track at a time, you'll appreciate the smaller format that lets you mount four units in Golden Age's Unite MKII 19" rack kit. If you want a character- and value-packed pre, we highly recommend the Golden Age Pre-73 Jr.
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The Golden Age Project
The Golden Age Project was founded in 2005 on the belief that vintage gear sounds best, and the desire to pass on this sonic legacy to a new generation of musicians, engineers, and producers. All discrete, Class A signal paths with no integrated circuits; the use of transformers, stepped controls, and military-grade build quality: these are the cornerstones of the legendary British equipment deployed in world-class recording and broadcast studios in the 1970s — the Golden Age of analog. Fat, warm, punchy, and authoritative; this is the sound heard on countless hits for nigh unto half a century. Locating, purchasing, restoring, and maintaining vintage gear is time-consuming and costly. Fortunately, this small, family-owned Swedish company makes gear the same way it was made back in the day — at an amazingly gentle price.
A distributor of high-end studio equipment for many years, Golden Age Project founder Bo Medin wanted to be able to offer products with much of the same exclusive sound in a price range that made them available to a larger audience. Inspired by original designs, Golden Age uses modern technology to re-create that lush, opulent sound, making it surprisingly affordable. They use some modern ingenuity to add new functionality to superb classic designs and produce them in a cost-effective way which allows them to be both optimized and affordable. From outboard equipment to condenser, dynamic, and ribbon mics; you can outfit your entire studio with vintage-inspired Golden Age gear without exceeding your budget.
Golden Age Pre-73 Jr Mic Pre Features:
- Vintage-style Class A electronics with no integrated circuits in the signal path
- Gain switch with a range of 20 to 70dB
- Switchable phantom power and polarity invert
- High-impedance instrument input for electric guitar or bass, keyboards, sound modules
- Overload the main gain stage(s) for dialing in 1073-style character and punch
- Output level control with fine adjustment
- XLR/TRS combo inputs and separate output XLR and TRS jacks for flexible connectivity
- External power supply prevents interaction with internal circuitry