Members Zooey Posted March 3, 2009 Members Share Posted March 3, 2009 I read an interesting review in the SoS this month about the Golden Age Project Pre 73. First, I had never heard of Golden Age. Looking at their ridiculously uninformative website, it appears that they are a large reseller that partners with with ODMs in China to produce affordable gear. The Pre 73 is particularly interesting because it is a one-channel transformer-based pre with separate gain and trim controls. Just going by appearance, it looks similar in build to the old Joe Meek half-rack stuff. I don't remember off the top of my head what the cost is--cheaper than the old Joe Meek pres, though. Maybe $299 for one channel? I'll double check tonight. I'd be curious to know if anyone has actually heard this unit. The Chameleon Labs stuff is made in China with no-name transformers, and sounds pretty good, so I know it can be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Yeah, $299 list, although I doubt they'd be discounted much below that. No, I have not heard them yet. Some folks over on Gearslutz were talking about mods - mainly a output transformer swap. Reviews appear good overall, but with a few people complaining about grit or noise with over 55dB of gain applied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Warhead Posted October 14, 2009 Members Share Posted October 14, 2009 I compared a 1073 to the 7602 MKII Chameleon as well as the PRE73 here: http://www.zenproaudio.com/1073test.aspx They are in stock and modified form, download the 24 bit files! War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted November 2, 2009 Members Share Posted November 2, 2009 i have the GA pre-73, bought it based on the good SoS review. i have not the chance to compare it to a real neve 1073 which it is supposed to sound like. it has a rather compressed, "dark" sound which sounds vintage to me. compared to my TL Audio 5051 channelstrip the pre-73 sounds punchier and compared to my LA-610 the pre-73 is much darker and has fewer details. but judging the sound coming out of the pre-73 on is own its very good, especially for the price. it's a colour more i can add to my recordings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 How is the build quality on the Pre 73? Do all the knobs and buttons work properly and feel solid, or is there any noise when changing the controls, or do the controls wobble and / or feel cheap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted November 4, 2009 Members Share Posted November 4, 2009 the controls on my pre73 do feel very solid, in fact you need a bit of force to turn 'em. the whole unit is build very solidly with a nice steel chassis. the difference in sound on normal monitorspeakers (m-audio bx5a) in the soundfiles (neve 1073, pre73 and chameleon) is very subtle/minimal to my ears. the music consumer woudln't be able to tell the difference when listening to a finished song. so to me both, the pre73 and the chameleon are doing a very good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Warhead Posted November 9, 2009 Members Share Posted November 9, 2009 In a critical listening environment I can hear differences, and those things add up when tracking a project. However that isn't to say the stock units aren't just fine as is...! The ac gtr track to me is very telling when it come to presence, clarity, transient response, and low mid / low end response from the Carnhills being improved. That is most representative of the differences we heard when using the preamps live here when testing the mods as well vs the original 1073. I am amazed at what the "TT" mod does that we offer, there's a lot of work done in there for that price too. Sales on these units run about even between mod and stock. I have to say that in this price range I'm not sure anybody has ever offered as much as Golden Age has here for a single channel pre. War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hotstuff Posted November 29, 2009 Members Share Posted November 29, 2009 Hi Phil, I was one of the first to buy a GAP Pre73, I actually got the one that was used in the trade show when they first revealed it(for a special price). It had a faulty output gain pot but this was very quickly and efficiently resolved by Bo himself from Golden Age Music that sent me a new mounting plate and output pot. Great service and a great guy Bo:thu: Golden Age Music deals with the best in the industry and are putting together this line of affordable mic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Warren and Hotstuff, thanks for the useful information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zinzin Posted December 18, 2009 Members Share Posted December 18, 2009 one problem is the fuse: it blows really easily. mine blew up once. golden age project admits this is a weak point, but by simply using a 1,5 A fuse instead of the standard 1 A fuse resolves the problem. other than that my pre73 works very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rocket Pig Posted December 19, 2009 Members Share Posted December 19, 2009 Does anyone know if this Golden Age is the same company that produces the 'vintage style' pickups for Stewart MacDonald? Seems like it would be, the pickups are inexpensive enough to be MIC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrJoshua Posted December 19, 2009 Members Share Posted December 19, 2009 one problem is the fuse: it blows really easily. mine blew up once. golden age project admits this is a weak point, but by simply using a 1,5 A fuse instead of the standard 1 A fuse resolves the problem. other than that my pre73 works very well. You're blowing a 1A, 120V fuse with a mic preamp? That's an awful lot of power for a preamp to be pulling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.