Golden Age Project Pre-73 MKIII Review / Test / Explained
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
- Today I walkthrough, explain, test and review Golden Age Project Pre-73 MKIII which is a budget Neve 1073 style preamp. This offers +80dB of gain with 2 high pass filters and 2 high shelf filters as well as a variable mic input impedance. For a budget outboard pre, this thing is very powerful and versatile.
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00:00 - Intro / Pricing
00:26 - Signal Chain for Testing
00:56 - What’s in the Box
01:11 - Build Quality
01:43 - Walkthrough of Preamp
03:15 - Specifications
03:49 - High Pass / High Shelf Test
05:37 - Input Impedance Test
07:01 - Shure SM7b Mic Test (No Cloudlifter or Fethead)
08:42 - Preamp Gain Noise Test
09:37 - Preamp vs. Interface Preamp
12:23 - Pros & Cons
13:41 - Opinion on Pre
14:17 - Recommendation
16:03 - Outro
#PreampReview #1073Clone #AnalogGear
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Bandrew: "Relatively affordable"
My wallet: "Let me stop you right there"
I said "relatively" intentionally. Also you finally changed your name! In the grand scheme of preamps, it is "relatively" affordable.
@@Podcastage Are pre-amps something you need.
Bandrew: $350 relatively affordable.
Me: Well, it would seem not.
Pay to play.
@@Podcastage I knew what you meant haha
@@Podcastage true relatively
One thing you mentioned but didn't test, is one of the PRE-73 series' greatest strengths-- cranking the gain and lowering output. One reason why this series by GAP is so versatile, is because it can do clean gain well but can also color mics in a way that can change some fundamental characteristics. Cranking gain and lowering output results in more midpush and creation of upper harmonics (saturation)- and can also get into absurd levels of coloring. Having this ability allows one to get so much more out of their mics. This is possibly some kind of "happy accident" in design, though, because other mic pres out there that use 1073 topology for their circuits, actually don't color as easily.
what other tricks can i do with it? will this get me that migos or young dolph thick vocals?
Is that that silk function from Neve?
SOOOO glad that you're doing outboard pre reviews! There are surprisingly little out there on UA-cam. Looking forward to more!
15:00 most people dont have a mic that they hate, they have a room that they hate and think it's the mic ^^
Unless you use one of those $15 condensers from Amazon. No one likes those.
could a better room fix sibilance? Bc tbh I love the sound of my AT2035 until the Harsh Sss and Fff comes...
A lot of people have a mic that they hate in a room that they hate....
@@ramspencer5492 lmao thats me
@@purpleheart69420ur processing is the issue don’t be afraid to de ess on that mic
OMG, I've always wanted review of this PRE, THANK YOU!
I remember when I used to chase the preamp lol. After I got done chasing preamps a, b, c, d, and e, I realized that its didn't really matter that much. Kids are making hits with laptop microphones and no preamp these days. If the content is good, and the sound is decent, people don't really care that much.
I would agree. But hearing such a difference isn't really the point of using elite equipment. It's more for subliminal effects, such as the persuasiveness of, say, an advertisement voice over. And for music - how influential and "unbeatable" it can be.
You do not know shit about music I guess
@@recalujo I don’t care. Your mother.
Respect your ears ?
Bro, you are really helping the community with these info thank you. 🎉
I love this pre-amp. I'm using RODE NT1 with this and covered several songs. Thank you for review :)
I would love to see the ART PRO MPA II in this series!
this ^
Yeeeaaahh
Absolutely!
Would be awesome!
Yessss
Great work..looking forward to you dominating the mic preamp lane! I think adding the EIN would be helpful , and letting us know your thoughts on the floor noise , especially compared to the interface . Can’t think of anything else! Thank you for your time and effort putting these videos together
Im waiting for this to arrive!, love your videos, and I look to your reviews and you have helped me decide on some good gear, thank you pimpin.
Thank you so much 4 these vids man..... You always do it perfectly and accurately
Amazing as always love your videos please keep doing more of these!!🙏🏻🙏🏻
I have this preamp in my studio, so in the context of reusing interface, I couldn't record again without the GA 1073, i love the details that the preamp bring up. A tip for those who obtain it, keep an electrical circuit in good condition because it is very sensitive to power drops. Cheers💜
If i use a pre like this (tube) on a fet microphone (mojave 201), its the same as having a tube microphone?
@@applecrazy1 no, because these are different colors and tone, the GA 1073 is fet. I will buy a tube mic and i'll do some comparisons with the nt1 that i have to answer your question, because at this point i dont know how much saturation can bring up with those things jeje
Brother I love you for the loudness warnings , Thankyou
Glad to see you starting this series. I'd like to see a review of the Avalon pre-amps, the Manley VoxBox and maybe the ART preamps. You might want to also do some reviews of the Universal Audio plugin versions of the higher end boxes like the Avalon and Manley units. Thanks for your great work.
Great review. It really checks a lot of boxes as a useful preamp.
Awesome video! Looking forward to more preamps!
I think the biggest thing I would add to external preamp reviews is samples of more types of microphones, kind of like how you do mic comparisons in your mic reviews. There are some preamps that work better with some microphones, and other preamps that work better with others. At least that's how I see it. Other than that, I think that you cover pretty much everything that someone would want to know before buying an external preamp. Keep up the great content Bandrew
One thing about good preamps is that they stack better in the mix. When one sound is a little tighter and warmer and then you stack that on 15 tracks it helps the entire mix feel tighter and different mics and instruments tend to stay out of each others way. So where 2 or 3 channels might not make a huge difference, when you're mixing a bunch of drum mics, bass, vocals, keys, and a few guitars, the compounded effect is more musical and harmonic and dimensional than when you're stacking a bunch of preamps that are sterile, thin, or plain sounding.
From there the real magic happens when you have the right mic and preamp for each instrument and then that helps everything sit separately in the mix and the sound stage is more open and detailed. Just my experience though, depends on how you want to use it.
Then why wouldn't you use peq at that stage, just sounds like needlessly throwing in cash for what a good/trained set of ears and engineering can resolve
You are going to see much more benefit from this and other similar pre's when used for music and singing as opposed to voice over or podcast work. The difference you are hearing is due to the transformers and the subtle saturation imparted by the gain stage. The transformer adds bottom end roundness and a softening/sheen to the top end. The saturation is also a form of compression - you could hear all this clearly on the guitar samples but also on your voice. What you should show in future reviews of pre's like this is the recorded waveforms of the outboard and interface pre's and the RMS of each file. Also running some drums or a beat through both of them line level would really show the differences between them in that regard as you'll see how differently they handle transients. You'll get a nice soft clipping and higher RMS from the Golden Age 👍
Awesome review as allways!!!! Thanks!!!!!!
That high shelf on the SM7B sounds good to me as a realtime hardware eq, a reason I might consider one over a 'mic booster'.
Maybe a good way to hear the 'character' of an outboard preamp is to run a whole mix in mono of a rock track (lot of cymbals and mids) into it and compare with the audio interface straight in.
it was cool dude. you're on the right track :)
love the measurements, defo keep that!!
try use a couple more mics. a sm57 is a must!!
and if you still have it also use the u87, it'd be cool to see a higher end mic on it to see if there are any improvements.
I have the 500 Series GAP Pre-573 Premier model and LOVE it!! Highly recommend the Premier models!!
Works great with my Shure SM7B. Love this preamplifier.
It would be cool to see 500 series preamp reviews here next.
Excited and Subscribed! Curious how the Radial Twin-Servo would perform :)
Great preamp review!
Comparison of different kinds of transformers or transformer based vs tube pres would be awesome! Great reviews tho btw. Very useful and very objective 🌸🌟🐘
Dope review 👌
I bought one a few weeks ago, along with a GAP Comp-54 compressor. Definitely like this combo more than my ART Pro Channel II tube channel strip.
What I really dislike is the external power brick. I'm still using mainly my TL Audio tube channel strip, mostly because I like compressor and eq, just to give my voice that little extra.
The review was great! Honestly, most reviews are much more based on opinion and quite often you get the impression, that they favour a piece of gear, just because.
Great test as always. Being a 1073 clone review I would've loved some examples of the preamp saturated, though.
Totally agree with you, people that already have good mics and are looking for some saturation boxes would consider this pre. I have one of this and I kind don’t like the sound when is clipping even a little bit, because the metering is not precise we can’t really knows if we are blasting or just touching the red, specially with fast transients, with a snare for ex.
Cheers
Great man...curious if you'll make a review of Great River mic pre in near future. Keep it up ! Love the idea of reviewing external mic preamps. Greetings from Greece !!! :D
Near future, probably not. I have like 10 pieces of outboard gear I have to get through first and that’s going to be like one per month max, and then I’ll have to buy that thing. So probably not even within the next year.
Great review! Thank you.
If i use a pre like this (tube) on a fet microphone (mojave 201), its the same as having a tube microphone?
Great video!
Great review @SosigMusic you can skip be thankful your getting the review instead of complainin some people need a review like to to know if the preamp is right for them. Golden Age Project is a Swedish company owned by Bo Medin
I actually have the pre-73 jr. And it’s awesome!
How well does it stand up to a coffee cup sat on top of it?
Other than that, excellent review. Looking to get my first proper mic 🎙 probabley a TLM 102 And Evo4 😀
I would love to see pre-amp comparisons the way you do mic comparisons, using only one or 2 or 3 mics -- probably SM7b, an affordable condenser, and the U87 Ai.
I think it would be a huge pain in the ass for you, but it would be immensely beneficial to the community, the way your mic videos already are.
You're the reason I bought the Roswell k47 Mini. I then decided to get a channel strip. First I bought the ART Voice Channel, and then, since I felt I was getting better and more serious in my craft, I decided to spend a nice chunk of change to get the Manley Core. I still don't know if I made the right decision, but my thinking was that I wanted to get a pre-amp that would last me the rest of my life. I still have the Roswell k47 and a few lesser mics, and now feel that I probably should have experimented more with mics.
With the dearth of information on pre-amps -- and also comparisons between them -- your work here with pre-amps (and channel strips would be cool, too) would be really helpful for us gear nerds. We will all waste time and money on junk equipment.
Your recommendation to start with the mic rather than the preamp -- though I've heard it before (perhaps not loud enough) -- is the best take-away from the video.
you are really a professional reviewer, i love every video with you, YOU SKIPP THE BULLSHIIT! thats what i love. you only focus on the important stuff that people want to know, and dont give useless information
great video.. thank you very much.
That’s a gorgeous new Taylor! Did they give you that as a token for guesting on their event?
Very nice review! I would have liked to see the difference between high input and low output to compensate and appreciate the sound of the overdriven preamp
If i use a pre like this (tube) on a fet microphone (mojave 201), its the same as having a tube microphone?
@@applecrazy1 It's not exactly the same because the tube is in a different place in the signal flow, but of course a tube preamp like the UA 610 can help you get that warm, three-dimensional sound that tubes offer.
Just picked up a used one from Guitar Center last night for $230. I recorded with it all night, acoustics and vocals and bass and LOVE IT. The vocals cut like crazy with NO PLUGINS. It's got some natural saturation for sure. I had just sold an Audio Revive modded ART MPA11 and then bought a Presonus Studio Channel last week but am returning it now. The Golden Age blows them both away, particularly the Presonus which in my opinion is garbage for amateurs on a budget. I really heard no difference with the Presonus than with my 10 year old Line 6 UX2 interface.
Great review, only wish you would have shot it out against that beauty of an LA610 behind you. I have 3 610s and would have loved to compare!
Hey Brandew!! Could you please do a review of the Warm Audio WA-47Jr, I’m strongly thinking of buying this one but a review from you is always truthful and would be really appreciated.
The SSL6 sounds interesting. I'd love to see you review that, as it's from such a well-known brand.
Yoooo! Air on the 7b is amazing!
A cool versus video could be this vs the Warm 73 style preamp. Especially if you can get your hands on the GAP Premier model.
Agreed
I bought a GAP Premier Pre Q a year ago and it’s still in the box,waiting till after moving in fall to new studio set up.Can’t wait to mic up my boomy D28 with a King Bee
I have the GA Mk II and one of the transformers went out and started to make a hum. I sent it back to get repaired and then it worked well for a couple of months until the hum came back. Maybe the parts needed to be of better quality. Sound-wise, it was good, but a bit grainy in the mids for my taste. Especially if you are recording acoustic instruments, you may not get the right sound.
I heavily rely on my Steinberg MR816x 8-Channel interface and my Avalon V5, which is fabulous. I also use the MOTU M2 and it delivers well without the need of an outboard preamp for most applications.
Damn this vid was fye. Thank u king
It might be interesting to use consistently the same standard set of common microphones, perhaps: sm57, u87, re20, sm7b, 4038, nt1, tlm103, at2020, and a common valve mic, maybe the ntk or z5600?
Thank you for your content. More preamps!
Need moarrr preee tests! Arrghh!!
Insert jack. I have an FMR RNC that would do really well with this :). Shame I don't record much these days. Good review as always. That looks like a fine unit.
I was thinkin' the same thing! It's like they're made for each other. Curious if the insert is between input and output stages.
Excellent review man! I would suggest recording a song with the preamp you are reviewing! I would say the same song so you and us can have a reference ! Cheers!!
If i use a pre like this (tube) on a fet microphone (mojave 201), its the same as having a tube microphone?
I own this pre and it’s cool just need soemthing more transparent like a Grace m101. Would love to hear a review on that.
Great review, really, I own the same focusrite interface.
Where can I start searching for a mic on a similar price of the preamp?
I've waited for this review way too long. Been thinking about buying this thing for months.
I got 2 of these years ago. I had to stop recording for couple of years and let them in storage plastic box. One day (2020) I wanted to use them and BOTH didn’t work. The company said: that’s estrange. Bs! Didn’t take any responsibility, just wanted me to ship to a shop. F them!
Just airing out but they sound great! I got them fixed with an engineer I met and I’m back recording and broadcasting with them and my SB7
I would love to see the Pacifica and p1 in this series
You might consider editing short A/B comparisons together. And maybe A/B comparisons of pushing the gain stage hard to running more unsaturated. Thanks for the review.
The 80db of gain is nice if you need it but I think I will stick with my dbx 286s. It does more for less money. This would be more attractive if it had a built in interface or some kind of processing like a compressor or noise gate. I have about as much or more into mine if you include my cloud lifter but I still have the extra features of the 286. And my 2i2 has the air feature as well.
@podcastage
The SM57/58 is affected much more than many other mics by the 300 ohm loading, much more so than the SM7b. It would have been cool for you to demo that with the Pre73
Lower impedances have almost no affect on transformerless condenser mics, a little bit on some condensers that have transformers and dynamic mics are kind of all over the map how they act.
Like I said the SM57/58 are most affected by loading and they can even get a bit too warm and dark but it's a cool sound for some things and eq'ing some highs in after the fact leads to a different sound than just running a 57 into a micpreamp with the more standard 3k - 5k ohms input.
As always you do great job on your reviews and in this case pointing out things like how subtle a micpreamp can be compared to the standard interface preamps is really important for people to understand. An external pre can be a cool optional extra but as you said it isn't going to make crap into gold.
You need to absolutely crank that thing into distortion territory, trust me. Coming from an audio engineer and a GAP 73 DLX owner cheers
what does that mean?
I just picked one up and man, the saturation is awesome and cuts through like crazy.
I think you should add a shaker or tamborine or cowbell to your music demos. So we can hear a percussion sound too. Thanks!
I'd love to hear a comparison with the Premier series of this golden age pre 73. Have you had the chance of trying one? Wondering how big of a difference it makes compared to this unit!
Hi! I have one and i am very happy with the results. I would like to a review on the GAP Comp Jr. Thanks
Could you do a similar review on the WA73-EQ you got in the back there? ;)
DBX 286s channel strip preamp would be a great one to review. Lots of useful features. Not as good of a preamp section, but the de-esser is great.
he's done a video on it about 4 years ago
If you can get your hands on a WA Tone Beast I’d love to see your thoughts with that one
Amazing video! Thank you for the detailed comparison. I have a question, why when you are using the NT1 WITHOUT the preamp you can hear your room noise and WITH the preamp it pick less room noise? This may help for recording in not-so-good isolated room? Or this thinking is wrong?? Thank you again!
Some say that one of the reasons analog recording sounds more flattering than digital is because analog supposedly picks up less of the undesirable qualities of the recording space.
In practice, this could be because the high-end roll-off and transient softening found in vintage designs (and tape) filters out that highest level of background hiss and room reflections.
@@DannyKavka Thank you!
Great review. Thank you. I’d like a better sense on why a pre vs. something like the Apollo X. Also, perhaps another voice artist would help provide some context as to why one would go with one solution over another.
That’s something I have wanted to add but I don’t have any voice artists near me, and I don’t have the time to ship stuff across the country for every video, and I can’t afford to hire a voice actor for every review either. One day perhaps I can move to a city that isn’t an isolated hole in the wall with no one within hundreds of miles.
@@Podcastage I've wondered where in the world you are, now I know! Isolated Hole in the Wall!
Hole in the wall? That's what we call an ATM machine over here, if you're living in one of them you've got loads of money lol
@@Podcastage No, stay there, for the World’s protection please.You’re doing just great!
Hi Bandrew, you mentioned in this video connecting the outboard pre to the focusrite at line level. I believe though that there's no real line level with the focusrite 18i20. In other worlds you have no way of not passing through another stage of preamplification. I sold mine because of that. Did you just keep the gain level in the focusrite at zero then?
Thanks
Hi dear Sir! Please plzzzzz Review this microphone. Tannoy TM 1 microphone. Thank You! Big fan of you. Very use full videos.
Please review Fluid Audio SRI-2 Interface IF POSSIBLE THANK YOU
can you please review the se electronics x1a condenser mic?
How this one compares in your opinion, with the Warm audio that you have in the rack behind??
ART TPS II. I believe you reviewed their single unit before but this is a cheap rack mounted stereo tube preamp. You could get some content out of it to feed the beast.
Danke!
I would have loved to hear more of the colored sound, what happen when you put more gain, does it has a nice saturation, does it add lots of harmonics?
Yeah. Realizing now that I wasn’t thorough enough on the different approaches to use. Low gain, high output. Medium gain medium output. High gain, low output. That way people can hear the clean and the saturated sound.
If i use a pre like this (tube) on a fet microphone (mojave 201), its the same as having a tube microphone?
You reviewed the dbx 286s mic pre a few years ago... How does it compare to the GA Pre-73 in your opinion? The dbx 286s has a few more features, and it costs a hundred bucks less.
Can you review the EVO SR1 Microphone that comes with the EVO Start Recording Bundle?
i think you should just take it slow dont jump to rly hi-end stuff just like you did with your mic reviews , keep your method, maybe try clipping more (if possible) next time so we can hear the type of clipping dist. all in all great work and great vid , the s/n at max gain was rly good in this thing... thumbs up :)
I'm using a alesis quadraverb into a Laney SLS 300w into a tascam dp32sd is this worth buying for this setup? Looking at setting up my interface to computer later on
Please make a comparison between GAP Pre73 and DBX 286s
Sorry for Beginner question , You are using professional audio interface already , what is purpose to add an individual peramp ?
Should I buy it for my SM7B?
+6db for the air frequencies on the SM7B is how it's meant to be :P
Are you going to be reviewing more outboard gear in the future or is this something you picked up and wanted to show?
I have stacks of outboard gear I’m going to be reviewing in the future. Going to take a while to get around to all of it though.
@@Podcastage you need to do the Golden Age Project Pre-73 Jr.
Ouch! Yes, it boosts gain but it's kind of shrill at the top end.
Hey bandrew plz make a review RME babyface pro
Can you explain the Insert Jack and routing to EQ? How does it return to the unit?
Sad that you can't access the channel for now.
Hi there i have an older one that doesn't not have the insert, or air features, was wondering ? do you get a low hum noise when the output is turned way up thanks ! sounds like a 60hz hum but its low but its noticeable .
Is mic pre noise too noticeable? I cant hear it, but i havent turned volume to high to analyze it. I want to get one analog preamp that will sound pleasant, and not hiss too much with mic boosted up 40/50db .
Grazie.