Heritage Audio HA73EQ ELITE - Mic Preamp with EQ

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The HA73EQ ELITE brings Heritage Audio's 1073-style preamp and EQ design to a more accessible price point, built to the same specifications as their hand-soldered 73 JR II, 73 EQ JR, and DMA 73 models. Heritage Audio gets there through mass production and lean manufacturing techniques rather than the labour-intensive hand-wiring of their more expensive preamps, built in the same Spanish facilities as the rest of the Heritage Audio range.

The key vintage-sound components are kept intact despite the lower price: Carnhill transformers, hand-wound in St Ives, England, and three correct "Vinkor" type pot-core inductors (including a proper dual inductor on the mid band) for the EQ section. More than often these type of products have expensive inductors replaced with generic ferrite core ones or, even worse, the mid band dual inductor replaced with a single one. Heritage Audio points out that swapping these components for cheaper alternatives noticeably distorts the EQ curve shapes and introduces high-frequency phase issues, so keeping them accurate was a priority even at this price point.

The HA73EQ's preamp section features gain, output trim, a -20dB pad, polarity reverse, a high-pass filter, and +48V phantom power. The HA73EQ's EQ section adds high and low shelving EQ, a midrange EQ, a variable high pass filter, and an EQ bypass. It's housed in a rugged 1RU steel and aluminium chassis, with an external power supply to keep noise out of the signal path.

Heritage Audio HA73EQ Elite Mic Preamp Features:

• Fully discrete, 3-stage Class A mic preamp with 80dB of gain
• Industry standard Carnhill transformers hand-wound in St Ives, England
• WIMA 5% capacitors in the EQ section
• 3 genuine "Vinkor" pot-core inductors in the EQ section (including dual mid-band inductor)
• Separate input and output gain controls let you drive the input for saturation without overloading the output
• Line input on separate XLR for adding warmth and thickness to pre-recorded tracks
• 20dB PAD on the mic input to avoid overloading the input transformer when desired
• LOZ switches the input impedance of the mic transformer from 200 to 50 ohms
• 80Hz highpass filter; +48V phantom power; polarity reverse
• Ultra-high-impedance JFET-based DI input
• Fully discrete classic 3-band EQ with vintage-correct "Vinkor" pot-core inductors (including dual mid-band inductor)
• High-frequency shelf at 12kHz
• Mid-band selectable between 6 frequencies and OFF
• Low-frequency shelf selectable between 4 frequencies and OFF
• Inductor-based highpass filter, frequency selectable between 4 frequencies and OFF
• Rugged 19" 1RU chassis
• External universal power supply

Specifications:

• Microphone input impedance: HI=1200 Ω minimum, LO=300 Ω minimum. Higher gain positions gradually have greater impedances, optimum for low gain ribbon mics. Input is transformer balanced and floating.
• Line input impedance: 10 kΩ bridging, transformer balanced and floating.
• Output impedance: Less than 75 Ω, transformer balanced and floating, to drive a load of 600 Ω.
• Maximum output: Greater than +26.5 dBu into 600 Ω (internally terminated).
• THD: Less than 0.025 % at 1 kHz, Less than 0,05 % at 100 Hz.
• Frequency response: 20 Hz (+0.3 dB) to 20 kHz (-0.2 dB) – EQ Off.
• Maximum Gain: Slightly greater than 80 dB.
• Equivalent Input Noise: Less than -125 dBu.
• Output stage noise: Less than -100 dBu.
• Power consumption: Less than 95 mA @48 V DC.