Golden Age Pre-73 Mk IV British-Inspired Microphone Preamp

Classic British Console Sound on a Budget

The Pre 73 MKIV is Golden Age Audio’s latest and greatest update to their best-selling ‘73-style preamp series. The spirit of classic British consoles lives on in the Pre-73 MKIV, and it sounds warm, punchy, sweet, and musical. Use it to add tone and color to your favorite mics, or keep things clean; it also doubles as a line-level preamp and DI box for electric guitar and bass. Get classic console tone—and get the most out of your mic locker.

Classic console color—if you want it

Get vintage color and punch by cranking up the Gain knob without fear—a dedicated Output control lets you attenuate the signal so you can drive the preamp without overloading your interface inputs. Engage the -14dB pad for even more control of hot signals, or keep things clean and transparent by backing off on the Gain and turning up the Output. Further sculpt your tone via the selectable low-pass filter to eliminate unwanted low-end rumble at the source, and use the selectable top-end Air EQ to add some shimmer and presence to your top-end. Use the Low-Z switch to toggle between 1200 or 300 Ω resistance and hear how your mics react!

Connect to anything

The Pre-73 MKIV’s switchable +48v mic input lets you use both condenser and dynamic microphones, while its 80 dB of Gain make it ideal for use with sensitive ribbon microphones on delicate sound sources. Line- and instrument-level inputs allow further connection to nearly any audio source, and you get an Insert jack for using external processors like EQs and compressors. You have your choice of TRS or XLR out.

Quality first

True to classic preamps of yesterday, the Pre 73 MKIV was designed with a focused attention to component choices and build quality not found in other preamps near the same price. No surface-mount components or integrated circuits are used, and all inputs and outputs are transformer-balanced, using two different purpose-optimized transformers. Its external power supply eliminates the risk of self-noise, and its metal half-rack chassis is both sturdy and portable.

Features

• Versatile, affordable British-style mic preamp and DI box
• Broad classic-console tonal palette from clean and transparent to warm and punchy
• Tone-sculpting options include Output attenuation, selectable low-pass filter, Air EQ boost, and switchable mic impedance
• 80 dB of gain for use with sensitive ribbon mics or other low-gain sources
• Line- and Hi-Z options for use with sound modules, keyboards, and electric guitars
• Old-school point-to-point wiring; no surface-mount components or integrated circuits
• Insert jack for connecting external processors
• XLR and TRS out; Phase reverse switch
• Sturdy build quality in a metal half-rack chassis