Anyone tried the Golden Age Project PRE-73? - Page 6

TLR · 1st January 2011

Great Pre regardless of the price! I believe by the time I got mine most of the issues with the fuses were sorted out, but I am thoroughly happy with this Pre, bought another 2 after using it for for a week. Great on Vocals, Great on Guitars, and great as a DI for bass.

guitarzandstuff · 6th January 2011

Got my GAP Pre 73 today and all I can say is DAMN!!

scottstoked · 6th January 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLR

. . . and great as a DI for bass.

Totally! I was surprised how nice my cheapie Warwick RockBass sounded when plugged directly into the Pre-73.

Colonel Blues · 6th January 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarzandstuff

Got my GAP Pre 73 today and all I can say is DAMN!!

Got mine two weeks ago… all I can say is WOW ! Great improvement on my voices tracks !!!

mrcimple · 6th January 2011

when is the lunchbox version out?

preferably with a black paint coat, as red is for girls

fred duvall · 1st February 2011

hello all,
was very impressed with the pre73
not a neve but it sounds great in its own way
happy enough not to mod it right away if at all

ivansc · 1st February 2011

Mine arrived lunchtime today and it is currently sitting powered up and burning in right next to me.

Decided to let it cook for a while to avoid any recordius interruptus if the sound DOES change slightly after it has run for a while.
Also means anything that is going to break early on will get its chance to do so VERY early

MichaelJoly · 5th February 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kronos147

Scotch? Tequilla?

Have fun MJ!

No mon, only 'erb is the way.

ivansc · 5th February 2011

Still fooling around with mine but I did contact St Ives Windings/Granta Windings, who now belong to the same group as Carnhill and who still make the transformers.

They no longer allow you to visit and pick up transformers like they used to (I live about 5 miles from them) but pointed me in the direction of their main distributor in Manchester, UK.

Very helpful guy there was happy to discuss modding the 73 Pre and obvisouly had some experience of same.

And he said the difference made by even the input transformer change was marginal compared to the cost.
So mine will be staying stock for the forseeable future.

Oh and re the bass DI thing, I have used the same two Hughes & Kettner original Tubeman pedals for bass DI, along with the instrument side of a TLA Indigo compressor for years.

Whislt the 73 Pre isn`t any better, it does add a slightly different flavour that I suspect will be useful.

And I still want a Manley VoxBox. Best Bass DI I ever used.(grin)

fred duvall · 24th February 2011

well,
just came from a preamp shoot out
ga pre73 aprox 350.00
focuswrite aprox 545.00
great river aprox 1200.00

all were fantastic but myself and a other picked the ga pre 73
they were all very very good
but for the price and sound
felt the pre 73 was the best

we only tried keyboard tracks direct...
so maybe a mic would show different results
through the 3 different pres

so,,,to be continued

also i have since purchased thier comp ga 54 compressor
but havent had time to try it yet

Take92 · 28th February 2011

I got my Pre73 a few months ago and it's made a huge difference in my sound. In fact, I'm going to be getting another one very soon.

Here's a clip of my band's rehearsal last week. The snare (top) is an i5 running through the Pre73. (The bottom is an e609.)

t1t0production · 28th February 2011

The Pre 73 sounds amazing for the money. Recently, I had a problem with the unit but sent it back to the distributor for repair. Turns out the power supply went bad. Aside from this experience it has worked flawlessly.

The Pre 73 sounds great on the drum floor tom and for that reason I just purchased my second unit with a rack mount plate to join both units. I've tracked bass and vocals through the Pre 73 and they sound decent. I certainly like the way certain tube mics sound through it when tracking vocals. There are certainly other pre amps or direct box units that I prefer for tracking electric bass than the Pre 73 but I would not hesitate to use it if I ran out of pre amps for a session.

Two thumbs up for the Golden Age Pre 73!!

manosar · 28th February 2011

suffice it to say for my applications (mostly vocals), i am very happy with my gap 73 (full zen pro mod)

if you crank up the gain, it can really crunch, but does a nice job of providing that clean sound, too.

given the cost of the gap 73 in both modded and unmodded form, it's hard to imagine that you could go wrong with this unit thumbsup

fred duvall · 2nd March 2011

the golden age 54 compressor is smooth as silk although u can get aggressive

luca1 · 17th December 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarzandstuff

Got my GAP Pre 73 today and all I can say is DAMN!!

Where did you buy it from?

_Luca

88fingerz · 17th December 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by t1t0production

The Pre 73 sounds amazing for the money. !

How much money would it need to cost to not sound amazing anymore?

I love my Pre73 mk1 pair that took over duties from my Vintech 1272 and Great River ME1NV.

Hangs with them completely. Don't see why they shouldnt last the test of time.

Jim Williams · 17th December 2011

Yesterday I ripped mine open one more time. I replaced the 2N3055 power transistor with a new On Semi 2N3055AG. Next, I replaced the remaining 22 uf caps with 47 uf Panasonic FR series. I wanted to extend the depth in the low end. The two 10 uf caps were changed to 22 uf/50v Panasonic FR. It seems to have done that OK.

I had previously added .01 uf Wima MKP-2 caps across all the audio path el caps to let the air out. That works well.

All the small caps had also been replaced with Wima polyprop film caps, the circuit caps, the transformer tuning caps, etc.

I also had added large psu caps, 1000 uf's locally on the audio pcb, 2200 uf for the power transistor output feed to the output transformer. Those are also bypassed with Wima polypropylene film caps. I have not had any of the described problems with hum, noise, etc. I thought about adding a 600 ohm resistor across the output transformer secondary, but it already has a .01uf/1500 ohm network installed.

I also had installed the Toshiba 2SC3329BL transistors to lower the hiss. I guess I'm about done with this thing now, it still sounds dirty and small next to my ultra fast, ultra clean preamps. Whenever I need a low-fi vocal with gravel overtones, I'm covered.

Colonel Blues · 17th December 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by luca1

Where did you buy it from?

_Luca

Hi Luca, I received your e-mail !
I bought it from Thomann (huge German store).

luca1 · 22nd December 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colonel Blues

Hi Luca, I received your e-mail !
I bought it from Thomann (huge German store).

Great thanks! I ordered one from there last night, says its shipped already, should be here soon.. Its going to be paired with my second hand pre 86 Neumann U87.. Any thoughts on that?

If not, thanks for letting me know where I could get teh pre

Cheers!

1st January 2011	#151
TLR Gear Head Joined: Dec 2010 Location: Nelspruit, South Africa Posts: 30	Great Pre regardless of the price! I believe by the time I got mine most of the issues with the fuses were sorted out, but I am thoroughly happy with this Pre, bought another 2 after using it for for a week. Great on Vocals, Great on Guitars, and great as a DI for bass. __________________ "What has not been recorded, does not exist" Tiaan le Roux www.bigtreestudio.co.za

24th February 2011	#160
fred duvall Gear interested Joined: Jan 2011 Posts: 3	pre 73 well, just came from a preamp shoot out ga pre73 aprox 350.00 focuswrite aprox 545.00 great river aprox 1200.00 all were fantastic but myself and a other picked the ga pre 73 they were all very very good but for the price and sound felt the pre 73 was the best we only tried keyboard tracks direct... so maybe a mic would show different results through the 3 different pres so,,,to be continued also i have since purchased thier comp ga 54 compressor but havent had time to try it yet

2nd March 2011	#164
fred duvall Gear interested Joined: Jan 2011 Posts: 3	golden age 54 compressor the golden age 54 compressor is smooth as silk although u can get aggressive

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6th January 2011	#152
guitarzandstuff Gear Head Joined: Oct 2009 Posts: 41	Got my GAP Pre 73 today and all I can say is DAMN!!

6th January 2011	#155
mrcimple Gear Head Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 60	when is the lunchbox version out? preferably with a black paint coat, as red is for girls

1st February 2011	#156
fred duvall Gear interested Joined: Jan 2011 Posts: 3	hello all, was very impressed with the pre73 not a neve but it sounds great in its own way happy enough not to mod it right away if at all

1st February 2011	#157
ivansc Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2008 Location: UK & France Posts: 852	Mine arrived lunchtime today and it is currently sitting powered up and burning in right next to me. Decided to let it cook for a while to avoid any recordius interruptus if the sound DOES change slightly after it has run for a while. Also means anything that is going to break early on will get its chance to do so VERY early

5th February 2011	#159
ivansc Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2008 Location: UK & France Posts: 852	Still fooling around with mine but I did contact St Ives Windings/Granta Windings, who now belong to the same group as Carnhill and who still make the transformers. They no longer allow you to visit and pick up transformers like they used to (I live about 5 miles from them) but pointed me in the direction of their main distributor in Manchester, UK. Very helpful guy there was happy to discuss modding the 73 Pre and obvisouly had some experience of same. And he said the difference made by even the input transformer change was marginal compared to the cost. So mine will be staying stock for the forseeable future. Oh and re the bass DI thing, I have used the same two Hughes & Kettner original Tubeman pedals for bass DI, along with the instrument side of a TLA Indigo compressor for years. Whislt the 73 Pre isn`t any better, it does add a slightly different flavour that I suspect will be useful. And I still want a Manley VoxBox. Best Bass DI I ever used.(grin)

28th February 2011	#161
Take92 Gear interested Joined: Feb 2011 Location: Eugene, OR Posts: 6	I got my Pre73 a few months ago and it's made a huge difference in my sound. In fact, I'm going to be getting another one very soon. Here's a clip of my band's rehearsal last week. The snare (top) is an i5 running through the Pre73. (The bottom is an e609.)

28th February 2011	#162
t1t0production Gear interested Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 1	The Pre 73 sounds amazing for the money. Recently, I had a problem with the unit but sent it back to the distributor for repair. Turns out the power supply went bad. Aside from this experience it has worked flawlessly. The Pre 73 sounds great on the drum floor tom and for that reason I just purchased my second unit with a rack mount plate to join both units. I've tracked bass and vocals through the Pre 73 and they sound decent. I certainly like the way certain tube mics sound through it when tracking vocals. There are certainly other pre amps or direct box units that I prefer for tracking electric bass than the Pre 73 but I would not hesitate to use it if I ran out of pre amps for a session. Two thumbs up for the Golden Age Pre 73!!

28th February 2011	#163
manosar Gear maniac Joined: Feb 2011 Location: slum a ville Posts: 186	suffice it to say for my applications (mostly vocals), i am very happy with my gap 73 (full zen pro mod) if you crank up the gain, it can really crunch, but does a nice job of providing that clean sound, too. given the cost of the gap 73 in both modded and unmodded form, it's hard to imagine that you could go wrong with this unit thumbsup

17th December 2011	#167
Jim Williams Voiding warranties Joined: Feb 2004 Location: beautiful Carlsbad, CA Posts: 10,070	Yesterday I ripped mine open one more time. I replaced the 2N3055 power transistor with a new On Semi 2N3055AG. Next, I replaced the remaining 22 uf caps with 47 uf Panasonic FR series. I wanted to extend the depth in the low end. The two 10 uf caps were changed to 22 uf/50v Panasonic FR. It seems to have done that OK. I had previously added .01 uf Wima MKP-2 caps across all the audio path el caps to let the air out. That works well. All the small caps had also been replaced with Wima polyprop film caps, the circuit caps, the transformer tuning caps, etc. I also had added large psu caps, 1000 uf's locally on the audio pcb, 2200 uf for the power transistor output feed to the output transformer. Those are also bypassed with Wima polypropylene film caps. I have not had any of the described problems with hum, noise, etc. I thought about adding a 600 ohm resistor across the output transformer secondary, but it already has a .01uf/1500 ohm network installed. I also had installed the Toshiba 2SC3329BL transistors to lower the hiss. I guess I'm about done with this thing now, it still sounds dirty and small next to my ultra fast, ultra clean preamps. Whenever I need a low-fi vocal with gravel overtones, I'm covered.