Description
Warm Audio has made a big impact in the last couple of years with their reproductions of vintage gear, particularly their clone of the Pultec EQP-1A. The Pultec EQ came in tube & solid-state versions but the earlier, tube editions are the most sought-after and most commonly recreated in clone versions
Warm has tackled reproducing the EQP-1A in a sensible fashion: they’ve used a painted front panel in a “period” colour, and mimicked the control layout of the original, while reducing the height to fit a 2U (89 mm) panel. The vintage-style knobs are a nice touch and the pots have mechanical detents to give the impression of stepped controls. Internal circuitry uses a valve gain make-up stage like the original (with Tungsol 12AX7 and 12AU7 tubes rather than ECC82 & 83) and the EQ uses a custom-made Cinemag inductor and input & output transformers. The interior layout is fussy but workable and care has been taken with internal shielding to reduce hum & noise. Input & output are on XLRs and jacks and the power supply is internal
In use the EQP-WA is a pleasant equaliser with super-smooth EQ curves. Like the original, it’s hard to get anything vicious out of it and it remains smooth & restrained at all times. There’s a small gain boost through the unit, whether in bypass or not, which suggests the bypass switch disables the equaliser while leaving the valve stage in circuit. If you’re using the EQP-WA with a DAW, on an insert, reducing the return gain by 3 dB will give unity
Warm has added EQ frequencies not found on the original EQP-1A – in addition to 20, 30, 60 & 100 Hz there are 200, 400 and 800 Hz options. At the high end the original 5, 10 & 20 kHz cut frequencies are augmented with 3 & 4 kHz
This pair of EQP-WAs has a matched set of valves installed by the UK importer. Photos show the EQs for sale
A few quotes from Gearslutz & Sound on Sound:
“Once again Warm Audio have hit a sweet spot with their take on a classic design, and I don’t just mean the cost, but also the sound” – Sound on Sound
“The bass is incredible and I very much appreciate the extra frequency points available on the EQP-WA”
“Don’t let the incredible low price fool you, this is a serious piece of delicious sonic processing”
“The dual-tube amplifier section and transformers remain in the audio path even with the EQ circuit bypassed, so that the EQP-WA may impart some characteristic “iron” tone and tube saturation, which often helps instruments sit better in a mix and may help add some “glue” to a full mix”
