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Post by crillemannen on Jun 25, 2023 10:10:50 GMT -6
Hey guys,
I just posted a video with the WT-72. What a great sounding unit! I also compared it to my vintage Neve 1272 so you guys can get a good reference. To my ears the WT72 displays the classic sound of a tube preamp, open midrange and a nice beefy low-end. You can download the raw files if you guys really want to dig deep.
Oh I also used my GAP 251 which I recently installed a 6072 5* tube and it sounds freaking fantastic now. Especially dig it in fig. 8 since it's a bit more laid back around 2-3khz.
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Post by bricejchandler on Jun 26, 2023 1:53:38 GMT -6
Very cool test Christian.
It seems like the WT72 and the 1272 are extremely complementary. The 1272 is more mid focused and the WT72, much brighter and slightly bigger.
I actually gravitate towards the 1272 for my taste on this particular song, it has a more focused sound, more of a 70s vibe which I really like,
the WT72 sounds more modern and a bit more linear.
I tried the WT72 a while back, mostly comparing it to my Coils and came to the same conclusion, very nice sounding preamp but a bit bright for my type of production and my mic collection, though I wouldn't mind having one for airy female vocals.
thanks for the test!
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Post by crillemannen on Jun 26, 2023 2:22:12 GMT -6
Very cool test Christian. It seems like the WT72 and the 1272 are extremely complementary. The 1272 is more mid focused and the WT72, much brighter and slightly bigger. I actually gravitate towards the 1272 for my taste on this particular song, it has a more focused sound, more of a 70s vibe which I really like, the WT72 sounds more modern and a bit more linear. I tried the WT72 a while back, mostly comparing it to my Coils and came to the same conclusion, very nice sounding preamp but a bit bright for my type of production and my mic collection, though I wouldn't mind having one for airy female vocals. thanks for the test! Thanks for checking it out. I haven't tried that many tube pres but so far the WT72 seems to be in line with my V76. Accentuate the midrange and opens up the toppend. Neve always seems to capsulate the sound making it coherent which is nice. I'm not to fond of that lowmid push though. How was the Coils in comparison? Everyone that tried them has been super excited. I hope I can demo them at some point. |
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Post by thehightenor on Jun 26, 2023 4:48:10 GMT -6
Yep, I find the WT72 too bright for my taste - I generally don't care for EF86 tubes in anything - a little too hi-fi in presentation for my personal taste.
I'm a Coil CA-70 kinda guy :-)
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Post by bricejchandler on Jun 26, 2023 6:14:21 GMT -6
Very cool test Christian. It seems like the WT72 and the 1272 are extremely complementary. The 1272 is more mid focused and the WT72, much brighter and slightly bigger. I actually gravitate towards the 1272 for my taste on this particular song, it has a more focused sound, more of a 70s vibe which I really like, the WT72 sounds more modern and a bit more linear. I tried the WT72 a while back, mostly comparing it to my Coils and came to the same conclusion, very nice sounding preamp but a bit bright for my type of production and my mic collection, though I wouldn't mind having one for airy female vocals. thanks for the test! Thanks for checking it out. I haven't tried that many tube pres but so far the WT72 seems to be in line with my V76. Accentuate the midrange and opens up the toppend. Neve always seems to capsulate the sound making it coherent which is nice. I'm not to fond of that lowmid push though. How was the Coils in comparison? Everyone that tried them has been super excited. I hope I can demo them at some point. Well I've tried a ton of preamps over the years and now I ONLY have Coils, I don't even really think about preamps anymore, I think of my Coil rack as a small tube console and I just worry about performance, mic selection and placement. Bear in mind, I do acoustic americana, folk, some rock. Nothing super modern, or super clean so the Coils just fit those genres like a glove. |
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Post by Vincent R. on Jun 26, 2023 8:29:43 GMT -6
Nice video Christian. Thanks for that comparison too. I still have my 1272, and I used to have a Tab Funkenwerk V78M, their modern take on a V72. Ultimately, I found the 1272 a bit more usable on more things over the years. The V78 got really thick and saturated pretty quickly. I do miss that preamp sometimes though, especially with FET mics or on lead Jazz vocals. 1272s themselves are beefier than a 1073. The 1073 has even more clarity and focus.
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Post by Ward on Jun 26, 2023 17:57:00 GMT -6
Hey guys, I just posted a video with the WT-72. What a great sounding unit! I also compared it to my vintage Neve 1272 so you guys can get a good reference. To my ears the WT72 displays the classic sound of a tube preamp, open midrange and a nice beefy low-end. You can download the raw files if you guys really want to dig deep. Oh I also used my GAP 251 which I recently installed a 6072 5* tube and it sounds freaking fantastic now. Especially dig it in fig. 8 since it's a bit more laid back around 2-3khz. Totally respect and appreciate the work you do! Would love access to raw audio files as I neither respect nor appreciate the AWFUL things YouTube does to audio.  |
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Post by Ward on Jun 26, 2023 18:03:16 GMT -6
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Post by jacobamerritt on Jun 26, 2023 21:58:34 GMT -6
Interesting people describe the WT-72 as bright... Maybe it's the microphones I use, but bright is never the adjective I'd use.
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Post by drbill on Jun 26, 2023 22:27:45 GMT -6
Interesting people describe the WT-72 as bright... Maybe it's the microphones I use, but bright is never the adjective I'd use. Agreed. Open? Yes. Bright? No. I think a lot of people expect tube gear to sound covered and dark. Not necessarily so. |
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Post by crillemannen on Jun 27, 2023 0:46:12 GMT -6
Interesting people describe the WT-72 as bright... Maybe it's the microphones I use, but bright is never the adjective I'd use. Agreed. Open? Yes. Bright? No. I think a lot of people expect tube gear to sound covered and dark. Not necessarily so. Every piece of tube gear I've tried has definitely boosted the midrange in a delicate way. More hifi you might as say. I haven't used that many tube pres but my V76 is very hifi and linear. Nice video Christian. Thanks for that comparison too. I still have my 1272, and I used to have a Tab Funkenwerk V78M, their modern take on a V72. Ultimately, I found the 1272 a bit more usable on more things over the years. The V78 got really thick and saturated pretty quickly. I do miss that preamp sometimes though, especially with FET mics or on lead Jazz vocals. 1272s themselves are beefier than a 1073. The 1073 has even more clarity and focus. Thanks. The Neve has a sound, and its greatest strength is how it makes everything sit together. But it comes at a cost - a very colored sound which especially paired with vintage mics can be a bit to much for my taste. I'd love to do a comparison with my 1272 Vs 1073 original to see how much of that holds truth 😁 |
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Post by Vincent R. on Jun 27, 2023 6:21:45 GMT -6
Nice video Christian. Thanks for that comparison too. I still have my 1272, and I used to have a Tab Funkenwerk V78M, their modern take on a V72. Ultimately, I found the 1272 a bit more usable on more things over the years. The V78 got really thick and saturated pretty quickly. I do miss that preamp sometimes though, especially with FET mics or on lead Jazz vocals. 1272s themselves are beefier than a 1073. The 1073 has even more clarity and focus. Thanks. The Neve has a sound, and its greatest strength is how it makes everything sit together. But it comes at a cost - a very colored sound which especially paired with vintage mics can be a bit to much for my taste. I'd love to do a comparison with my 1272 Vs 1073 original to see how much of that holds truth 😁 It's funny, that more colored sound "sounds like a record" to me. I do understand why some don't love it though. |
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Post by niklas1073 on Jun 27, 2023 7:10:58 GMT -6
Thanks. The Neve has a sound, and its greatest strength is how it makes everything sit together. But it comes at a cost - a very colored sound which especially paired with vintage mics can be a bit to much for my taste. I'd love to do a comparison with my 1272 Vs 1073 original to see how much of that holds truth 😁 It's funny, that more colored sound "sounds like a record" to me. I do understand why some don't love it though. I think you are touching a topic that deserves a thread of it’s own. But yeah, you need to have a sound if you are going to be interesting. With todays tools anyone can achieve clean transparency and keep the doors open for post production, but do you sound relevant then? The term “it sounds like a record” pops up quite often nowadays in discussions about pres. Shouldn’t everything we do sound like a record? I think we are confusing it with “it sounds relevant, it makes a difference” or simplified “it has a sound”. If you have a sound and taste for consistency, you are there. I think the wt72 represents just that and is right there with 1073 as a defining staple to your sound. It’s probably next on my shopping list. |
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Post by bricejchandler on Jun 27, 2023 7:47:12 GMT -6
Interesting people describe the WT-72 as bright... Maybe it's the microphones I use, but bright is never the adjective I'd use. Agreed. Open? Yes. Bright? No. I think a lot of people expect tube gear to sound covered and dark. Not necessarily so. Personally I don't expect tube gear to sound covered and dark, one of the most natural, elegant and open preamp I've ever used is tube, the Earlybird. I guess one man's open is another man's bright but after testing dozens of tube preamps in my place ( Coil, Manley, Thermionic, Soundskulptor, Redd47, Tubetech, Universal Audio, Tree Audio, A designs, Gyraf and more I'm forgetting), the Weight Tank was one of the ones, if not the one that had the most pronounced high end lift and consistently sounded a bit brighter than the original source using my Schoeps. Not necessarily a bad thing given that most productions nowadays tend towards a brighter sound. I've actually recommended the WT72 to some friends that were looking for a nice vocal preamp for reasonable money and they have been very happy with them but it just didn't quite fit my productions. What surprised me the most when I used the WT72 is how it didn't sound like a V72, but from what I understand it wasn't really supposed to. Don't mean to sound like I'm bashing as I think Eric's gear is wonderful, the WT-comp I use all the time for tracking vocals and bass. |
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Post by Vincent R. on Jun 27, 2023 9:14:58 GMT -6
It's funny, that more colored sound "sounds like a record" to me. I do understand why some don't love it though. I think you are touching a topic that deserves a thread of it’s own. But yeah, you need to have a sound if you are going to be interesting. With todays tools anyone can achieve clean transparency and keep the doors open for post production, but do you sound relevant then? The term “it sounds like a record” pops up quite often nowadays in discussions about pres. Shouldn’t everything we do sound like a record? I think we are confusing it with “it sounds relevant, it makes a difference” or simplified “it has a sound”. If you have a sound and taste for consistency, you are there. I think the wt72 represents just that and is right there with 1073 as a defining staple to your sound. It’s probably next on my shopping list. It is just my personal opinion after owning and working with quite a number of different types of preamps. For me I was chasing a sound and listening to records which were mostly recorded on Neve boards. So once I went it that direction I found what I was looking for. It makes me an odd man out in the classical world for sure. That said I've worked on tons of stuff that ended up in films or on TV where we simply used the Avid Preamps on the studio's Avid omni, a Grace, or John Hardy. So, its a matter of taste and I was simply commenting on my own. If your taste is different than mine it is just as completely relevant as mine. |
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Post by tonygunz21 on Jun 27, 2023 10:06:37 GMT -6
Excellent review once again. I haven't had the change to use any of locomotive's products yet, but from the reviews, they seem to knock it out the park every time.
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Post by drbill on Jun 27, 2023 10:37:44 GMT -6
I haven't had the change to use any of locomotive's products yet, but from the reviews, they seem to knock it out the park every time. Yup. I own 7 Locomotive products, and every one is a home run! (2) 14B's (2) WT Comps (2) WT72's (older black ones) (1) Original 286a pres All a 2 thumbs up... |
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Post by tonygunz21 on Jun 27, 2023 13:18:58 GMT -6
I haven't had the change to use any of locomotive's products yet, but from the reviews, they seem to knock it out the park every time. Yup. I own 7 Locomotive products, and every one is a home run! (2) 14B's (2) WT Comps (2) WT72's (older black ones) (1) Original 286a pres All a 2 thumbs up... Now that's a lot of tube goodness right there! I currently have a Retro 176, do you think adding the 14b would be redundant flavor-wise? |
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Post by drbill on Jun 27, 2023 14:17:14 GMT -6
Yup. I own 7 Locomotive products, and every one is a home run! (2) 14B's (2) WT Comps (2) WT72's (older black ones) (1) Original 286a pres All a 2 thumbs up... Now that's a lot of tube goodness right there! I currently have a Retro 176, do you think adding the 14b would be redundant flavor-wise? Haven't used the retro, so ?? As far a tube varimu's, I have the Manley, the 14 B's, the WT Comps, and a pair of AS V Comps (Sta's). I wouldn't want to part with any of them. So, I'd say yeah, go for the 14B's!! |
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Post by tonygunz21 on Jun 27, 2023 16:09:50 GMT -6
Now that's a lot of tube goodness right there! I currently have a Retro 176, do you think adding the 14b would be redundant flavor-wise? Haven't used the retro, so ?? As far a tube varimu's, I have the Manley, the 14 B's, the WT Comps, and a pair of AS V Comps (Sta's). I wouldn't want to part with any of them. So, I'd say yeah, go for the 14B's!! Thanks! I think I may take the plunge. |
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Post by drbill on Jun 27, 2023 16:17:29 GMT -6
Haven't used the retro, so ?? As far a tube varimu's, I have the Manley, the 14 B's, the WT Comps, and a pair of AS V Comps (Sta's). I wouldn't want to part with any of them. So, I'd say yeah, go for the 14B's!! Thanks! I think I may take the plunge. Cool. I seriously doubt you'll regret it. |
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peezy
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Post by peezy on Jun 27, 2023 23:03:13 GMT -6
I haven't had the change to use any of locomotive's products yet, but from the reviews, they seem to knock it out the park every time. Yup. I own 7 Locomotive products, and every one is a home run! (2) 14B's (2) WT Comps (2) WT72's (older black ones) (1) Original 286a pres All a 2 thumbs up... Question do you find you run out of head room when driving the wt comp for more gain reduction? I had to change the JJ to a 12ax7 for more gain. I do love the sound of it though. |
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Post by thehightenor on Jun 28, 2023 1:50:44 GMT -6
Agreed. Open? Yes. Bright? No. I think a lot of people expect tube gear to sound covered and dark. Not necessarily so. Personally I don't expect tube gear to sound covered and dark, one of the most natural, elegant and open preamp I've ever used is tube, the Earlybird. I guess one man's open is another man's bright but after testing dozens of tube preamps in my place ( Coil, Manley, Thermionic, Soundskulptor, Redd47, Tubetech, Universal Audio, Tree Audio, A designs, Gyraf and more I'm forgetting), the Weight Tank was one of the ones, if not the one that had the most pronounced high end lift and consistently sounded a bit brighter than the original source using my Schoeps. Not necessarily a bad thing given that most productions nowadays tend towards a brighter sound. I've actually recommended the WT72 to some friends that were looking for a nice vocal preamp for reasonable money and they have been very happy with them but it just didn't quite fit my productions. What surprised me the most when I used the WT72 is how it didn't sound like a V72, but from what I understand it wasn't really supposed to. Don't mean to sound like I'm bashing as I think Eric's gear is wonderful, the WT-comp I use all the time for tracking vocals and bass. Sums up my experience of these tube pres. The WT-72, whilst not quite the V-72 sound to my ears , is very good value for money and any top end push can be rolled off easily with a touch of EQ. Agreed on the Thermionic Earlybird, wow now that is an absolutely gorgeous sounding mic pre …. not cheap! I’d love to own one, would make a fantastic addition to my Coil CA-70s. Anything by Thermionic is stand out sonically, such a fabulous musical sound to everything they do! |
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Post by drbill on Jun 28, 2023 9:31:34 GMT -6
Yup. I own 7 Locomotive products, and every one is a home run! (2) 14B's (2) WT Comps (2) WT72's (older black ones) (1) Original 286a pres All a 2 thumbs up... Question do you find you run out of head room when driving the wt comp for more gain reduction? I had to change the JJ to a 12ax7 for more gain. I do love the sound of it though. I have not noticed any headroom problems. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 28, 2023 17:03:40 GMT -6
Interesting people describe the WT-72 as bright... Maybe it's the microphones I use, but bright is never the adjective I'd use. Agreed. Open? Yes. Bright? No. I think a lot of people expect tube gear to sound covered and dark. Not necessarily so. My experience has been tube pres tend to be brighter than SS. |
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