Warm Audio WA-1b

Where you been ?

Was something like a 10 or 12 page thread a while back... contained zero useful info. 

Me? 

I actually bought one. 

Haven't used it much, yet. Seems to compress. So far so good. 

There was a shoot out video in that thread. I found that useful as you could really hear the difference with the original having more tone.

I thought the Warm useful and good value.

There’s a used one online (Pensodio?), in the states for think $800

The a/b video in the old thread was not particularly flattering to the Warm offering, IMO. Not that the Warm sounded bad per se, just kinda demonstrated what the extra couple thousand bucks get ya.

Now, is it *worth* the extra couple thousand bucks? That's very much up for debate! But a 1:1 'clone', this is not.

This makes sense, but based on that comparison video I imagine it'd have a hard time beating the Buzz Essence.

$1200 and well there 'ya go right? 

I'm under no illusions (delusions?) that its a 1:1 klone and don't even care that much to be honest. Frankly I've been kinda luke-warm on most of their stuff in general... I'd never buy one of their la2a klones for example... but for some reason this one captured my interest and I rolled the dice. 

Ok. So part of that... not all, but a part of the decision to get the warm-tech was that I'm moving the studio, lock stock & barrel and needed to dump some weight. So I traded the PA system & other junk to guitar denter and well, they really don't have the deepest selection of production gear. Certainly a consideration and based on what they offer vs what's in stock..? 

Hey, why not? How bad could it possibly be? 

That's when I found the original thread here which was filled with speculation & various anecdotes on the OG Tube Tech. Which to be honest its been quite a long while since I've used one.  

The warm-tech? So far so good. It compresses? Not sure what I was expecting to be honest. Build & parts feel decent enough. Knobs are detented & don't spin as easily as the OG so maybe that's even an upgrade?! 

Only bummer so far? Warm had a promotion going in March - buy a piece of outboard and get 4 XLR cables! My thing drop shipped from the factory to GC... no cables. Whomp whomp. Don't really 'need' them, but its kinda the principle of the thing I guess.

Even GC was great to deal with through the whole thing. I drove in with a literal SUV full of gear, thousands of bucks worth and walked out with a few pieces of outboard gear worth a few thousand bucks. The system worked! I'm happy about it! 

Well, the truth is also, the original is really worth what some people pay for it, but that’s a personal decision.

I personally don’t care about the clone wars thing. Warm gear is made less expensively, so I never expect it to sound “just like”. I just ask myself is it useful at the price point?

And you are right unless, you know for certain settings and gain staging were matched, it’s a little unclear what to conclude about apparent sonic differences.

I thought the original had all that secret sauce sound we talk about with really good outboard and the Warm very useable.

Ever since I heard Josh’s Chandler comp video, that’s what I’d be going for if I had the dough, in between, Stam and Audioscape!

All the early demos, particularly a Sweetwater one that later got taken down sounded awful.  Overly bright and saturated, it was bizarre.  

The Tubesessor? I think it had a somewhat similar story. The first couple demos were not well received. The name was also a bit of miss for some people which doesn't always help.

But now you have me curious if sentiment has changed for the better for it.

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