Warm Audio is widely known and loved for making top-tier recording gear affordable, with mics like the Neumann-inspired WA-47 and compressors like the 1176-style WA76 limiter/compressor.
Today, ahead of the NAMM 2020 convention coming up January 16, the company is announcing two brand-new offerings that will impart rich analog tone in small, rugged chassis—the Direct Box Active and Direct Box Passive—along with the Bus-Comp, a new stereo bus compressor.
Direct input or direct injection boxes can be used to connect an instrument to a recording interface or console without the need for any speaker or microphone. Perhaps the most famous DI boxes of all time were the custom-built units used by Motown to capture most of the guitars and basslines from its '60s-era hits. (Acme Audio's WB-3 is an approximation of that circuit.)
While Warm Audio's new DI boxes don't seek to replicate that Motown sound, they do promise "maximum sonic integrity" thanks to high-quality discrete components and "stunningly transparent" tone, according to the company. "It will not diminish your instrument's original sound or tone in any way... other than making it sound better," Warm Audio says.
Both boxes include a built-in variable pad that can be set to -3dB to -30dB and include custom-wound CineMag USA transformers.
The Direct Box Active, which will retail for $199 USD, has a frequency response from 10Hz to 90kHz, is switchable between active and passive functionality, and can run on either 48V phantom power or two 9V batteries. The Direct Box Passive ($149 USD) has a slightly narrower frequency response, from 20Hz to 70kHz.
Bus-Comp Stereo Bus Compressor
Warm Audio's new Bus-Comp is another addition to its lineup of classic-styled outboard processors. In this case, the company is taking its inspiration from Solid State Logic's G Series Compressor, a prized unit that can be used for the final glue on recordings or just to sweeten up individual instruments like drums or piano.
The Warm Audio Bus-Comp is an all-analog, two-channel, stereo VCA compressor in a 1U rack size that, at just $699, is considerably cheaper than other options. The specs include:
- Selectable discrete op-amp stage with CineMag USA transformers
- External side chain source select
- Selectable Hi-pass Filter: 30, 60, 105, 125, 185 Hz
- THAT 2180 VCAs
- Noise: Less than -90dBu
- Headroom: Greater than +29dBu, 20Hz–20kHz
- Dynamic Range: Greater than 120dB
- Frequency Response: 18Hz–22kHz
- THD + Noise, 20Hz–20kHz, +20dBu input: Greater than .05%
- Input Impedance: 10k Ohms
- Output Impedance: 50 Ohms
The DI boxes and Bus-Comp are all expected to be arriving in stores later in January. Click the "Follow" buttons above to add each product to your Reverb Feed and be notified as soon as they're available on Reverb. In the meantime, check out all of Warm Audio's used and new offerings here.