Corky’s Corner: Golden Age Mic Pre 73 Review

Golden Age Mic Pre

Roseville, Calif. – If you have a budget or bedroom studio and you are looking for a Neve type Pre amp look no further. The Golden Age Pre is for you.

It is modeled after the famous Neve 1273 mic pre and sounds every bit as good to these old ears. In the studio, we’ve used it with low end condenser mic’s and hi end condenser mic’s as well as ribbon mic’s and it has plenty of gain for the ribbon application. The gain and response is very similar to the Neve with a great coloration and breath.

Vocals really sound pro and sit in the mix perfect. It has also been used for a bass pre and it does it better than the old Neves tested. You can run a passive or active bass into it and it handles both with ease. On the last 2 CD’s I have recorded the bass and it was very easy to record & fit in the mix overall the end result was very pleasing.

Testing with keyboards, it didn’t do as much for them as it did for vocals & bass, however, it did tighten up the brashy hi mids of the organ and smooth out the strike of the piano to a warm full overall tone.

You can have two of these for a great stereo mastering mix or for the overheads on drums. It really works great for the drum overheads and adds so much breath and chime on the cymbals.

In the past I have used many of the Top mic pre’s on the market and now I use a mod version of the Golden age 73. You can get them mod online with the higher grade parts on the inside for a slight bump in price. I have both mod and non-mod models and sometimes can’t tell the difference on some miked programs.

On a scale of 1-10, the Golden Age Mic Pre 73 rates a solid 9.