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Your cart is empty.Classic American Console Preamp Design The WA-412 provides 4 channels of classic American console preamps in a sleek 1RU design. This style of preamp is often referred to as "the sound of Rock n' Roll" for its BIG punchy low end and smooth open top end. The price/performance ratio of the WA-412 is almost unfathomable to the experienced studio engineer who has possibly paid much more for preamps of this style during their career. Featuring fully discrete socketed 6-pin opamps and custom wound Altran USA input and output transformers, the WA-412 leaves nothing to be desired. If you are looking for multiple channels of world class tone in an affordable package, the WA-412 is the right choice for you. Inspiration Behind The WA-412 When I first started holding regular studio sessions years ago I always desired to have more channels of high-end mic pre's. I could only afford to have one or two in my studio at a time, which was never enough to record a full band or drummer. I knew very well that if signals were not recorded well "on the way in" they wouldn't be salvageable later, but my budget constrained me. Because of this so many of the sources were recorded through poor-quality mic preamps. If the WA-412 was available back then I likely wouldn't have had to settle for poor, low-quality tone. The WA-412 was designed "for the people" (if you will) and we believe it will become a serious work-horse in many professional and home studios. - Bryce Young (founder) Packed With Features The WA-412 has all of the features one would expect from this style of preamp... and more. Output Trim is available on every channel for precise control and creative gain staging. A Tone switch (transformer input impedance) is also available on each channel, which allows you to choose between a warm and punchy classic console tone, or go for a more open & neutral sound. Quality Components Each channel utilizes a fully discrete socketed 6-pin opamp that can be swapped with other opamps. Discrete opamp circuitry is known for its high headroom and low distortion characteristics and has much to do with the coveted sound of these classic console preamps. We are proud to be using input and output transformers that are made in the USA by high-end transformer manufacturer, Altran. We worked closely with Altran to create unique transformers that extend the low frequency response of these classic preamps. The transformers also use a vintage winding technique that produces a very distinct smooth BIG character. Carefully choosing the WA-412 components has resulted in an amazing four channel ‘workhorse’ preamp/DI that performs at the highest levels, while still adding vintage console magic to your signal.
Jmandrumz
July 25, 2025
Before I purchased this product I was already a big fan of warm audio. I had a wa73 preamp and the wa87 microphone. The biggest obstacles for a drummer getting a good sound at home our room acoustics, and saturation on the way in. Guitarists and keyboardists can fudge a little bit using plugins, but I was finding that for my drums, I just wasn't getting enough Punchy saturation, particularly from the kick and the snare. This unit is not going to give you obvious coloration of the tonality of the recorded instrument or vocal. It's a very different animal from a 73 clone. What this does is allow you to have a super hot pregain, and in the case of my kick and snare, I'm redlining a little bit. You may or may not notice a difference after doing a test recording of just your drums, but the magic really happens when you drop the signal into a full mix! I was no longer struggling to get the attack of the kick and the snare to dwell, and punch through the overall mix. I also have a couple of overheads running through this and the overall signal of the kit is just fatter, louder, and intimate Dynamics and subtle shading in a drum part are brought right up in your face.
Johnny Angel
July 14, 2025
Killer pres. Big defined low end. Clear mid range when tone button is disabled. Tone button definitely adds a mid range boost, but you have to be careful not to overdrive it, top end is musical. What more can you ask for for this price? Volume knobs are ok, but that’s not a deal breaker for what you get here. 5 stars
Steve
July 2, 2025
Very competitive with the api 3124+Knobs are fun too!
Teapot
April 18, 2025
I've owned this preamp for about a year now and used it pretty extensively in my studio to record everything from garage rock to Appalachian old-tyme. It's an amazing piece of gear not only because of the value but because it really sounds fantastic on a number of instruments. The WA412 is meant to "clone" the API sound, which is punchy and has a bit less "color" than something like a Neve. The WA412 does this nicely... it's not exactly an API but its similar, and has a lot of nice characteristics that set it apart from other preamps, (including the WA12 single channel, which I also own). Most notable, in my opinion, is it's amazing bottom end. This thing is punchy as heck, and captures drum kits with a detail and body that makes mixing a breeze- the first time I tracked drums with it I was kind of flabbergasted and I just sat there for a minute listening to the playback wondering if I'd accidentally engaged some EQ plugin or something, but no... the 412 just sounds that good.The WA412 also excels at tracking acoustic / electric guitars and bass (the DI input works great for this), and produces killer vocals when paired with an SM7b especially. It also has plenty of gain for ribbon mics. There's really not much you CAN'T do with this from a tracking perspective, though I tend to prefer it on drums the most.I do wish that it had line-level inputs to allow the preamps to be bypassed so that it could more easily be used on a 2bus during mixing... I have a small studio with limited control room space, so I prefer gear that can be utilized for multiple tasks. However, the WA412 is first and foremost a preamp, not a mixing tool, so it's not a big deal. My only other complaint is that the knobs and buttons are pretty small and thus are a little finicky for those of us with big hands. But they smashed 4 channels into one single rack unit so there's obviously not a lot of extra space!For 1000 bucks you get 4 channels of API-ish goodness, and that's a steal of a deal- especially seeing as how it sounds amazing and comes from a company that seems to care about providing affordable, quality gear to those of us who can't just go out and buy vintage high end gear. I've talked with Bryce on the phone about Warm's products and he's a really nice dude who was happy to answer all my questions. Great company, great product.
Leonardo Sierra Ossa
January 29, 2025
Perfecto, muy buen servicio y producto
Client d'
December 5, 2024
used it for my recording (snare and kick) last weekend, gave me an excellent result...much better pre-amps than the ones on my interface. Next weekend, attacking vocals with it!!!
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