Heritage Audio / HA73 EQ Elite

This channel strip adds a 3-band EQ to the HA73. Using the same inductors as the original, it achieves an extremely accurate EQ curve.

■Vintage NEVE-Style Channel Strip

The HA73EQ Elite is surprisingly affordable and manufactured to the same specifications as the popular 73JR, 73EQJR, and DMA73.

Heritage Audio leverages the extensive knowledge and technical expertise gained from its meticulously hand-soldered and hand-wired product line, while combining large-scale, efficient production with modern manufacturing methods to successfully reduce the high manufacturing costs associated with Western Europe. As a result, they are able to produce uncompromising, high-quality, and affordable models even in the ever-expanding entry-level market.

Of course, key elements for achieving a true vintage sound remain, including industry-standard Carnhill transformers hand-wound in St. Ives, England.

Manufactured in the same Spanish facility as other Heritage Audio products, the HA73EQ Elite delivers a classic sound with a rich, musical quality that is said to dramatically improve the sound of almost any source.

In the 73 EQ, accurate equalization curves are impossible without high-quality capacitors. The key is the correct ""Vinkor"" type pot core inductor. Often, in this type of product, these expensive inductors are replaced with common ferrite cores, or even the dual mid-band inductors are replaced with single inductors. However, Heritage Audio products never do this!

The HA73EQ Elite's EQ section employs WIMA capacitors with a tolerance of +/- 5% and three precise vintage-type ""Vinkor"" pot core inductors, resulting in an equalization curve that is virtually indistinguishable from Heritage Audio's handmade EQ lines.

The HA73EQ Elite's preamp section includes input gain, output trim, -20 dB pad, polarity inversion, and +48V phantom power, while the EQ section features high-shelving EQ, midrange EQ, low-shelving EQ, a variable high-pass filter, and EQ bypass. Housed in a robust 1U-sized British-made steel and aluminum chassis, it uses an external power supply for low-noise operation.