Warm Audio EQP-WA Manuel utilisateur

Round Rock, Texas USA | www.warmaudio.com

EQP-WA

TUBE AMPLIFIED

PROGRAM EQUALIZER

THANK YOU!

Thank You for purchasing the Warm Audio EQP-WA mono

program equalizer. We feel this product offers the best sound,

function, and vibe from the classic premium equalizers of the

classic analog era. We continually choose top-end

components for our products, and the EQP-WA is no exception.

The EQP-WA uses high quality CineMag transformers as well

as an inductor made by CineMag. Additionally the EQP-WA

has high quality vacuum tubes, potentiometers, switches, and

rugged construction. We are confident you will love recording

with the EQP-WA, thanks again for your purchase and support!

Bryce Young

CEO, Warm Audio

Round Rock, Texas USA

Before we begin, please

take the time to visit

www.warmaudio.com

to register your product.

To ensure you receive

proper and uninterrupted

warranty support for

your product, please

14 days from purchase.

Session:______________ Track:_____________________ Notes:___________________________________________

Date:_________________ Instrument:________________ Notes:___________________________________________

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CHAPTER 6:

RECALL SHEETS

Session:______________ Track:_____________________ Notes:___________________________________________

Date:_________________ Instrument:________________ Notes:___________________________________________

Session:______________ Track:_____________________ Notes:___________________________________________

Date:_________________ Instrument:________________ Notes:___________________________________________

WARRANTY STATEMENT

Warm Audio warranties this product to be free from defect in materials and

workmanship for one year from date of purchase, for the original purchaser to

whom this equipment is registered. This warranty is non-transferrable.

This warranty is void in the event of damage incurred from unauthorized

service or from electrical or mechanical modiﬁ cation to this unit. This warranty

does not cover damage resulting from abuse, accidental damage, misuse,

improper electrical conditions such as mis-wiring, incorrect voltage or

frequency, unstable power, disconnection from earth ground or from exposure

to hostile environmental conditions such as moisture, humidity,smoke, ﬁ re,

sand and other debris, and extreme temperatures.

Warm Audio will, at it’s sole discretion, repair or replace this product in a

timely manner. This limited warranty extends only to products determined to be

defective and does not cover incidental costs such as equipment rental, loss of

revenue, etc. Please visit us at www.warmaudio.com for more information on your

warranty, or to request warranty service.

This warranty applies to products sold in the United States of America. For

warranty information in any other country, please refer to your local distributor for

Warm Audio. This warranty provides speciﬁc legal rights, which may vary from

state to state. Depending on the state in which you live, you may have rights in

addition to those covered in this statement. Please refer to your state laws or see

your local retailer for Warm Audio for more information.

NON-WARRANTY SERVICE

If you have a defective unit that is outside of our warranty period or conditions; we

are still here for you and can get your unit working again for a modest service fee.

Please visit us at www.warmaudio.com to contact us about setting up a repair or

for more information.

With the proper care, your Warm Audio gear should last a lifetime and

provide a lifetime of enjoyment. We believe the best advertisement we can have

is a properly working unit being put to great use. Let’s work together to make it

happen.

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CHAPTER 1:

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HARDWARE CONTROLS — FRONT PANEL

Bypass Switch: Located on the bottom left hand side of the faceplate is the

bypass toggle switch. This switch engages or disengages the equalizer sec-

tion of the EQP-WA. By design, it is not a true bypass; but merely takes the EQ

circuitry out of the audio path. More on this is discussed later in the manual.

Power Switch and indicator bulb: Located on the bottom right hand side

of the faceplate is the mains power toggle switch. This turns the unit

on, and power will be indicated by the adjacent power indicator bulb.

LOW FREQUENCYCONTROL

Boost and Cut - Low Frequency selector: this rotary switch selects a fre-

quency in the low to lower midrange bands for boost, cut, or even simulta-

neous boost and cut to create a desired texture eect to the selected band.

‘Boost’ (low frequency): this controls the amount of gain

applied to the band selected by the low frequency selector

with a range from zero (unity gain) to +12db.

‘Cut’ (low frequency): this controls the amount of attenuation

applied to the band selected by the low frequency selector,

with a range from zero (unity gain) to -18db.

The Low Frequency Control Section.

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In this example, the EQP-WA is being routed as an insert into a recording device.

This is useful for using the EQP-WA as an “analog plug-in” or insert for mix-down.

The recording device is feeding the EQP-WA with a balanced 1/4” cable via a line

output. Then, the recording device is capturing the EQP-WA via a LINE LEVEL input.

EQP-WA

Recording interface

CHAPTER 5:

HOOKUP DIAGRAMS

In this example, a microphone is feeding into a preampﬂier, which feeds in to

the EQP-WA via a balanced XLR patch cable, which feeds in the LINE LEVEL

input of your recording interface/recorder.

Note: it is important to use a line level input on your recording

device as opposed to a microphone or instrument level input.

Preampliﬁer

EQP-WA

Recording interface

HIGH FREQUENCY CONTROL

Bandwidth: this knob varies the width of the high frequency boost from a

relatively sharp cue (aff ecting the least surrounding frequencies) to a somewhat

broader cue (aff ecting a larger area of bandwidth). A sharp cue is considered

useful for more surgical work, such as boosting or cutting a speciﬁco verhead

piece or octave of an instrument; while a broader cue is more natural and

musical, for gentler tone shaping of instruments or program material.

Boost knob: This knob controls the amount of boost applied by the

high frequency boost selector, from zero (unity gain) to +18db.

Boost High Frequency Selector: This rotary switch selects

the high frequency to be boosted by the boost knob.

Cut knob: This knob controls the amount of attenuation applied by

the high frequency cut selector, from zero (unity gain) to -14db.

Cut High Frequency Selector: This rotary switch selects the

high frequency to be attenuated by the cut knob.

The High Frequency Control Section

To the left: Sharp cue, Bandwidth knob set to 0.

To the right: Broad cue, Bandwidth knob set to 10

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HARDWARE CONTROLS — REAR PANEL

POWER

The EQP-WA requires a 3-pin, grounded IEC cord, and should ship

with the power cord appropriate for the territory in which it is sold.

Voltage is selectable between 115v and 230v operation, from the

rear voltage selector switch. Power input is via a standard fused

IEC power receptacle with built in fuse access, chassis mounted on

the rear of the unit. Power is turned on and o via the toggle switch

labeled ‘ON/OFF’ on the right side of the unit’s front panel.

AUDIO CONNECTIONS

The EQP-WA has both XLR and ¼ inch TRS balanced inputs and

outputs, rear chassis-mounted, operating at line level. Unbalanced

connection is also possible via a ¼ inch TS cable. It is not advised

to connect both output connectors at once.

The rear panel

THE ‘BOOST AND CUT’ TRICK

Another phenomenon well known with this classic type of design is the ability to

apply both boost and cut to a speciﬁc frequency at the same time. The resulting

eect is hardly the type of simple cancellation one might expect. The cue shape

of the boost and cut functions vary slightly, as do their gain potential; so even

matching boost and cut levels by ear can produce a result quite dierent from

when boost and cut are returned to zero. Some have described this eect as

a gentle scooping of the area around the target frequency, with an emphasis

added closer to the center frequency itself. Others describe it as a phase shift

type of eect for the target frequency. The result, by any name, is hardly subtle;

and can be used to create emphasis or texture to a speciﬁed frequency.

USING THE EQP-WA IN BYPASS MODE

When in bypass mode, the audio signal is still routed through the Cinemag

input transformer, dual vacuum tube stage line ampliﬁer, and Cinemag output

transformer; and the EQP-WA will output at approximately unity gain relative

to the input level (or within close margin, due to small variations in output

gain from individual vacuum tubes). This design allows the user to take

advantage of an old ‘engineering trick’ known to many successful producers

and recordists, whereby one uses a piece of gear with large transformers and

high voltage tube stages as a ‘pass-through’ device or ‘tube buer’ following

a mic preamp, console send, or other piece of hardware, adding subtle sheen,

richness, thickness, and harmonic content to an audio signal. This technique

can also be used on program material (complete mixes or subgroups).

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CHAPTER 4:

WAXING PHILOSOPHICAL

WHEN TO EQ?

This is a question that deserves thought. In some cases, EQ can be intuitive.

One of the simplest examples of corrective EQ would be in treating the

human voice; adding top end to a vocal that needs articulation, or adding

bottom end to a vocal that appears thin. In all cases, one should listen

thoughtfully and let the material tell you what it needs. Ultimately, one

should EQ when a signal requires help to ﬁt naturally and compliment a mix.

Most musicians and artists would say they want their voice or instrument

to sound as natural as possible; however, there are many acoustic factors

which can aect one’s perception of how an event sounds. What most

artists and engineers desire is for an instrument to sound natural or, in

an idealized way, closer to the artist’s intention. Most artists expect their

recorded material to perform well in the context of a mix without covering

other performers or getting covered up. Using an outboard equalizer should

typically be viewed as much of a way to make corrective changes as it is to

make creative changes. The reason for this is that microphone placement,

room acoustics, the settings of the instrument or amp, and a whole host

of other variables are always applying their own unique type of EQ to a

signal, some of which may be outside of your control and undesirable.

As a general rule, one should do most EQ after applying compression;

though there are exceptions, such as taming a problem frequency in

advance of a compressor to allow the compressor to respond more

naturally. In this situation, one might consider subtractive EQ prior to

compression, and additive EQ post-compression. The most notable

exception to this rule is in stereo mastering, where EQ should precede

ﬁnal compression and limiting, to prevent any chance of peak overages.

TIPS ON USING YOUR EQP-WA

The EQP-WA is a program equalizer by design, which means, though quite

capable on individual instruments, it especially shines on complex, full

bandwidth material; i.e. complete mixes or instrument groups. It is especially

good with providing a ﬁnal tone balance and adjusting the relationship of the

midrange to the low and high frequency bands in ﬁnished material. As with

all equalization, listen for what the source material calls for, and reference

back to the original (unaltered) source often to maintain perspective.

9 6

CHAPTER 2:

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

frequency response: 20hz - 50khz, +/-1db

insertion loss: none (vacuum tube makeup gain ampliﬁer)

self noise: below -75db

input impedance: 600 ohms

output impedance capable of driving a 600 ohm load

tube compliment (1x) 12AX7, (1x) 12AU7 (graded for

low noise/low microphonics)

power selectable 115v 60hz/230v 50hz via standard

grounded 3 conductor IEC cable

fuse compliment 1amp, 250 volt

input transformer balanced, pin 2/tip=positive, pin

3/ring=negative, pin 1/sleeve=ground

output transformer balanced, pin 2/tip=positive, pin

3/ring=negative, pin 1/sleeve=ground

low frequency boost 20, 30, 60, 100, 200, 400, and 800hz

by +12 db maximum

low frequency cut 20, 30, 60, 100, 200, 400, and 800hz

by -18 db maximum

high frequency boost 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, and 16khz by +18 db maximum

high frequency cut 3, 4, 5, 10, and 20 khz by -14 db maximum

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CHAPTER 3:

A BIT OF HISTORY

In the beginning...

Most early recording consoles had very primitive equalization capabilities,

often consisting of only two knobs. These consisted of either a simple ‘tone

control’ type shelving equalizer, or a ‘low’ and ‘hi’ control knob with a ﬁxed

frequency center. One of the most signiﬁcant advancements in early studio

recording came with the advent of dedicated equalizers. The invention of

dedicated equalizers inspired desk manufacturers to start putting more

comprehensive equalization into their desks. This addition, more than any

other, brought about what we would consider the modern recording desk.

Many of the earlyoutboard equalizers were passive devices, operating

in a purely subtractive manner, requiring a preampliﬁ er (either in the form

of outboard gear, or routed back into an unoccupied channel of the console).

Not only did the equalizer lose signal level by performing equalization; but

often caused ‘loading loss’ merely by being patched in, resulting in added

noise, hum or buzz, and loss of tone or high frequencies. By the time an

equalized signal was preampliﬁed again and passed through additional

console circuitry, the signal to noise ratio was often worse o . This

made EQ dicult to use without negatively aecting the signal quality.

What followed next was the innovation that brought the use of EQ into the

mainstream, known as active equalization. ‘Active equalization’ allowed an EQ

to be patched into a mixing desk for the ﬁrst time without the fear of ‘insertion

loss’, added noise, or loss of ﬁdelity. Finally, EQ could be performed risk-free.

Most analog equalizers manufactured today use some form of solid state

electronics to apply their boosts or makeup gain. The earliest incarnations of

these equalizers, however, used vacuum tubes, along with large input and output

transformers, as required by most high voltage tube circuits. This type of design

imparts a ‘sweet’ character that many modern designs fail to reproduce. Though

many modern EQ’s have a generous amount of features, few oer the warmth

and richness, or the natural and forgiving qualities of the classic designs.

In the early days of recording, distance mic recording was more common

than close-mic technique. Large rooms tend to ‘even out’ a soundstage,

eliminating the need for much of the corrective EQ used in modern

production. As close mic recording became the accepted norm for superior

track isolation, the need for equalization became much more apparent to

recording engineers. Early studios began to utilize what many termed the

‘Tamla/Motown’ technique (named after the famous record label and studio),

whereby an instrument or voice is ‘manipulated’ to some degree via

equalization in order to sit well within the context of a mix. Today, this is a

nearly inseparable part of the art and science of modern music production.

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A BIT OF HISTORY

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