Warm Audio WA-WL Warm Lifter Inline Active Microphone Preamp

SKU: WA-WL
Sale price$149.99 USD Regular price$199.99 USD

The Perfect Partner For Low-Output Mics In Studio & On Stage

The Warm Lifter is an inline active microphone preamp designed to provide powerful gain to low output dynamic and ribbon mics and comes with premium features for live & studio use. The sweet sounds of classic low-output mics that you’ve heard on countless records and live recordings have benefited from the sufficient power provided by high-quality, high-gain preamps, bringing out the full frequency spectrum of tone and sonic characteristics of the mic. Warm Lifter puts a high-impedance mic pre with pure analog gain, tone filtering, and balanced JFET input at your fingertips at an incredible size and price.

Using a low power interface in-studio or dealing with extra long cable runs in a live setting can starve the mic of adequate amplification. Warm Lifter boasts 26dB of analog gain with true impedance matching, so any low output mic you plug in will be professionally powered for connecting to audio interfaces or mixers. Adding the Warm Lifter ensures you have extra headroom necessary to bring out the rich lower-midrange detail and presence that passive ribbons and many dynamic mics are known for, without adding digital gain artifacts or losing tone from aggressively long cable runs. Beyond gain, Warm Lifter also has a 100Hz high-pass filter and a 3kHz high-shelf boost to sculpt tones.

26dB Of Clean Analog Gain

Warm Lifter’s signal path begins with a balanced, 2.4k Ohm (impedance) JFET input that delivers 26dB of pure, clean analog gain. Having 26dB on tap before hitting digital is incredibly helpful, as this should prevent any mixer or digital interface from having to go much beyond 40dB of onboard digital gain. As digital gain increases, the likelihood of artifacts and thinning of sound increases. The JFET input provides enough analog tone to keep the mic sounding “open” without adding any noise or too much color. The 2.4k Ohm impedance will deliver excellent frequency response for low-output mics that fall into typical impedance ranges.

Critical Frequency Filtering

Warm Lifter has a selectable 12dB high-pass filter and 2.5dB high-shelf boost. The 12dB high-pass filter’s corner frequency is located at 100 Hz, right in the middle of the true bass frequency range. Engaging the filter will cut all frequencies under 100 Hz, which will be perceived as removing “boominess” from the sound. The 2.5dB high-shelf boost corner frequency is located at 3 kHz, which lies squarely in the middle of the upper-midrange. This is a shelf-style boost, meaning, all frequencies above 3 kHz will be boosted at a more gentle 2.5dB in comparison to the high-pass filter. Since this is a shelf and will boost everything above 3k, the perceived change will add upper-mids, presence, as well as true high-end, otherwise known as “air” or “brilliance.” Engaging this boost will instantly add clarity to your sound.

Features:

  • Inline active microphone preamp with 26dB Of true analog gain for low-output microphones
  • Ultra-low noise JFET input, balanced I/O signals, and operates on +48V phantom power
  • Selectable highpass filter (100Hz) and selectable high-shelf boost (3kHz)
  • Input impedance at 2.4k Ohm that solves common impedance mismatch problems such as phase, altered frequency response, and signal loss (output impedance at 150 ohms)
  • Rugged, top-quality construction — built and inspected in Austin, Texas

Specs: 

  • Preamp Type: Solid State
  • Analog Inputs: 1 x XLR
  • Analog Outputs: 1 x XLR
  • Frequency Response: 10Hz-100kHz
  • Power Source: 48v Phantom Power