The Heritage Audio HA-81A Channel Strip is a channel strip that combines an all discrete, Class-A 73-style mic preamp with the infamous 81-style equalizer - arguably the most in-demand products for all recording engineers.
The HA-81A’s preamp section is an 80 dB, all discrete Class-A design with Carnhill and St. Ives input and output transformers. To put it simply, it’s an exceptional Heritage Audio take on the infamous 73- style preamplifier. The preamp features gain, output trim, -20db pad, polarity reverse, and +48v phantom power.
The best console equalizer ever made.
The HA-81’s equalizer section is an exceptionally musical 4 band, inductor-based equalizer with high and low pass filters. Where 3 band equalizers such as the typical 73-style exceed at musicality but may get short of features, the HA-81A EQ equally excels on both. Extreme control over Shelf or Bell responsecurves on the high and lows, dual Q on both mid bands, with dedicated high and low mid ones, and a range of 30 frequency selections to choose from.
Hybrid design. Heritage quality.
The Heritage HA-81A utilizes only rotary switches and precision, concentric potentiometers. And like all of the products in our Elite range, the HA-81A is built with the most cutting edge methods in manufacturing and design, without ever compromising audio quality or cutting corners — all at the Heritage headquarters in Spain.
Heritage Audio HA-81A Channel Strip Features
- Classic European console preamp and equalizer; a hybrid design based on two of the best designs ever made
- Carnhill & St. Ives Transformers
- Full-featured 71-style mic preamp
- Full-featured 81-style equalizer
- 4-Band EQ with Filters, Shelves & Bells
- Built at Heritage headquarters in Spain
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Phil Ramone, I am not. This helps a lot, though.
Jan 14th 2024This is my first Neve clone and personal experience with things Neve-ish (aside from plugins). I've come from Trident land. I cannot speak to whether or not this is a spot on Neve clone. Heritage does appear to make some solid pieces and while I don't care for the way Neve controls are designed (not Heritage's issue), I don't think anything here is going to wear out anytime soon. I do wish they would have chosen a more robust way to power the thing. I hate wall warts! But, I'm no design engineer. As far as sound quality? Pfft. Smooth and lovely. Plenty of gain on hand and the EQ is really, really effective and smooth. The option for narrow Q on the mids and bells on the top and bottom is great. I've tried Scheps and Arturia 1073 plugins and those are both good BUT! There is a weight and open presence that I seem to only be able to get with decent pieces of analog hardware - and for me, the extra mid control over the 1073 clones is very well worth it. With the extensive EQ and gain controls, the piece layers nicely, even with one microphone. It brings something like the tried and true SM57 into even more usable territory. With my JZ V67, it's absolutely a thing of beauty - even flat. Cascade Fathead 2, which I love on guitar cabs, comes to life as a possible vocal flavor. Nice piece. It stays.
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