(MAIL-IN MODIFICATION SERVICE): WARM AUDIO WA76-2025-Series compressors

Modification Services for Warm Audio WA76A/D 1176 compressor versions

On the new Wa76-A/D, we offer a wonderful circuit upgrade that moves these Project Studio Grade 1176 compressors to the Pro Leagues.

Simply Select your Modification Service from the options Menu

Once your purchase is complete, you will be contacted with Mailing instructions, Work Order# and Work Order form for our mail in service.

About the WA-76-A/D Modification Service:

We put a lot of love into the modifications on this series to squeeze out the maximum performance possible.

While the design is not authentic to an original, our modifications will make even the Professional studio owners happy!

The NEW Warm Audio 76 series incorporated some of our old modification features  (True Bypass, more 1176-y knobs) and are now integrated into their design, but sadly lack even more low end and character than an original WA76 in our testing.

This is where we come in. 

Our modifications offer a way for you to have it all and we are sure you will be very pleased with the results.  

Post modifications they sound great on all traditional 1176 duties such as: Bass, vocals, room mics and more, where stock, some users may not find them all that useable.

These New WA-76 designs have a lot of added features that make them more flexible, but at the cost of audio performance over an original Urei design. 

For example: for a design to offer a blend control, generally one must run the signal through an opamp (non-discrete) to blend the signals which takes this discrete design into a "blended" Discrete/non-discrete design category and reduces things like headroom and low end response.

In addition, This design uses some dinosaur TL074 opamps which are generally regarded as noisy, small and with high distortion for various tasks of I/O and blending. 

The good news is that the new designs are a bit cleaner than their previous version in some ways, so that is one new get with this series in addition to the features.

The lack of low end response and somewhat more vanilla character however, is not in line with what we have all come to love about a classic Urei 1176.

As mentioned, They also have high distortion figures over an original Urei unit because of the opamps and the quality of the audio capacitors as well as many other bottlenecks. 

To be fair, Warm Audio units are often described as still sounding good for the money, though the verdict is out on this new series from end users.

The thing we like the least, is that Any amount of compression still kills the low end in the new series, which is already a bit smaller sounding when compressing (than the original) and leaves the user feeling bored of the unit pretty quickly.

So The modifications:

We do a complete audio path upgrade using premium parts throughout for lower noise and higher headroom as well as lower distortion figures.

All Audio caps are swapped out for premium Panasonic  and Nichicon Parts for optimal performance.

Orange Drop Capacitors (same model and type as  the original) are used in critical audio coupling locations for more authenticity, more sparkle and low end.

Noise Bypassing is performed wherever necessary for lower noise in the line amps, power supply and audio blending circuit.

The TL074 Opamps are changed out for near discrete High Performance Burr Brown opamps for better top and low end extension, more headroom and lower distortion

Power supply modifications are also performed for the lowest possible noise figures in the power rails and in the overall design and for better current delivery for low end.

Certain transistors are also swapped out for better performance, better bandwidth and lower noise as well as lower distortion.

So about the Results:

The service increases the headroom of the unit, widens the frequency response, lowers the noise and increases the clarity by a great deal.

It also smoothes out the compression character, increases the low end response to be closer to the original design and will leave a smile on your face.

We offer the upgrade for dual and single channels in this series as well as A and D revisions simply use the option select for your model.