Classic British Tone
The 73-5T is famously known in the audio world as a “Turbo Neve”. Widely celebrated across the professional audio community as a “Turbo Neve,” the 73-5T bridges the gap between iconic 1970s solid-state console warmth and rich, harmonically complex vacuum tube saturation.
Delivering a massive 75dB of richly colored gain, this preamp is built around the legendary 1073 dual-input stage topology. By incorporating two faithful BA284 amplifier cards, the 73-5T effortlessly captures the unmistakable low-end authority, and silky, open top-end clarity that made vintage British consoles famous.
The Stam Audio 73-5T is built with uncompromising, top-shelf parts—including a UK-made Carnhill input transformer, Tantalum, Polystyrene, and Vishay capacitors, a specially selected tube, and a custom US-made steel output transformer. We individually audition and match every component to capture the unmistakable vintage sound these units are revered for, while guaranteeing decades of dependable studio performance.
Hand-made in Chile
Each unit comes with phantom power, impedance and polarity switch and a built in DI. We assemble all our units by hand at our lab in Chile which allows us to audition and measure parts prior to assembling them so that every unit sounds exactly the same and is built with the same quality.
100% satisfaction guarantee – if you don’t love your 73-5T, we’ll refund you!
All Stam Audio units come with a 30 day money back guarantee and a 2 year warranty.
Martín Cantolla –
Excellent preamp with lots of character. Once you get into the >55 gain levels, the sound really starts to saturate in a pleasing way, and in conjunction with the Trim knob you can set your desired output level. The distortion the unit generates when pushed is not suitable for all scenarios, but one can simply turn the gain down and it maintains crystal clarity, while still sounding “solid” and hefty. I’m an amateur with 10 years of recording experience, but can easily say this is top quality gear.
One Step Studio –
I got this pre last month and tested it against console NEVE pre – I wasn’t disappointed at all! All electricity is at a top-notch level and the sound is just beautiful and jaw-dropping!
Can highly recommend this Pre!
Paul Svenson –
I have two of these and LOVE the sound!
blvkqmusicgroup –
Rocking with this Pre and it’s been fantastic! Stam makes hi quality products!
Jason Wyatt –
Thanks Josh! Great pre! Love it on acoustics.
kobi –
great preamp. full of character, a bit on the “wild side” like a 73 on steroids. so be sure thats what your looking for. but then its magic, lots of presence and gain.
Alexandros Lykostratis –
I bought a pair of these and they are my go-to pres for everything, from vocals, to drums, to DI bass guitar. If driven, they give this fantastic colour needed in many cases. Of course they can be less coloured, but always with the signature neve sound. I never owned a neve 1073, but I’m telling you, this Stam unit is out of this world!
Nick –
I bought one about a year ago as a colored alternative to my “clean” pres on my SSL Six. Shooting them out, the stam sounds cleaner than the six to me on lowers gain settings, and has really nice color if you drive it a bit. I’ve never had another 1073 clone or the real deal, so I can’t compare but that aside, these are great preamps at a great price. One thing is that my first one that I ordered from Stam came with the input gain switch one value off, and it needs unplugging and replugging of the DI jack each time I power it on (it’s not that way on the second one I bought). I could definitely send it in and have that repaired, but it’s easy enough to work around. Easy 5/5 for me
Dave Garner –
So glad I purchased the 1073-5T unit. Such a simple piece of gear, but man…the sound is FANTASTIC! Clean, clear, punchy, and that was it by itself. I paired it with the SA-3A-5 compressor/limiter, and woohoo…get back on the horse, dude!! If this doesn’t immediately sound like a record…nothing else will. I’m using it anything I can and whatever it is, it just sits perfectly in the mix. Doesn’t need much EQ either. Can’t recommend either one enough. You just can’t go wrong. I’ve used the best, and this is at the top!
Joona Muistola –
This pre is really really good. It’s very colorful and it can be a bit much on some sources tho. 1073-5T has found it’s place as my go-to for snare top mics which for me, is the most important source after overheads. It smoothes out the transients ever so slightly even in lower gain settings, but still keeps the sound forward. I love it. Really want another one when I can afford it
Thomas –
One can only agree with the other reviews. Just got two of those delivered and the sound is fantastic. Wish I´d bought them earlier 🙂
ryancruisex –
It’s honestly unbelievable how good this 1073 500 series pre is… I have rack units that can’t hold a candle to this work of art… Trust me, it’s everything you desire in a 1073.
Jeremiah –
Excellent preamp! Classic and unique, clean and lush, at the same time. Love using it on vocals.
Bojan (verified owner) –
Bought this unit to add “color preamp to my collection and this thing delivers…cannot compare it to original and I thnik I dont need to… everything sounds “radio ready” with minimum extra eq and compression , i have tried it with diferent mics, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, vox and this 1073 5t leveled my sound for couple of nothches… love the saturation especialy on bass… definetly worth every penny… I’m definetly buying a second unit… Stam team you are the BEST!
Robert Breaux –
I have had the 73-5T for a couple of months. To compare it, I’ve had a very well-known 1073 clone in 500 series, and still have another well-known 1073 like pre. I also do a ton of research before I buy gear now. The Stam 73-5T has more control than the other units, in my opinion, and goes way farther concerning usable sounds than the others. It has a smoother taper into saturated sounds and can get downright nasty for the fuzzy, spitty flavor that you could use to directly track your guitar with. It can do clean better than the other two units I have, which means a lot to me because I track classical guitar often. I hope that people read this and understand that this unit is more capable of a clean style of 1073 than I expected. It’s also easier to get a sound from your head to the DAW with. My experience with 1073s is that I’ve overcooked too many times and ended up with unwanted distortion or too much saturation, and this has partially been because the dynamics of my playing or singing pushed my other 1073 preamps easily into too much saturation. I feel more confident in the Stam because the settings are more predictable and cover any ground you want from a 1073. You can push it to saturation, but it behaves like I would hope it to. The amount of saturation I hope to get is what I get out of this one.
But what I didn’t expect to be such an influence, and what Josh has stated, is that it imparts harmonic overtones that the other two I’ve had weren’t able to produce. I checked with the Span plugin and all these overtones are happening. It’s kind of like what Rupert Neve Designs does with their silk button, but in this case, the silk effect is also coming from the tube. And these overtones make your instrument or voice less likely to sound out of tune. This is huge to me, when tracking, because I’m playing and singing with much more confidence. I also don’t use vocal tuning plugins. I’m not thinking, “damn, this guitar is slightly out of tune.” I’m now playing from inspiration, and I’m able to really dig into the take. Because the sound coming out is so nice. This is huge. We tend to add saturation with plugins in the modern age we’re in with recording, but this unit will add that saturation. The tracks are sitting in the mix better. I’m used to adding preamp plugins after tracking, and I have a ton of them with UAD and Plugin Alliance. I know how to dial them in. I don’t need them anymore. In fact, I’ve tried to add them after tracking with the Stam, and it seemed to take away some of the girth that the Stam imparted on the track. So I don’t even fuss with the preamp plugins now. Also, the saturation you can get out of this pre adds a slight amount of compression (I think that’s a natural outcome of saturation), so this is one of the reasons the tracks sit better in the mix.
If I haven’t said it already, the Stam 73-5T is above and beyond what I expected. It’s got a big, clean sound if you want that, a downright nasty spitty sound at the end of the spectrum, and most importantly, you can dial in the anywhere in between sounds, blending mild saturation and rich overtones.