Although fairly young as a company, Warm Audio have already gained a reputation for creating high-quality recreations of classic studio hardware at prices that are well within the reach of the home studio. Their WA12 preamp, reviewed in February 2013 (http://sosm.ag/feb13-warm-audio) was referred to by its designers as an API 312 clone, so there's no pretense about where the company's coming from with some of its products.
Joining the WA12 and the TB12 Tonebeast preamps is the new WA76, a 2U FET compressor/limiter based on the legendary 1176. Warm Audio are calling the WA76x a modern reproduction of the 1176 Revision D, the model that is reputed to sound the best of all the different revisions.
Warm Audio have gone to great lengths to remain faithful to the original designs including the use of Reichenbach Engineering's (now CineMag) transformer designs. They also claim that the WA76 is true to the classic in both design and performance, and from a quick look at the front panel, this seems to be the case. Of course, no 1176 copy would be complete without the ‘all buttons in’ ratio setting and this is also supported.
The original 1176 hardware, designed by Bill Putnam and introduced in 1968, was the first true solid-state peak limiter and is a mainstay of professional studios the world over, so the WA76 has a lot to live up to. If it comes close to the performance of the original Putnam design, then this will represent really good value for money, costing only £550$599, which is around a third of what a new 1176 costs.
