The Heritage Audio HA-81A is a mix of two classic console circuits. The HA-81A Elite is a channel strip that combines an all discrete, Class-A 73-style mic preamp with an extremely versatile and musical console-style equalizer, arguably the trick for obtaining instant classic sound for all recording engineers. The HA-81A’s preamp section is an 80 dB, all discrete Class-A design with Carnhill/St. Ives input and output transformers, exactly the same one found in the other Elite Series modules. The preamp features gain, output trim, -20db pad, polarity reverse, and +48v phantom power. 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 exceed at musicality but may be short on features, the HA-81A EQ equally excels at both. Extreme control over Shelf or Bell response curves on the high and lows, dual Q on both mid-bands, with dedicated high and low mid ones and a range of 40 frequency selections to choose from. The Heritage HA-81A utilizes only rotary switches and precision, concentric potentiometers.