Again, the 710 performed to our expectations and provided a clean, tight, kick drum-simple and easy to dial up.Ī few days later in the session, we got to use the 710 on cello tracks in its all solid-state mode, and as with our experience with the kick drum, the cello was clean and beautiful. We spun the blend knob all the way over to solid-state and used that gain stage to help tighten up the tone. The next song was a more up-tempo number, so we muted the drum a bit with a blanket lightly touching the front head. We loved how it sounded on a more open, slow waltz as the 710 captured an extended bottom end and gave the track that hint of natural compression for which tube circuits are generally desired. With the 710 blended all the way to the tube side, it was every bit as tonally pleasing as the 610.

We often use a UA 610 as the go-to preamp with that mic. We first got to use it on some kick drum with our trusty AT4047 microphone. Like the Mojave mic we reviewed in this issue, the 710 was put through its paces during a tracking session with Tom Russell and Calexico, which also included Nick Luca on guitar, Chris Giambelluca on bass, and Winston Watson on drums. What we discovered during tracking sessions is that we got clean, sparkly, solid-state sounds all the way up to thick, hairy, tube distortion with just a few spins of some knobs. Before we go too much further, did I mention it's alsoĪffordable? With a street price of $799, the 710 is well worth its price it's an amazingly flexible preamp and sounds as good as-if not better than-mic preamps that cost two to three times more. Housed in a half-width chassis like the original LA-3A or LA-4, it looks instantly classic with its retro knobs and its 'Welcome to Las Vegas' On the front-panel is a VU meter that can be toggled between output or 'drive' level, as well as the expected switchware for phantom power, pad, mic/line selection, low cut, and polarity.

There is a blend knob that allows you to choose all solid-state, all tube, or anything in between and like UA's 610 design, it has both input and output knobs, allowing the user to overdrive the unit and create more distortion and chaos if desired. Using a solid-state transimpedance input, the 710 combines two separate gain stages driven simultaneously while summed to a single output. So, what is this Twin-Finity bit all about? It's the 'two, two, two mints in one' preamp-tube and solid state! This is the perfect preamp for those who want it all, but can't make up their minds.

Universal audio 710