Dewaudio TMP3210 Firecat

Greg Bester goes in search of (and finds) locally made audio equipment.
When you seek pro audio hardware – and I’m talking about high end outboard units – you don’t immediately think to look within our borders. Legendary names from abroad such as Neve, SSL, API and Great River tend to pop into our minds and so does the high-dollar price tag that comes with them because (as most of us know) these products ain’t cheap.

The bare cost of a single unit, plus the inevitable cost of importation, tends to strain the pocket and for some, it can break the bank. But at least you know you’re buying quality. The equipment with these names are tried and tested and are world-renowned for a very good reason. That said, what if I told you that there is a way for us to source top shelf, high-quality valve preamps and amplifiers right here in South Africa? What if I told you that you could have one of either (or both!) custom made without ever signing an import duty form? Well, now you can, with Dewaudio.

Dewaudio is a new South African company based in Lydenburg, Mpumalanga, which manufactures high-quality valve preamps and amplifiers for the pro audio market. Founder and tech guru Dewald ’Dave’ Visser crafts each and every unit by hand and glancing at the façade of his flagship stereo valve preamplifier model, the TMP3210 Firecat, a silk-screened stamp assures us that dedication and passion are a big part of what they do. Simply put, his products aim to “let the music speak’. So let’s see what it has to say.

Features

The Dewaudio TMP3210 Firecat is a dual-channel, high-voltage valve design. It features two independent, high gain preamplifiers housed in a solid, cast-metal enclosure with a bright orange façade and a full complement of brushed aluminium knobs and switches. It is heavy and extremely well made, which is a testament to

Dewaudio’s craftsmanship. Now, to the nitty gritty.

The Firecat is completely transformer coupled to the primary vacuum tube stage and the output is provided by a parafeed coupled transformer. The PSU is fully regulated and custom-made toroid transformers are used throughout which are vacuum impregnated to prevent mechanical hum. Further, under the hood we see both 12AX7 and 12AU7 valves being implemented.

Dewald chose these valves as they have a “lovely, warm character and are readily obtainable,’ which means there’s no relentless hunting for replacements. The Firecat is, of course, dual input with identical controls for either channel. Gain is adjustable via a 12-position rotary attenuator, which allows for easy recall of a previous setting. Besides the 12-position rotary attenuator and the adjacent stylish VU meter, each channel features the following flip switches, from left to right:

• Standby on/off

• Phantom on/off

• Phase 0/180

• ISD normal/med/low

• Output 0/-10/mute

As you can see there are a couple of features that are unique to this preamp that you will not find in others. Of course, the usual suspects are always present, such as phantom power and polarity reversal switches, but the Firecat incorporates what Dewald calls ISD or Inter Stage Distortion. This feature is employed between the first and second triode vacuum tube gain stages and is effectively a ’shunt attenuator system’. In Firecat’s documentation, it states that this serves to attenuate the amplified signal 17 to 25dB before it is handed off to the second stage. This is, of course, depending on the setting that is used.

Another useful feature is the output switch, which attenuates the signal further or mutes it altogether. This can be helpful when driving the input, while attenuating the output, to apply tube saturation to the sound. Yet another unique feature to the Firecat is that gain adjustment is achieved by a ’shunt attenuator between the 2nd and 3rd gain stages’. This differs from standard gain pots in that the signal passes through a single resistor, independent of the position of the gain switch. In total the Firecat offers about 75dB of gain with the ISD switch in the NORMAL position.

Looking at the rear of the Firecat we see the usual balanced XLR microphone inputs and line level outputs with the addition of a HI-Z instrument input and a HI-Z direct output. This is handy if you want to use the Firecat as a preamp for your bass guitar or Fender Rhodes to add some valve warmth while returning back to an amplifier with a high impedance input.

In use

For this review I used the Firecat in a recording session for a local rock band. In this particular session I used it on drum overheads and bass guitar as I wanted a warm sound for both applications.
To start, I used a pair of Neumann TLM103s in a spaced configuration for the overheads. Recording drums, for me, starts with the overheads because it is the base of the overall sound of the kit. If I can’t get a decent sound with two overhead mics, a little rethinking is usually in order. I set the Firecat up, plugged the mics in and set the gain to equal values on both sides. This is where the stepped gain rotary attenuators came in handy. I set the ISD switch to NORMAL, as I wanted to hear the preamp as it sounds in its most “natural’ state.

At this setting the sound was pure, clear and surprisingly “cool’. The kit had a decent overall balance but the mics needed adjusting in terms of their distance to achieve the balance I was going for. Once I had the kick and snare as centred as possible in the stereo field, the resulting sound was pleasing, smooth and musical. Pushing the preamp a little more, I flipped the output attenuator to -10 and was able to get a nice, thick harmonically enhanced signal because of the tube saturation. It sounded fantastic!

After the drum session we moved on to the bass guitar. The bass amp was an Ampeg SVT-III and I used a Miktek CV4 LDC along with a locally made TUL F47 LDC on the speaker cab. A DI signal was also taken via an ART Tubefire 8 preamp. Lots of tubes were in the mix! I set the Firecat back to a nominal gain setting with the output attenuator set to 0. Auditioning the CV4 first, the sound was immediate and clear with nice honk in the mid=range. This helped the bass poke through the mix without getting to nasal. The TUL sounded absolutely huge as this mic has a massive bottom end and combined with the Firecat, a large, punchy bottom end was achieved.

For the TUL I switched the ISD switch to MED and cranked the gain a bit to introduce some harmonic distortion. Combining that signal with the cleaner gain stage of the CV4 turned out to be absolutely huge. However not being a fan, of a bass sound completely devoid of top end, I mixed in a little of the DI signal to balance out the lows. After a little bit of overall balancing of the three signals a full, warm and clear bass tone was achieved.

Conclusion

The Dewaudio Firecat TMP3210 is a fantastic sounding, full-featured premium microphone preamplifier. It is very well built, extremely rugged and supplies a top-shelf professional sound which can stand up to the very best of the overseas high-end contenders.
Last but not least, the Firecat is a testament to the passion and talent that South Africa possesses and when recording a South African band in a South African city on South African equipment, one cannot help but feel a sense of pride. Viva RSA and viva Dewaudio!