STAM SA-2A vs WARM WA-2A - Comparison and Review

[@donniecastleman5701]

The lady has a very pleasant voice to do the comparisons! Thanks to all of you for putting this together!

[@alexoldroyd770]

Wow. Thanks so much for putting this video together. I'm really impressed by the Warm here. I've been very close to getting a Stam for years - but this has made me reconsider a huge amount.

[@ignacedhont9816]

To each their own - I like the STAM better.

[@martinjohnbutler]

What a great video, so well done and helpful. The differences are subtle, but really interesting, thanks for doing this. They're all really good.

[@TheMottsAustin]

I love that YOU did this. This is the exact question I had. I tell everybody about your channel. Thanks for doing what you do.

[@alexoldroyd770]

1:35 no compression 1:53 Warm 2:11 Stam 2:29 Tele 2:54 none 3:25 warm 3:57 stam 4:29 tele

[@analizandocantantes]

Thanx so much bro 😎

[@blazersaint144]

love this singer ! The Tele 2a has this super dominant warm but tight midrange sheen it imparts that reigns in vocal anomalies and forces them into its smooth color. The WA 2a does its own take but it is not as tight, and more fat broad sounding but still nice. The Stam sounded more transparent, clear and digital like so if your vocal track is perfect and you need no color to help it I guess it would work but that is rare in my world lol.I wonder what the Warm would sound like with the Black Lion cell mod ?

[@POGFROGULPOP]

Good to see an objective comparison, not overly biased. Well done, appreciate the review.

[@SirRodney4Ever]

I see stam has the sa2a+ now. Can’t wait to hear a updated shootout

[@jeffkung5088]

Warm sounded pretty true. The Stam got a bit too sibilant for me. Love to see the settings tho

[@iam607]

Exactly!!! Them SsSsS ain't cool

[@Tim_ArtistName_Tallent]

Agreed. I Thought it was just me.

[@davemossband]

can we have with male vocal and also acc guitar

[@CowSkullStudio]

can anyone tell me where this pre-emphasis knob is inside the stam2a? i can't seem to be able to find it.

[@thomasleahy7922]

Well..can't sell my UA la2a yet...thanks for verifying what I suspected.

[@jameswest6410]

Love the price of the two clones....La2a just isn't worth 4 times the cost for maybe a 5% better sound which is going to get list in the mix anyway.

[@nitrixrules]

Excellent review. Very balanced and respectful. Thank you. I've not tried the STAM but found the Warm did not respond well when driven hard. At moderate input levels it was OK. I'm reading more about STAM and they seem to use high quality components throughout. There doesn't seem to be the use of cheap components in areas where they think people won't notice.

[@MrMiskut]

Great freakin review man!!! 💯💯 Finally someone does a proper review

[@FVDaudio]

The Warm like the name suggest sounds like a "soft highs roll-off" at the "same settings" compared with anothers 2A's. Maybe with a few movements results sounds more similar. But is interesting a powerful timbre/tone too.

[@symph1744]

There's a reason why the original is so legendary. The greatest voices ever recorded made and make much use of this unit for good reasons. Teletronix has the most rooted tone of all, its just one of those things you're not willing to compromise on when you're in the professional field. Nonetheless,consider the other ones great tribute gear at a nice price.

[@jessetimmmiller1870]

I love your videos, bro. Thanks for all you do.

[@Jon_Tate]

Great video! I myself have been curious to some of the products Warm Audio has been putting out and it also seems that the Stam Audio products do a fine job as well with out breaking the bank

[@aarona.dubzperson8245]

Belt Fed Studios The Warm Audio Tone Beast mic preamp is thee absolute BOMB!!!! I've even heard some call it "the Avalon killer"!!! I own it, and it is WONDERFUL!!!! AMAZING!!!

[@CurtisGabrielMusic]

I certainly don't hear any one of them being better, just differences. I think I preferred the Stam Audio on the vocals and guitar, but I preferred the Teletronix on the bass guitar. What's interesting though is I really liked the Warm Audio on all of them, I felt like I could get more use out of it maybe. Very interesting. Great video.

[@ignacedhont9816]

I guess you like bass frequencies ;)

[@ArmandoPeraltaOfficial]

WHy didnt you show the settings ??? on each one

[@kevindarrah1969]

Definitely the Warm Audio.... The sibilance on the Stam is too much for me. Like a pin in the ear drum after a while. With the Stam the sibilance is so strong that at 3:21 the Warm controls it better then the Stam at 3:52 for an example. At 4:24 the LA-2A controls it nicely, and of the 3 I would prefer the LA-2A, WA-2A and then the SA-2A in that order. Listening is however subjective and there is no right answer here, only stating what I prefer for my own ears.

[@ottomanmuzic5744]

I listened and stam sounded exactly like the vintage.

[@BeauStephensonVoiceActor]

Fantastic video. Thanks to you and a good friend of mine, I've just preordered my Stam box!

[@kennethbernard1723]

BEST gear review ever!!

[@DDPAV]

Now with the current Stam version running almost $1,700 when in stock, makes the those that picked up it years ago lucky and rules out those looking in the Warm budget range. A Wa-2A comparison with the Golden Age 2A would probably be a good current video.

[@lightafluident.9950]

To hell with Stam Audio, Little Labs has an optical compressor thats cheaper, and it sounds better to me. LL2A from Little Labs!!!

[@joshuastam7704]

@@lightafluident.9950 Thanks man!

[@geoffreymerrifield5666]

@@joshuastam7704 Stam Gear is my favorite. When I buy Stam gear, I feel confident that I am getting the best at exceptional prices considering how close they are to the original gear. Just wish I would have discovered Stam years ago!! But I am thrilled with my Stam SSL type bus comp, 2 SA-76's (1176) and soon to arrive SA-47 MK 3.

[@Salantsoundstudios]

Great video as always josh!

[@BarryJohns]

Seems like you are in the Stam Audio Camp, which I have no problem with, but your comments do not match what I heard in my studio. The Stam seemed muffeled the WA seemed closer to the real LA-2A.

[@joshuastam7704]

Run a frequency response on the files, the Stam is actually brighter, this is a custom unit. You might have a problem at your studio buddy!

[@radio22king]

Great Video! I agree that these kill any plug ins. If it were not for the convenience and recall of plug ins, how many people would get behind plug ins. I liked the WARM by far. As far as the high end goes, I've never not had to make some kind of an adjustment. Also, the comment about the Stam letting more transients through; if this was the only compressor one owned than I guess you would have to make that decision of which one to get but I have several different ones that sound totally appropriate on certain material and then not at all appropriate on other material. One last point.If the ultimate goal is to get a compressor sounding exactly like the UA LA 2A.....Then that is the one to get. But if you want a great sounding compressor, then either will work fine depending on the differences that were brought out in this test. I prefer the Warm as I could hear the Stam working and I like a more subtile less obvious compressor. Again, great Job!

[@jonathantaylor5020]

Can u do a review on the klark teknik 2a opto compressor? I'd love to get a wa 2a, but cant afford it.. Thank U

[@yaadiiboy9429]

any one compared the warm audio wa 2a to the audio scape Opto comp? trying to decide which one I should get

[@The_Absurdistt]

Nice vid... Stam appear to have nice products, I'm thinking of ordering an sa2a and sa76. one thing to mention is the relatively high additional shipping cost of the Stam products. With that being said, Sweetwater shipping is free with no tax in all States except Indiana I believe, please correct me if I'm misinformed. cheers.

[@geoffreymerrifield5666]

Stam Audio is the best re-designing gear maker by far imho.

[@VincentKearney1967]

Damn bro ! You made it hard to pick one , there awesome !! Thanks for the video

[@MikeG-js1jt]

is that the wa47 mic?

[@devinbuchhorn]

Would be awesome to see the VU meters also! Great video!

[@rudolfwormstall1196]

Great comparison, thank you so much!. Personally I felt that the Stam also had some real deficits. Some of the higher frequency notes receives too much attenuation. This extended to a point where I though that the frequency range of the device was impaired. As consequence, those over-attenuated notes appeared veiled, hence less audible, less clear.

[@ndavies8]

True Warm Audio sounded more musical

[@joshuastam7704]

Just to clarify, this SA-2A was custom made for Greg Wells with extra top end per his request. The standard Stam SA-2A does not have more top end than a LA-2A.

[@ndavies8]

@@joshuastam7704 This is true

[@rickybrenay6249]

Is this the new version of SA2A? I have the older one.

[@joshuastam7704]

It is the new one Upgrade info can be found at www.stamaudio.com on how to change the transformers Thanks!

[@KingSoundLab]

You guys ever contemplate doing a Pre/Compressor combo?

[@joshuastam7704]

I will defintely be making a channel strip at one point!

[@jongriffin2608]

Warm performs really well on softer passages, very comparable to LA2A, but not so well when driven. The Stam sounded rather hard on soft passages, but much better driven. The LA2A sounded consistently good throughout-thats the money!

[@diavimusic4523]

that's exactly what I was hearing...unfortunately - I REALLY wanna save some cash and wish i couldn't hear the difference. :D

[@tracyeaves4847]

Both units on the word "Here" is strident sibilance occurring. Pretty obvious. Maybe notch out or the microphone capsule causing this.

[@brianpsionic4089]

These are quite close. I feel like I like the Warm lacks some of the depth that both the SA and Teletronix have, its almost like the Warm "smears" the tone a tiny bit. Yeah the SA-2a does have a sibilance issue where it becomes aurally fatiguing, but if that was remedied it would sound extremely close to the Teletronix. If I couldnt wait for Stam, and cant afford the real thing, Id prob get the Klarkteknic KT-2A, they sound very similar to Warm and are way lower in $$$.

[@FVDaudio]

With the same parameters and same level of incoming signal: Teletronix (original signature "modern" sound), Warm (neo standard with certain nice saturation) Stam overcompress... maybe with another setting matching the sounds of others in this example.

[@ajafterparty]

so since you did the unbiased objective review i will do the biased one hehe. You forgot to mention the knobs.., the stam SA-2A has very nice high quality authentic knobs including a chicken head style knob for the gain reduction/output knob, the warm audio has cheap plastic knobs. SA-2A has a very smooth and transparent compression, I have sometimes been doing 10db of gain reduction on a dynamic vocal without realizing it, the warm audio one starts breaking up around 6db of gain reduction. Overall i say the Stam is a respectable clone which sounds better to my ears than even the real LA-2A because of the slight brightness in tone (i produce a lot of pop vocals), the WA-2A seems like a knock off trying to capitalize on the familiarity of the LA-2A but cant stand up to real high end audio due to its budget cuts. Warm has a good idea but they need to step up their sound quality, everything i have heard by them sounds thin in comparison to what they're "cloning". Thank you for making this video, it was very well done!

[@ottomanmuzic5744]

I thought i was the only one. To my ears Stam sounds better than vintage.

[@uzefulidiot]

Yikes, the Stam sounded and felt better on each source than the Universal Audio. Love what Warm is doing but unfortunately this particular one I don't think is quite there for the price being asked, maybe if it was significantly cheaper, but at this price point the Stam and Audio Scape appear to be far superior and IMO competing quite favorably with the $3.5k reissue which is nuts. Same story with their SSL comps.

[@andym7333]

show me the comp gr

[@thebeatworksinc7153]

Warm sounds just like the Tele but a bit thinner in the hi end?!? Stam actually sounds more modern and I would consider it better until the sibilance enters. Gonna listen to the Warm vs Klark now.

[@meeperville]

In price comparison you forgot to mention the $120+ shipping from Chili to get a Stam unit while the Warm Audio model is free shipping from Sweetwater in USA. If you need warranty work by Stam prepare for a $250 round trip to Chili and a long wait for your return. I had high hopes for Stam but won't be going back after almost $400 in shipping charges.

[@keepmovinent7679]

damn thats a new pro vla 2

[@caffeinastudio832]

dang that Stam SA-2A really sounds good, not that the Warm sounds bad but to my ear the Stam just added a smoother tone

[@jasonperno8126]

Any one of these will get you there. If you believe spending 3k on a compressor is worth the extra money, that is up to you. But the better I get at mixing and recording, the less I depend on the more expensive gear. If you can't make it work with the STAM or WARM audio, then you need to work on your craft as an engineer. Nothing should stop you from putting out a hit record using any of these devices.

[@jvonnjvonn4688]

I agree with u I brought so much stuff tryna get a radio sound my ears are still fresh I tried to buy everything I seen on KZbin 😔 still til this day I'm doing It now I'm chasing Neve stuff smh.when will I learn

[@UpliftedProductions]

A little off topic but the female artist that's singing in this video sounds like Roberta Flack. She has her tonality and her pronunciation of certain words reminds me of her.

[@tyrone05]

Stam is a killer on vocals in this demonstation. I liked better the the actual LA2A

[@davidcummins3005]

Really nice singing

[@mixedbygip8938]

What microphone is that. I like the sound of it?

[@RealJoey600]

Looks like a u47

[@MS1Music]

Question ? - listening through headphones on youtube upload means grain of salt i know,....but my question to you having both units is this,.... it's clear the Stam has more presence which also make it sound like there may be some mid information missing because of it. So my question Is acknowledge the Stam has more presence, is there the same mid, lower mid and bottom eq information on the Stam as the Warm or is some of that info subtly missing compared to the warm ?

[@garyshirinian]

Thx for sharing, Great comparison. Both are great in their own way, like you mentioned. Buying both your still ahead of the game comparison to the original price tag. Thx again. I wonder Golden Age LA2A would be in this circle. I hear they are quite nice. Never tried it . You will have better information on that.

[@JulesdeGasperis]

what is this vocal mic positioning? :DD

[@tomlebeau7921]

It's genius.

[@xXxAmadeuzxXx]

shootout the audioscape la2a. That compressor sounds freaking awesome.

[@antoinesmith3374]

The Audio-Scape sounds amazing and is super flexible with the frequency knob up front...

[@sebaslap]

Yes, I would love to hear a shootout between these.

[@aarona.dubzperson8245]

Antoine Smith Getting one in November!!!

[@cjwallgor]

recently got mine.... it fkn KILLS. i've used the warm, the stam and an original (years back) the AudioScape is heads and tails above the competition; it's not even FUNNY.

[@tyrone05]

i actually like the warm audio on bass better than both the stam and and the Teletronix. But stam and Teletronics kill on the vocals

[@guidopellegrino6029]

What you are not telling people is that stam suck in delevery time .. they always late for delevery

[@laurelprod3808]

amazing to do this !! I dont know if any one have a preference for le warm 2A in vocals, for me is better than stam

[@lekstars]

Is the teletronix a reissue or vintage one? Also are you compressing the vocal separately (sounded like guitar might be compressed too)

[@leonardtristan6873]

Thanks now I know I gotta get the UA

[@muhammadalishahid8660]

Please help me .. (I have a tough choice difficulty) which of these purchases a headphone for mixing & mastering .. KNS 6400 OR Sennheiser hd 280 pro .???

[@aarona.dubzperson8245]

Muhammad Ali Shahid Sennheiser!!!

[@DRMusicRecordings]

STAM AUDIO!!

[@andy80sdrums]

Stam sounds colder to my ears and shrill. Warm and Teletronix are nice but the gain is a bit off on the Warm and slightly louder on the real thing. Overall Warm works best given the budget

[@muhammadalishahid8660]

also Your pop edm production series is awesome ..

[@mixedbygip8938]

The Warm Audio is closet to the teletronix they both sound very smooth and warm. The Stam sound a little brighter on the top end but they all sound great if you ask me.

[@BeauStephensonVoiceActor]

If you drive a hot signal through WA-2A, that's when you hear the real difference. Here, it's hardly different, but with more extreme signals, the Stam is WAY better.

[@keepmovinent7679]

@@BeauStephensonVoiceActor warm audio sounds better !

[@BeauStephensonVoiceActor]

@@keepmovinent7679 It really doesn't.

[@tiekumark]

Both sound great but the Stam unit is sweeter to my ears

[@MMSMUZIK]

Except it take's 10 years to get a Stam product, lol

[@markesquivelarvizu6942]

Yes....but worth the wait!

[@saulolealvideos]

Stam atua de maneira mais perceptível, mas de maneira muito musical. Achei o Warm com som de plugin.

[@AngryMuffinMusic]

Warm is a smoother, more La2A type sound. The Stam, to me, has too much sibilance and HF in general. La2as are supposed to be like silk.....prefer the Warm. If you want air grab a high quality EQ and boost 12khz slightly, but an LA2A comp shouldnt add that.

[@richiefamus8778]

Joseph Borg No way. Had the Warm version and sold if after getting the Stam. It wasn't even close. Stam was much creamier. And between the units that I had, the Warm was the brighter of the 2. Warm wasn't horrible, but it just didn't put that mojo on vocals the way the Stam did.

[@jyun7360]

Agree!

[@evenform]

Dead on! the Stam was harsh even on my phone...

[@BeauStephensonVoiceActor]

The Warm box gets away with things until you actually have to push the box hard. And it's not even speculation. Open up a Warm box and the circuit will make you want to cry, it's missing so much.

[@joshuastam7704]

@@evenform This is a special unit I made for Greg Wells who requested more high end, the standard unit is darker like the original LA2A.

[@jyun7360]

I agree that SA has a brighter tone than WARM but to my ears, the WARM's is more closed to the origin, maybe because it's been compressed after uploading the video.

[@sebaslap]

Thanks for making this. Are you making a review of the SA76 anytime soon? I'm very curious about it,

[@joshuastam7704]

I will be sending some SA76 for reviews soon! Thanks for your interest

[@sebaslap]

Awesome, thank you so much! I have the UA and Warm Audio in the studio, let me know if you need some help with the shootouts. I'm a huge fan of your products.

[@joshuastam7704]

Yes sir, contact me via email, I will gladly seen you one for a shootout!

[@imaginabrazil7238]

STAM's Order Page and/or Shopping Cart needs to show Shipping Charges! It's bogus that they want me to put a PayPal Deposit down without ever revealing the additional Shipping Charge.

[@joshuastam7704]

Shipping prices are on the website.

[@jabbarindabenz]

Great video

[@NaceK84]

Y OK... Let's be honest and say that price represents quality here.. Let's be very generous with the Stam and say, that it's like, 1/3 of the sound of the original.. BUT THAT WARM AUDIO SOUNDS LIKE A DAMN PLUGIN, where is the tube and transformer sound!?!??! I 've watched almost every video with the WA-2A and it's always the same, so uninspiring, so dull, so non-3 dimensional.. It's like it's not even hardware.. I think it ruins every source.. I mean, I wanted to like it, I really tried to like it, but guess what. N O T .

[@richiefamus8778]

Nace Kon Um....No. The Stam also has a video shoot out vs a vintage LA2A and it most certainly didn't sound "1/3" of the sound. In fact, it was arguably better. Go check it out for yourself.

[@QuangNguyen-nb1ce]

well judge , you are hearing a triple compressed sound and of course everything sounds crap even the LA-2A

[@Unresolver]

stam sounds the best (with vocal samples)

[@kevindarrah1969]

Too much sibilance

[@seenbelow]

@@kevindarrah1969 Not a lot more than on the Teletronix. I'm kind of torn between the two, I liked Stam more on vocals and Warm on bass...

[@ty-tc4fr]

nice video!! from Japan

[@christopherdunn317]

5:00 5:27 5:55 6:24

[@teamkronic7208]

TELETRONIX-> STAM-> WARM… all good but nothing beats the original

[@AntonioLausin]

The best tletronix so far!!!

[@japroductions6583]

Great video!! I just got the warm wa-2a and la-610 mk with Apollo twin interface but can’t figure out how to connect all with my DAW

[@muhammadalishahid8660]

u r a rock sir ...

[@andivax]

stam on vocals sounds really overcompressed ((

[@roland1313]

great review!

[@tokenfrenchman]

Great vocalist!

[@재밌는게좋아]

3:25 3:57

[@KS0stli]

On the vocal (at least) the teletronix sounds a bitter dryer... but alot more open. The others kind of suck the life out of the song, that is, sound (are??) overcompressed.

[@aleksamrkela831]

The Stam Audio one sounds so much better it's not even funny!

[@larrysentelle1244]

Both the WARM and the STAM clone are 2U, the original is 3U, this says something because, Teletronix didn't use 3U's just for looks. Truth is, there are differences in the caps, the power supply, the tubes, and I'm sure many other places...Open up a Teletronix LA2A, put it beside the open WARM and STAM, and it is easy to see why you're better off saving your money for the real thing. The WARM didn't sounds decent on Bass, and the STAM adds a little air if, you're looking for that but, for vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, drum buss, bass if, given the choice between these 3 comps, I'd choose the Teletronix every time.

[@roberthoward7484]

Warm Audio ..bang for buck preference. Sounded similar to the La2a. Plus the Stam Unit has been modded so this an unfair comparison!

[@lucasherculanorocha]

Stam WINS !!! Brasil likes !!!

[@ottomanmuzic5744]

Both clones falls a bit short but stam comes close.. Original sounds sligtht more 3D

[@EpicWinz]

Klark Teknik knocking out KT-2A for $600 less than the Warm... Granted, it’s Behringer but the quality is first rate.

[@badmonkeymusicproductions3569]

Is this even a contest? Stam - hands down.

[@Fox_is_Fox]

Stam ; something wrong with the high-end ! Hope they paid you for this buddy ;-) Warm : warm and polished ! Teletronix : nice too.

[@joshuastam7704]

This is the very same unit I sent to Greg Wells, he requested added sparkle on it, but yes, I am sure there is something wrong with the high end.

[@andivax]

STAM sounds harsh and overcompressed. Real deal is the winner but cost...

[@miquifaye]

the Wa -2a sounded Fuller and smooth. Stam and la 2a sound great . Warm feels like it will fit in the mix better without more processing.

[@jplaurendeau607]

damn I would take the stam over the teletronix.... sounds killer

[@bikesnbeerz]

STAM sounds most like the LA2A

[@benjamingord]

The Warm sounds anemic and flat compared to the other two

[@datamasked623]

Stam SA-2A has waaaaay more presence than the Teletronix and Warm. The Warm Audio is almost indistinguishable from the Teletronix...which, for $900, is pretty god damn amazing. The Stam doesn't sound bad...I should clarify that. But it's definitely much brighter.

[@joshuastam7704]

I should clarify that this particular SA-2A unit (on this video) had a 270pf polystyrene cap in parallel in C9 for a small high end boost as it was requested like that by a client. The normal production SA2A I make is slightly darker, closer to the vintage LA2A. The reaction to transients, compression and attack time and overall tone is the same as this video aside from that. Thanks!

[@sebaslap]

Please we need a shootout of the SA76. I just ordered an SA4000 and I'm thinking on ordering an SA76 but there's no place to hear samples of it online :(

[@underpressureman]

i dunno man, to me the teletronix and the warm sounded brighter and more present, I found the Stam kinda dull and boring! and on bass the stam was almost clicky and killing the transients more imo!

[@joshuastam7704]

It is actually the opposite, the Stam SA2A si the brightest in video due to the mod previously mentioned. It is not subjective nor a matter of taste. You can download the tracks and sweep them.

[@kierenmoore3236]

I preferred the Stam on vocals, but liked the Warm best on Bass (but I think that was because the Warm has a low-mids thing going on, that neither the LA-2A nor the Stam have). I'd choose the Stam. But I'd take the LA-2A over either, if I win the lotto ... ;) Great job, Joshua!