A couple of years ago, I was asked if I could provide a replacement power supply for one of the Warm Audio tube microphones. I honestly don't remember all of the details; but I believe that the customer lost his supply and that the company (at the time, at least) was not able to offer support on selling them a replacement supply. I'm sure that was probably just a temporary stock issue.
I was unable to help them at the time, and I've gotten the same request on a couple of other occasions. The thought stayed in the back of my mind as something we should eventually offer, just really as a customer service, for those in need of one. There are a few aftermarket cheap/Asian PSU's which can be adapted to work with the WA-251 if one is handy with a soldering iron; but that's not really what we are about. I felt like, if it was going to be done, it needed to be done right and from the ground up.
About a year or so ago, I started on this road and had Avel Lindberg make me a custom wound, potted toroidal PSU with goss band (shield), and I did get those in a few months back. They absolutely run circles around the cheaper Asian linear transformer, and are absolutely silent. Of course, we already have available the custom made discrete regulators we use to modify the H+ section of the WA supplies currently, and were able to make use of that. Re-designing the PSU board allowed us to address some concerns we had with the original design, including adding a bleeder circuit to both the H+ and B+ supplies, ensuring a safe and proper discharge of all capacitors over time, no matter what order the system is disconnected and powered off. Among the things we did was to just upgrade the quality of every component across the board from end to end, and to split the board into two ground planes, allowing us to have a completely separate heater supply and B+ supply, with each supply grounded separately. We also were able to install a larger heatsink which mounts much more securely to the PCB (opposed to floating), which makes the board much more ruggedized and able to withstand rough shipping or touring abuse.
Silver teflon wire was used throughout and wire lengths were kept short and tidy, and as much was point-to-point wired as we could do. We use a very heavy duty insulated Grayhill switch for pattern select, and very reliable XLR connectors for the i/o.
The PSU is available configured for either the WA-47 or WA-251 at this time, and each one comes with a 20ft Sommer 7 pin cable configured for the mic chosen, and a 20ft Gotham 3 pin XLR cable.
These are made to order, not stocked on the shelf, and are really just available as a customer service for those who either lost their supply or need a legitimate spare for travel use or as an insurance policy. I would venture to guess that they are a sonic upgrade to the stock supply; though I'm not sure they would be a sonic upgrade to the stock supply once we have given it our upgrade mod treatment (which of course, if you are reading this, I would hope you have done!). That would be kind of splitting hairs by that point. But for those who need this, I hope it is a welcome addition to our current offerings.
This just goes to show... I do take suggestions and requests to heart! It may take me 5 years to get around to it; but I do listen! hehe Carry on!
CK