There really is very little reason not to want to get your hands on the WA-47. Above all else, Warm Audio capsules came from the desire to give customers far more quality/value than what they are used to getting in an affordable microphone. Not all the changes were bad, though. Warm Audio’s new mic is claimed to offer the sound of an original Neumann U87 at a fraction of the price. And the U47 FET doesn’t sound at all like it’s older sibling either, often being used for kick drums, bass guitars and various other low-end duties. Brass capsule mics can be incredibly expensive. Warm Audio products belong to the most interesting ones for our customers.

One is that the transformer perhaps doesn’t always have as much influence on the sound of a microphone as it is sometimes credited with; at any rate, the transformerless U77 sounded more similar to the original U87 than either the re-skinned U87 or the WA‑87 did. It's a fantastic all-purpose studio microphone for advanced setups. Warm Audio are hardly the first to copy the one-inch, centre-terminated, dual-backplate capsule Neumann developed for the U67 and related microphones: the design has been a staple of Far Eastern mic manufacture ever since companies like Rode first brought affordable capacitor mics to market in the ’90s. It is based on the original brass capsule 414, not the later 414s. Forget musical typing and hit the right notes – without spending all your banknotes. Do You Need a Compressor for Your Home Studio? It too is made in China, but under the important-sounding Germanic brand name of Lens Kondensator, and it apparently features a diaphragm made from “new old stock Japanese mylar”. There is plenty of demand for original U87s, to the point where second-hand prices are noticeably higher than those commanded by the current U87Ai version. Like the C414, the WA-14 allows you to switch between polar patterns. As it comes to the shock mount, if you’ve ever owned a C414 then you’ve probably used AKG’s signature shock mount. Although slightly warmer, the frequency response is overall very similar to the C414 EB. The WA-14 indeed succeeds at achieving many of the sonic qualities of the C414 EB while sounding great at its price. PreSonus Eris E5 - Over 23 years in the audio hardware and software industry, Presonus has not disappointed in the competitive market for studio monitors. Tony knows his stuff, and takes his drum recording techniques very seriously. Click to learn more about Warm Audio On the front of the microphone, are two switches, one allowing you to switch between polar patterns and a pre-attenuation switch for lowering your input level (we’ll get more into this later). Brass capsule mics can be incredibly expensive. Warm Audio WA-14 Condenser Microphone. It also introduces semi-normalled patching, built-in effects and aion talents. We researched dozens of studio monitors and weighed all the pros and cons. For example, you can pair up the WA-14’s figure-8 pattern with a cardioid microphone for stereo mid-side recording or capture the sound of an entire room with its omnidirectional pattern. All of these comparisons were subjective rather than scientific, but they suggest a couple of interesting conclusions. We spent countless hours trying to get even closer to the sound of the vintage version than we had with the WA-87, so the new WA-87 R2 uses top-quality components like a NOS Fairchild transistor and high-bandwidth polystyrene and film capacitors from Wima. I'd do that. Mike Hillier feels a chill coming. The mic is relatively easy to work on and all components are available as spare parts, but they are not cheap, so buying a broken one in order to have it fixed up is not always an economic alternative.

The original U87 was designed as a studio all-rounder, and even though the WA‑87 might not always sound exactly the same, it can certainly fulfil the same role. Hopefully some people will chime in with their experiences, but I just stumbled across this review in the current issue of TapeOp: The wa14 is a nice all rounder mic and great for stereo mixing.

Could Warm Audio perhaps be reimagining both the classic U47 valve microphone and it’s younger sibling the U47 FET? Warm Audio WA-14 Condenser Microphone. Are those qualities just the result of ageing, or are there still aspects of Neumann’s own manufacturing process that no-one has yet successfully replicated? Available in 1x2, 2x2 and 4x4 configurations. The contents of this article are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Everything about the WA‑87’s marketing demands that it be judged primarily on how well it mimics the Neumann U87. I'm looking for something more full-frequency and suited for general use than my stock Oktava MK319. AKG learned from feedback over the years, culminating in their most recent C414, the. With that said I’ve been using my WA-14 as an overhead a bit recently and have been happy with the results.

The WA-14 particularly shines on overhead drums, acoustic guitars and other sounds with a lot of punch and high-end presence. Every capsule is also made with all brass parts (no teflon or other cost saving material), and is carefully skinned from the same supply of high purity NOS Mylar (PET film). Hey everyone! But when you hear their boutique circuitry in action, the last thing you'll think about is what an amazing deal you got. For situations where phantom power wasn’t available, the pre-1986 version of the U87 had a battery compartment.

Some feel that in making these modifications, Neumann compromised the sound of the original U87, and there are those who say that the Ai version is slightly harsh or brittle in comparison. On the microphone front, they have released the WA-47, WA-87 and WA-14 (modern reproductions of the classic Neumann U47, U87, and AKG C414), among others.