The COVID pandemic has changed so much for so many lives, mine included. Deciding to use the gift of discretionary time to full advantage I set out to do something I’ve always wanted to do – experiment with building tube microphones! (Let me be clear that I am hardly an expert on tube circuit design so please be gentle if there are any inaccuracies below.)
For a number of reasons, and fueled by our success in building four extremely musical and often used Neumann U87 clones in 2015 (read that article here), I chose this time to build a pair of U47 type mics. I am fortunate enough to own many great microphones, including 2 Telefunken U47’s (more on those in a minute) but was lacking a set of mics with what I fondly think of as “47-ness,” the warmth, open bottom end; silky smooth extended highs, and a notable proximity effect boosting lows without an inherent compression signature. (more…)