Sonic Testing of the Fethead Phantom - Sound Speeds

What can you do if your condenser microphone needs extra gain but you're at the end of your trim? Maybe you do have more gain to give it but your preamps get noisy when near max. What can you do? Triton Audio may have a solution for you with their Fethead Phantom. They claim the Fethead Phantom can give you 18db of clean gain to condenser microphones... but does it affect the quality of your sound? Let's test it! Sound Speeds!
Triton Audio sent me this Fethead Phantom to evaluate and review.
To learn more about their products, visit: tritonaudio.com...
The "Colors of Noise" video: • Colors of Noise - Soun...
Thank you to the voice talents of Mike DelGaudio, Erin McFarland, and Penny, Arwen & Eowyn Williams used in this video.
Note: During the section where all 3 frequency spectrums are displayed on screen for both the control and Fethead Phantom, the Fethead 85db spectrum is skewed 5 degrees off axis. I didn't realize the error until this video was live.
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[@thecliqueshallsetyoufree8745]

Sound Speed thanks for the video but you should change your headphones or monitors. Quite a big difference here , Fethead a lot warmer with the bottom rounded , also quite a diff. in noise floor as well.

[@SoundSpeeds]

thecliqueshallsetyoufree I'm not done with the Fethead. I stopped my eval of it during my product test and decided I needed to fix something to properly test. I'm nearly ready now to resume. As for the headphones, I use Sonarworks to flatten the response when I'm doing detailed listening.

[@Karibbean]

Not sure if he noticed but I heard more background with no phantom. And the fethead phantom scale shows it's compensating with the noise. But the no phantom scale shows it seems to be running away from the noise.

[@SoundSpeeds]

Slegna I'm not done testing Fethead products and just recently finished something that will help me with better tasting. I'll be revisiting this product soon with more and better testing along with a full review.

[@charlesvoiceover8968]

Hey Allen, love your channel and energy! Hey, is your bass voice in this test Mike Delgaudio? :)

[@zezesilver]

Charles Voice Over mind blown

[@SoundSpeeds]

Yessir. Mike's a friend of mine.

[@NewbArchitect]

lol i thought this too! i watch him too :P

[@gigarat]

A new gadget to add to my wish list. :D

[@SoundSpeeds]

I'll do a proper review of it soon. Watch for that.

[@leswright4108]

Works fine with dynamic mics too. Perhaps not as well as the original Fethead, which adds 27dB vs 18dB, but it works. Of course ribbon mics are a no-no!

[@SoundSpeeds]

True statement

[@aussernllc]

Thought about fethead, but Klark Teknik CT-1 was $37 shipped. Might be a fit for BM-8000 condenser mic.

[@SoundSpeeds]

It should do fine. Tell me what you think of it.

[@aussernllc]

@@SoundSpeeds Fethead Phantom is here. Plugged it in to the BM-8000, Neewer 48v phantom power supply, sounds excellent. Other mics required maximum gain from Audacity, BM-8000 setup is at 40% and it's perfect. No clipping, no noise. Fethead Phantom is worth buying for condenser mics.

[@SoundSpeeds]

Awesome. Glad you had a great experience. Thanks for following up.

[@RobertLinthicum]

Thank you thank you thank you.

[@SoundSpeeds]

More of the Fethead and Fethead Phantom soon.

[@EdoDijkgraaf]

I wonder, are preamps always identical? I can imagine that preamps cause differences with matched microphones.

[@SoundSpeeds]

They certainly can. If everything is functional and set correctly, they should be similar.

[@EdoDijkgraaf]

@@SoundSpeeds cheers! My new vocal booth will be ready this week. The only matched pair I own are a pair of Behringer C-2s. Not a very high end set to begin with but it tingles. But you inspired me to check if I can find that out myself. Great!

[@SoundSpeeds]

@@EdoDijkgraaf Let me know your findings

[@31emxof]

Moments ago, I received a Fethead Phantom (FP). I excitedly opened the package and observed that the insignia had fallen off of the device. Unfortunate, but no big deal. So, I added it into the chain on my portable system, consisting of a Zoom H5 recorder, Mogami Gold cable, and Sennheiser MKH416 microphone. I attached the FP to the mic end of the chain, and turned on my H5. I could not hear any signal from the mic, but picked up other unknown sounds. I boosted the pre-amp and realized I was listening to a radio interview with Broadway actors from The Book of Mormon on 94.9FM radio. As an experiment, I switched the FP to the pre-amp end of the cable. This removed the radio signal, but I still received nothing from the microphone. Continuing to experiment, I switched out mics to a Shure SM58, which I'd been told should function the same with either Classic or Phantom Fetheads. With this configuration, I did receive a boosted mic signal, but it also introduced strange coloring and a humming tone. So, I guess I'll be emailing Triton Audio...and I was so excited. :(

[@SoundSpeeds]

Whoa. That's... you didn't buy a "too good to be true" priced unit, did you? Like... brand new for $40 or something. The badge on mine feels like it's cemented on and as for the radio station... it sounds like it's ungrounded the ground from the shell and pin 2 isn't connected. Sorry dude... that's really terrible.

[@31emxof]

@@SoundSpeeds Hey, thanks for checkin' in! It's definitely a bummer, but at least it's not a crucial piece of equipment. I hope these aren't already being counterfeited! I also wouldn't be surprised if they were, but I got mine brand new from B&H. I reached out to Triton with the details to see if they would prefer I attempt an exchange with the retailer or work directly with them. I'll post a follow-up once it's resolved.

[@SoundSpeeds]

If you just bought it from B&H, I'd contact them first. Triton is located in the Netherlands and it may be difficult (and expensive) to exchange. I'd tell B&H that it's defective and the badge wasn't even attached when it arrived. Question... did it come in a little white tube with the FP in a little bag?

[@31emxof]

@@SoundSpeeds Yeah, good point, their location had crossed my mind. The best course would probably be to just hand-deliver it to them, myself. ;) Packaging was all as it should be, and I've actually seen a number of comments by folks receiving Fetheads with loose or detached insignia, so that didn't concern me too much. B&H is currently out for a few days for Rosh Hashanah, so I'll see what Triton says and probably be reaching out to B&H later next week.

[@SoundSpeeds]

Copy that! I'm interested to hear what they say and how they handle the situation. Please keep me informed!

[@franzdemesa5663]

SM7B - Fethead - XLR Cable - Fethead Phantom - Mixer(Saramonic Pax-2) - Sony A7III. Would this work?

[@SoundSpeeds]

Theoretically. I've never tried that combination personally but the signal flow checks based on technical requirements and limitations.

[@polarmx7890]

Can i use this with a Senheiser G3 ew100 plug on?

[@SoundSpeeds]

For what? The Fethead Phantom probably won't do what you're hoping it will if that's what you're asking

[@Magnulus76]

Probably not as useful as the regular Fethead but no doubt has its place, particularly with more gain-hungry microphones.

[@SoundSpeeds]

Gain hungry condensers, sure thing. You can also use one with a Fethead if you need more gain because you want an even lower noise floor on a cheap interface or recorder with high noise preamps.

[@Magnulus76]

@@SoundSpeeds It could be useful if you had a small diaphragm condenser, like the ones typically used on drums, and wanted to use it to record a quieter sound source.

[@SoundSpeeds]

Yes provided the impulse response is one you'd want to use.

[@leswright4108]

My one gain-hungry condenser is the Behringer C-3. This is a so-so budget mic that seems to be quite noisy in its own right, but the FetHead Phantom confers noticeable if modest improvement with my noisy preamp Tascam recorders. But there is nothing that says you can't use it with sensitive condensers too, and with my excellent AT2020 and very good Marantz MP1000 I can go from a very little noise to basically none. I know there is an active debate whether there is any point in using inline preamps with sensitive mics, but it seems to me that anything you can do to use less gain with a noisy recorder is a good thing. Also, the FetHead Phantom works fine with dynamic mics which basically do nothing with the 48V passed to them. I have a couple of budget dynamics (Behringer, Neewer) and I am gobsmacked by the clean results.

[@SoundSpeeds]

Pretty much true but if your gain goes too low with the noisy recorder and you have to gain it back up too much, it'll be noisier. Otherwise, yeah. You don't want to replace a better mic preamp with a Phantom.

[@NewbArchitect]

Hey allen, in looking at the dynamic fethead. Do you have a review on this? In wondering if the color and tone is similar from your tests on the fethead phantom. Btw, I think in going to hold off on the dbx...too much for my budget 😔

[@SoundSpeeds]

I've heard it drastically changes the tone but it sounds very similar to me. It changes the impedance a bit which does change the tone a bit but it's nothing to get upset about considering what the trade off is.

[@NewbArchitect]

@@SoundSpeeds thanks for the response. So I can't or shouldn't assume the dynamic will have the same coloration as the phantom you show in this test?

[@SoundSpeeds]

@@NewbArchitect It will be very similar to this test.

[@EoinOSullivan1]

I thought I heard more background noise on the control. Was the test recorded at the same time?

[@SoundSpeeds]

They were but I wasn't happy with the results of that test. As a matter of fact, I didn't do this as a product review because I felt that if I did the test differently, I'd get much more fair results. These results of my sonic test was accurate though which is where I left this test off. As of 2 hours ago I (finally) finished something that you'll see soon. Something that will yield very fair results in a ll of my acoustic tests and future product reviews. Stay tuned.

[@EoinOSullivan1]

Sound Speeds thanks 👍

[@HAJJ101]

In theory, if a person bought two fetheads, would that give 36db of clean gain now? Or it doesn’t work like that?

[@SoundSpeeds]

You'd think so but I think Curtis Judd did that and determined that it only gave a few extra dB if memory serves. I make have to try that.

[@HAJJ101]

@@SoundSpeeds Do you remember how much db specifically he got extra?

[@SoundSpeeds]

I don't but seem to remember it was only an extra few. Sorry. I'll do a test and release it soon.

[@HAJJ101]

@@SoundSpeeds Thanks so much!! Have a great one! This will be a unique video because I haven’t seen anyone do this

[@SoundSpeeds]

I'm sure someone has. It's probably buried inside another video like Curtis' was.

[@RobertLinthicum]

Wish I had more thumbs to put up!

[@SoundSpeeds]

Thank you!