Vintage King Shootout: Vintage King Large Badge U47 Vs. Vintage Neumann Large Badge U47 Microphone

[@harukihakoyama1251]

It was such a joy to be able to contribute to this video and to hear these mics side by side in person! I have to say... the differences in most cases were so subtle and both microphones sounded incredible with my preference varying from source to source. Very cool mics, great stuff!

[@MiguelNoyola1]

Vintage for a reason. Great job on the mic the vintage bends a little better.

[@RoanMartin]

I think you guys nailed it...

[@ryanjamesmcguire]

Thank you! Agreed. There are a ton of replicas out there that are great tools at different price points but at the highest level only a couple that really pass the test of "within the realm of variation of a vintage U47" and we are confident we hit that range with this mic. Stick it in the middle of a sample of 3 vintage 47's in a blind test and it would not be decipherable as non-vintage imo. Allows one to focus on the sources and the music while saving $15k. :)

[@Kharrari]

Wish I could have one>

[@ianbarter3847]

the new one sounds darker and less vibrant harmonics in the mids, than the original, on EVERY clip

[@ryanjamesmcguire]

I agree and that's the difference in character between these two particular mics. My experience listening to hundreds of U47's over the years with capsules in all sorts of states from new replacements to borderline bad M7's to reskins to everything in between - there is something about the electronics/transformer/caps in a vintage body that regardless of the head adds more distortion/texture for better or worse and I tend to believe it's distortion caused by aging of components. Bias is high when the vintage example is known, but that's how it's realistic for us to portray videos. I have a feeling in a blind test the preferences between the two examples here would be really hard to decipher. "Good vs Bad" here is musically not really material in my opinon.

[@kevinbatchelor9566]

The VK design seems quite a bit cleaner in the first vocal example. The vintage has some more sizzle.

[@ryanjamesmcguire]

Agreed and I think in retrospect we should be more mindful of the singers position to the mic on each take. She is 1-3 inches closer to the vintage example during the first sample and that's adding some more proximity effect and drive into the 1073's which you are picking up on there. I think had we done a better job of keeping the vocalists distance to the mic consistent that the differences would have been fairly negligible. We learned from that and next time will work on keeping that proximity as close as possible. Thanks!

[@EandVEntertainment]

It sounds nice. A touch more open than the original. It's about as close as most high end replicas out there; Heisermann, FleA, Wunder, etc. Some of those are more affordable though.

[@ryanjamesmcguire]

Thanks for the feedback! I would say that having used all of those mics a bunch that they are all drastically different levels of "close to the original" if you could hear them side by side but solid values at their price point. Really the only 47 replica we have heard that is as close to the original as this VK Large Badge is Telefunken's which is excellent and similarly close. Cheers!

[@MariJu1ce]

For me sounds very close, the new one a little more open and snappier on the transients, also less saturated overall. Would love to see a shootout with the vocals inside some music. and vs Flea and TeleUSA

[@2grandbaby854]

Idk it’s early to say but I think the new one sounds better

[@ParadNorthProd]

New one is softer in the midrange. Most evident in the electric guitar example. But still close.