That Red Type B Vintage Microphone

[@?,*???&?]

For those of you who don't know, I entered that Red Vintage Microphone contest back in December and was notified early in January that I had won the mic. To which I replied, "Holy crap!!!" I have never won a drawing of this magnitude at any point in my life. A $900 mic? Get real.

So it arrived yesterday. Huge box. Lotsa packing material. Inside, one little box with the capsule and a larger box containing the mic, the cable and the clip. Boxes are not unlike cigar boxes.

The clip is smart. Clamp style mount around the shaft of the mic. Like a large office paper clamp.

The capsule ships with these 3 screws inserted at the sides, I'd guess to isolate the capsule and keep it from being jarred during shipping- although there is no documentation to corroborate this. The screws are labeled to be removed before use.

I set the mic up and did some vocal tests. I used to work in radio and always loved a Sennheiser 421 with the right compression and processing on the stereo signal. I was surprised that this mic has the great 'zipper' character that great signal processing can bring out. This mic has a great tonal texture for voice. It reminded me of an Elam 251 or somewhat like a beefier Manley mic. The mic shipped with the standard Red Capsule, although there are 9 others available. I was a huge fan of our three Neumann CMV 563s at Master Control and used them on everything I could. We had the M7, M8, M9 and M55K capsules for our mics. I look forward to picking up the M7 capsule for this Red Type B.

The incredible ruggedness of this mic in ones hand was impressive out-of-the-box. This is considerably heavier than a Neumann CMV 563. The construction is modern. The mic feels like it sounds. This is not a dainty mic, but resonates with a masculine character. The vocal zip, grit, clarity and high-end boost are all very, very sincere.

Something I noticed in putting it up against a few other cheap condensors I have is the body of the 'plosive content from a popping 'p'. Cheap condensors are very susceptible to the plosive. Heavy, bassy, dumb and slow with a considerable thump that seems to last an eternity. This Red capsule negates all of those effects heavily. Barely noticeable without a pop filter. That said, the popping one does hear is almost musical. Short, tight and quick. It pops and it is done very quickly. Not like the cheap condensors where the popping 'p's are so much more in evidence. The cheap condensors heard against this were the Shure KSM27, the MXL 2001 and the Audio Technica 3035.

I did bother to try 5 different mic cables with this mic. A Planet Waves, a Mogami Quad, a Zaolla, a ProCo and the Cranberry cable this mic shipped with.

The general perception was:

Planet Waves, had most bottom end, but was soft in the low-end. High-end felt good, but the mid-range clarity was unspectacular. Sounded sort of modern, but not flat. Would be okay if you weren't paying attention.

Mogami, very even tonally. Bottom end very tight. High-end felt good. Overall, most 'rock and roll' sounding. Probably the best match for this mic.

Zaolla, not the best match for this mic. This cable accentuates the high-end and while it was exceptionally clear, the frequency contour seemed to detract from the low-end this mic offers.

The ProCo cable did not sound bad, but was the most 'gray' of the bunch. Very normal sounding. Tonally even, but not spectacular.

The Cranberry was most like the Mogami except with less bottom and a slightly higher frequency accentuation. Better high-mids.

I look forward to using this mic on a plethora of things. With no pad, I am skeptical as to what it will withstand with regard to a loud vocalist, but that said, if it negates plosives as it does, it should be an extremely sturdy apparatus and ready to withstand whatever is in front of it.

Hearing will be believing.

First impression, "Holy crap!"

www.vintagemicrophone.com

[Professor]

Congrats Jeff. I still think it's cool you won the mic - even though I was one of the 4000 people that didn't. But seeing your name & photo on the e-mail last month at least reassured me that the contest really was legit. And hell, once upon a time I won $8000 worth of Soundcraft 324-digital console & accessories in a magazine contest so I know how cool it feels when the delivery truck comes around.
And indeed, thanks for the initial reactions to the mic.
Have you popped it open to check out the circuit design yet? Is there a transformer in there? Surface-mount parts? ICs or discrete transistors?

It's a real tempting mic since it is configured to accept the standard bayonet capsules which I think means it would be a solid-state foundation for all those old CMV-563 capsules, and at a considerably better price than the Blue Bottle or a vintage Neumann.

Let us know how it works on instruments as you start using it. I trust it will be included in next week's microphone seminar?

-Jeremy

[seaneldon]

lucky bastard. that mic is so cool. i'm hoping people are dumb and hate them and sell them on ebay for cheap. that's when i'll jump on one.

[joel hamilton]

I have a bunch of capsules for my CMV563's... I have been looking very closely at the RED for exactly the reason Jeremy stated... A solid state "home" for the M7, M8...etc...

I love the Mouse, so if the amplifier parts are even close, WITH an M7 on top.... could be great.

congrats, Jeff!

[bounce]

Thanks, Jeff, that review pretty much sums up most of my perception of the Red mic as well. I've had one for about 2 weeks. I used to own a pair of Mouse mics and really liked them a lot (sold to fund some other upgrades). If my memory serves me correctly, this Red mic with the lollipop capsule reminds me of the Mouse in the way that it has a dry but dimensional, present, personal feel to it with a nice sturdy low-mid, low end girth and clear top end. I'm really digging the mic. The B7 (U47) capsule is backordered 3 months and the B0 (251) cap 1 month. I can't wait to get both of those caps to try

This mic seems very. very well built from the outside. All of my past Blue mics were works of art really.

[Jim_Boulter]

Congrats Jeff. I still think it's cool you won the mic - even though I was one of the 4000 people that didn't. But seeing your name & photo on the e-mail last month at least reassured me that the contest really was legit.

Not only did this just legitimize it, but you also just paid their expenses there. Word of mough advertising is the best! Would have been wasted on me, as I wouldn't have been able to a/b it in the ways you did. Thanks!

Congrats!

From another of the 4000.

Jim

[@?,*???&?]

Congrats Jeff. I still think it's cool you won the mic - even though I was one of the 4000 people that didn't.

There were actually 6,000 entries and 5 winners.

[Stephen B.]

Weird, I actually know one of the other folks who won. The Stephen Hudson fella. Right town, right first name; does that mean I almost won?

[Coco]

Congrats on your win! I only seem to win parking tickets. There was a review of these in a recent Tapeop, #50 I think. The solid state version got a better review than the tube based model (Type A??). A class A solidstate body with the B7 capsule could be very cool. I wonder which capsule the Mouse uses so I could avoid buying a mic that might sound very similar.