Harv, why don't you make a guitar cover/music in this channel with your wa-84 and wa-47, I think that will really showcase the mic and your talents to the full extent. Cheers!
A nice review looking at the WA-47 and very helpful to me for hearing some things before making a decision amongst Warm Audio's large diaphragm condenser mics for a specific application. The power supply and the cable are extremely important to the stability of the circuitry of the microphone. The cable is really about two things. First, the isolation of the audio signal from the power lines running in parallel to it plus the rejection of nearby electrical and electromagnetic noise. Especially for studio work. Really low noise high isolation balanced audio line is not inexpensive although it doesn't need to be the way over-hyped consumer marketed stuff that is sold to those whose deposit accounts are held by Fort Knox. Canare quad is an outstanding example of really good studio grade audio cable. It is not inexpensive but it also does not have a Fort Knox price point. There is another equally good audio cable I'd use although Canare quad is what I use when I make my cables. A nearly 100% coverage braided shield preferably with a conductive rubber layer to eliminate flex noise is not inexpensive to produce. Quad signal conductors inside would be ideal, but a single twisted pair will be adequate to get to the power supply. Hopefully, the power supply is running really well filtered DC including the tube heaters (filaments) which is not truly necessary in some applications such as table radios, but is truly necessary in a tube mic. Any AC ripple on the heater supply will, because it is a high current supply, will bleed into the audio line adjacent to it no matter how well shielded it is. Zero noise is too much to ask with even the highest quality solid state rectifiers and filter capacitors in the tube supply. There is always semiconductor junction, capacitor, and resistor noise. The better the audio cable, the better the end result. Second, the gauge of the copper power conductors in the cable make a huge difference in the voltage stability of the circuitry in the microphone. Cheap cables use minuscule conductors. The tube requires a relatively high current for the heaters (filaments). A tiny gauge creates a resistance in the cable that creates a voltage drop between power supply and the vacuum tube. Not good for having the tube operate according to specification. A tiny gauge in the high voltage supply also creates a resistance in the cable that creates a voltage drop between the power supply and the vacuum tube. For the high voltage to be stable in the tube, the gauge needs to be large enough gauge (a lower number) to make the cable resistance nil compared to the tube resistance. Otherwise, the tube voltage will vary as the conductivity of the tube varies during signal amplification. The variation will correspond exactly to the signal amplitude. This is not good for linear amplification of the really tiny signal the tube is amplifying -- the amplification will be non-linear. There is a budget C-12 clone that comes with an insanely poor power supply and cable. I have one. It has good internal parts in the mic circuit board. It needs, and I built one, a far better power supply. It also needs a different and much higher quality cable -- I bought one for slightly less than $80 made by a well-known and reputable maker. The price point is obviously reached by including a total junk power supply and cable with it. I may put Neutrik ends on the mic/power cable at some point. Simply replacing the power supply and cable with a really high quality one improves that microphone enormously and is immediately noticeable to an audio engineer. A dramatic improvement. I will probably replace the capsule with a much improved C-12 style capsule, but that improvement, whilst important, is nowhere near as dramatic as changing the power supply and cable. My take on this is that whilst it may seem some hype for Warm Audio to tout the cable, it is a very good one and it is worth noting considering the really bad total junk cables and power supplies that are sold with budget oriented tube microphones. It is worth noting that Warm Audio did not sacrifice this part of the microphone build for getting to a good price point.
I've heard good and bad about this mic. Bad things are tube or circuit faults, bad power supplies, poor mic holder, clips being loose and barely holding the mic after short use. Resale variable. Unlike a neumann mic where the name holds its worth, but then we have to realise price difference. As for sound it is a bit sibilent on the top end and this will be increased once compression is added. De-essing can be done, but better if its not so sibilant to start with. For a bit more money there is the AKG 414 which is a good mic in the same ball park but much better build quality.
47 sounds better, the highs are pokey and sibilant on the 184 in a bad way to my ears. works great for certain things of course, I think Cannons uses one or a 185 or 183 for their vox. Very specific hifi sound.
@@HarvVideoAudioStuff Would also love a video on Heritage Audio i73 Pro One. It's pretty new on the market and I don't see many people talking about it. There are a few videos on RU-vid about it but nothing in depth. The neve 73 modeled amp inside of it really sparked people's interest. The only review from an actual consumer was posted on Thomann and It was a 1 star review for having problems with windows 11 compatibility. I think it's a pitty we don't have more reviews on it. Thank you for everything that you do here on the chanel!
@@HarvVideoAudioStuff it doeeees look amazing😆! I was thinking of buying it but I'm scared of having problems with it on my Windows 10. Don't know if I should pull the trigger or not
I love it, it’s used on all my videos after this one for my voice track. The Telefunken is likely just a small EQ tweak away tone-wise but really doesn’t compare on the value side of things 😄
Had this mic, was bad, was taking eq adjustments badly, tried to put the best tube possible and made no difference. It was good for classical guitar though in omni mode positioned close to the strings but even in this case it had an almost inaudible distortion resonating on the low freq. Sold this mic, stay away from it, at this price you can buy better ones.
Yeah tubes make no difference (no really). I’m sure what you meant to say was that it didn’t suit the source you were recording and you didn’t like it. Surely the sheer number of overwhelmingly positive reviews out there (including SOS) should mean something?
