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[mike_mccue]

Thanks for making the photos available for viewing and sharing a first hand review.

[SergioA]

Great post. Thanks

[Nob Turner]

The one thing missing so far is an operational assessment. Has anyone used one of these yet? Liked/disliked it? That, while anecdotal, is after all the real question.

[klaus]

Not sure what an "operation assessment" may mean aside of the sound (see chapter "The Sound" in the very first post of this thread)?

[aremos]

The Sound
... Same cotton-mouthy sibilance, same restricted high- and low-end, same dynamic behavior.

Is it that this mic's sibilance, as well as it's hi's & lo's, are not up to par with other Neumanns or are those "qualities" part of it's signature sound?
How does it compare to other K47 capsule Neumann mics (new & old) when it comes to voice?

[klaus]

The attributes you quoted from my impressions of the sound of the mic are in my opinion a result of the unusual electronic processing in the U47fet (op-)amp. The only other mic of that era which used it was the U89 and the KMR shotgun series.

A K49-equipped mic with a different and less complicated electronic signal path, like an M49, sounds markedly different, and, in my opinion, more "hifi", and a bit more musical. (So does the K89 when, for example, mounted on a U87.)

The K47/49, old or new, in my opinion is the finest LD capsule product Neumann has manufactured since the demise of the M7, in 1958/59.

[aremos]

How does the 47fet compare (if it's even possible to describe) on vocals to the M49 or U47 even if those are valve & not fet?

[Daniel_Dettwiler]

To my ears they don't compare very well to a M49 or U47 and I always felt it was a stupid Idea from Neumann to call that mic 'U47 Fet' (because it implies to many musicians that the studio would have a U47 and they would get that magic sound). When you come to think of it, the U87 is also not called 'U67transistor.'

Vocals with the U47fet are quite "flat" in the meaning you will not hear the size of the body of the singer as with the U47 tube. That must not be bad, i.e. if a singer sings loud and you need the voice in front and it shall sound "rocky" but not have any depth, the 47fet can be ok. It lacks personality, however, and it does not have an organic sound. The U47 (tube) however has a very round, warm and organic sound that it gives to almost every voice. It sounds gorgous and lush and opens the 5 kHz range in a nice and often magic way, giving it almost a little "grainy" character in a good way (the M49 does that in a similar way while the U47fet is more "hard" but not open in this range) .

That all said, I have a lot of U47 (tubes) but at the moment no U47 fet. I worked with it a lot in other studios, so I really know the fet-version fairly well. I want one, but really would use it on bass drums only, and maybe sometimes on guitar amps.

The M49 is another great mic that I love, but it does not come to be used on vocals here much. It shines on piano and all kinds of brass and it is also great on jazz overheads. And it is magic on cello, and a pair of M49 with K47's will shine as main mics for a string quartet. It sounds more "wooden" than a U47 with a somehow tighter sound in the low mids and is somewhat "drier".
Daniel
www.ideeundklang.com/studio

[NelisB]

The K47/49, old or new, in my opinion is the finest LD capsule product Neumann has manufactured since the demise of the M7, in 1958/59.

Off topic, sorry, but Klaus, how is the K870/67 different from the K47/K49 soundwise? Mister Schneider (Neumann) writes that these capsules are acoustically identical. What differences do you experience?

Thanks, Niels

[klaus]

Hello Niels, I am pretty sure you misunderstood Martin Schneider:

the K870/67/87 has an 8dB rise in the high frequencies, around 9kHz, while the K47/49 is almost flat in that region, with a mere 2dB rise, at most.

Both capsules also vary dramatically in their construction: the K870/67/87 is a Braunmühl-Weber, double-backplate design with acoustical pathways between the plates, whereas the K47/49 is a single backplate design lacking these pathways.

Hence the dramatic difference in response. (The high-frequency rise of the K870/67/87 is mitigated in the electronics of all mics that use that capsule).

[NelisB]

Thanks Klaus for your explanation.

And you are right, I mis-read mr Schneider's info.

[aremos]

... Vocals with the U47fet are quite "flat" in the meaning you will not hear the size of the body of the singer as with the U47 tube. That must not be bad, i.e. if a singer sings loud and you need the voice in front and it shall sound "rocky" but not have any depth, the 47fet can be ok. It lacks personality, however, and it does not have an organic sound. The U47 (tube) however has a very round, warm and organic sound that it gives to almost every voice. It sounds gorgous and lush and opens the 5 kHz range in a nice and often magic way, giving it almost a little "grainy" character in a good way (the M49 does that in a similar way while the U47fet is more "hard" but not open in this range) .
That all said, I have a lot of U47 (tubes) but at the moment no U47 fet. I worked with it a lot in other studios, so I really know the fet-version fairly well. I want one, but really would use it on bass drums only, and maybe sometimes on guitar amps. ...

Here's an interesting use of the 47fet on vox (2 w/ 170's):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmTs1c_K720

[gtoledo3]

For what it's worth, the Aretha Franklin album "Who's Zoomin' Who" is said to have used a 47fet in one of the Mix Magazine "Classic Tracks" articles.

[brightmillion]

What I am wondering- with the 47fet reissue's going for $4000 new and the vintage ones on eBay going for around the same +/- $200, what would be the advantage of one vs. the other to a new purchaser? 

I could see if a re-issue came out significantly lower than the vintage market it could sell very well (not that I'm suggesting that Neumann should be selling it for $1500 or whatnot). But it seems a vintage one would possibly retain a higher resale value in the long term still? assuming it is in proper working condition..

Klaus, would you grab a reissue to record just as quickly as a vintage one? Or if still given the choice, go for a well maintained vintage one?

[aremos]

$4K is the retail price. You can obtain them at a lower price. I would say it's a "no-brainer". Why opt for something used (God knows how many times it's been put in front of a kik drum) when you can buy it brand new for around the same price?