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Old 01-25-2019, 06:10 PM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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Default WA 251 in da House!!

I haven’t had the mic even 2 hours yet. I turned on the power supply and plugged everything in and let it warm for about 30 minutes before making this very short demo. For acoustics, or at least for my HD 28, it looks like it will need some high pass filtering post recording as it does not have a high pass switch on it. It sounds good though. I recorded the guitar a bit further a way than when I did the WA 87 demo. I will post some more using the omni and figure 8 patterns as well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cI7...w?usp=drivesdk
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Old 01-26-2019, 08:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwlee7 View Post
I haven’t had the mic even 2 hours yet. I turned on the power supply and plugged everything in and let it warm for about 30 minutes before making this very short demo. For acoustics, or at least for my HD 28, it looks like it will need some high pass filtering post recording as it does not have a high pass switch on it. It sounds good though. I recorded the guitar a bit further a way than when I did the WA 87 demo. I will post some more using the omni and figure 8 patterns as well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cI7...w?usp=drivesdk
Sounds great, didn't sound sound particularly boomy thru my laptop earbuds
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Old 01-26-2019, 11:49 AM
jim1960 jim1960 is offline
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Not being a huge fan of the Warm lineup, the strumming at 0:40 sounds much better than I'd have expected from that mic. The fingerpicking at 1:20 is a bit boomy to my ears and the top end isn't as pleasing as on the earlier strumming. I'm guessing that the mic was positioned differently for that. But overall, it sounds like you can do alright with that mic if you take the time to find the optimum position.
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Old 01-26-2019, 11:54 AM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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Originally Posted by jim1960 View Post
Not being a huge fan of the Warm lineup, the strumming at 0:40 sounds much better than I'd have expected from that mic. The fingerpicking at 1:20 is a bit boomy to my ears and the top end isn't as pleasing as on the earlier strumming. I'm guessing that the mic was positioned differently for that. But overall, it sounds like you can do alright with that mic if you take the time to find the optimum position.

I didn't change the position of the mic. I will begin messing around with placement later this weekend and next week. It is not necessarily what I will use on acoustic guitars anyway.
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Old 01-26-2019, 01:53 PM
jim1960 jim1960 is offline
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Originally Posted by gwlee7 View Post
I didn't change the position of the mic. I will begin messing around with placement later this weekend and next week.
For whatever reason, it sounds very different in those two clips.

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Originally Posted by gwlee7 View Post
It is not necessarily what I will use on acoustic guitars anyway.
What is your intended purpose for the mic? I know a lot of folks like 251 type mics on female vocalists, not that it's limited to that by any means.
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2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce
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Old 01-26-2019, 03:10 PM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jim1960 View Post
For whatever reason, it sounds very different in those two clips.


What is your intended purpose for the mic? I know a lot of folks like 251 type mics on female vocalists, not that it's limited to that by any means.
I could have accidentally moved myself out of position when switching from playing with the pick.

I wanted a tube mic to try out on vocals and to have something different from my SM7b and WA 87. If It ends up that I don’t like it I will return it and try something else. I like it so far.
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Old 01-27-2019, 10:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwlee7 View Post
I could have accidentally moved myself out of position when switching from playing with the pick.

I wanted a tube mic to try out on vocals and to have something different from my SM7b and WA 87. If It ends up that I don’t like it I will return it and try something else. I like it so far.
As I noted In my thread about ADK's mics I actually preferred the 251 to both the 47 and the 67 for my vocal... But my Brauner Phantom V FET ( like a U87 but with a flatter response in the upper mids) is very close such that either one is pretty good on my voice (higher baritone)...
As Jim noted, it is very popular in studios for female vocals, because it is very detailed in the upper mids without being shrill... BUT that actually also makes it excellent for many male vocalists as well, particularly if like me they are somewhat raspy at times and not very detailed in the upper mids and highs.
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Old 01-27-2019, 11:23 AM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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The two guys that I play classic rock and country covers with are both much better singers than I am. We could be considered “Crosby, Nash, and Young” with me definitely being the “Young”. . They are going to help me with some of my original music and I will be very interested in seeing how they sound using this mic. It needs more testing but the good thing about Sweetwater is that they have no problem taking the mic back and letting me try something else.

ETA: I will sing a little with it soon and post that as well. It won’t be “pretty” but I do well enough to see if the mic captures what it claims to capture.
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Last edited by gwlee7; 01-27-2019 at 11:31 AM.
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Old 01-27-2019, 10:32 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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At 4:18 video the guy is demo-ing a Martin through a real Telefunken 251. See if you can get this kind of tone.
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Old 01-28-2019, 06:00 AM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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I am getting a playback error this morning when I click the link. I will try again later.
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Old 01-28-2019, 01:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockabilly69 View Post
At 4:18 video the guy is demo-ing a Martin through a real Telefunken 251. See if you can get this kind of tone.
Try this (fixed the embedding):

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Old 01-28-2019, 01:15 PM
runamuck runamuck is offline
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Thanks Doug, for fixing the link.

I love that mic on her voice and the guitar.
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Old 01-28-2019, 01:22 PM
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Probably a personal taste thing, but to me, gwlee's recording (the strumming) sounds nicer than - or at least as good as - the SoundPure example, his is warmer and fuller. But it would depend on how the track was being used of course. The fingerpicking part doesn't seem to be coming through as well.

It's also important to note that SoundPure appears to have some stereo room reverb on the guitar, it's not mono, so we're not hearing the raw mic signal. The processing is more evident (tho different) if you check out the vocal portion. So just that slight stereo effect on SoundPure's demo makes the sound open up a bit. This is how a mic could sound in the studio with processing, not the direct mic.

Last edited by Doug Young; 01-28-2019 at 01:32 PM.
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Old 01-28-2019, 06:42 PM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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The next example I play I will mimic the guy from the video just so we can see ah, I mean hear.

In my demo, I didn’t take the time to move closer to the mic for the fingerpicking part and I know that I was strumming considerably louder than I was fingerpicking. I will also use “mixtool” to balance the levels between the strumming and fingerpicking so we can hear them equally. This was done quickly as I literally took the mic out of its packing, and fired it up waiting thirty minutes or so and then recorded something. The next demo will be done with more “care”. I was just excited to hear a little of what the mic could do.
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‘97 Taylor 555 12 string
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‘19 Martin CEO 9
‘20 Gibson 1960 Hummingbird reissue
‘16 Gibson Hummingbird Avant Guard (gigging guitar)

Note to self: Never play a guitar you aren’t willing to buy.
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  #15  
Old 02-01-2019, 11:49 AM
gwlee7 gwlee7 is offline
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I really, really like this mic. I am not where I can post an example at the moment but the trick for me so far to getting awesome acoustic guitar recordings with it, is to use it in Figure 8 or omni mode instead of cardioid. This is taking the boominess that I didn't like out. My room has been treated and while it is certainly not Ocean Way Studios or anything, it sounds pretty decent. I will post up some examples this weekend as I am going to be working on a lot of stuff while my wife is out of town.
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‘97 Taylor 555 12 string
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‘20 Gibson 1960 Hummingbird reissue
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Note to self: Never play a guitar you aren’t willing to buy.
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