Review
2006.01.06
Soundelux E47 Tube Microphone
EQ magazine review
The return of the ?47? By Mitch Gallagher
Getting your hands on a great vintage mic can be a real challenge
these days. Most of the good ones have been gobbled up by high-end
studios and collectors; if you do find one for sale, be prepared to
shell out a good portion of your hard-earned lunch money for it. To
address this problem, Soundelux has been re-creating vintage mics for
the past few years; we
looked at their Elux 251, which is patterned after the original 251, in
the July 2001 issue. The latest release from the company is the E47, a
re-creation of the studiostandard ?50s-style tube ?47.
I have to admit, for me, the vintage re-creation aspect of the new mic
(or any mic, for that matter) ? while interesting ? is only a small
part of the equation. What?s important to me
is how the mic sounds and performs, how versatile and sturdy it is, and
so on, regardless of whether it exactly duplicates the ?original? or
not. Having said that, while I didn?t have a
vintage tube ?47 on-hand to compare it to, my memory of the original,
as well as other sources I consulted, tells me that Soundelux has done
a fine job of matching a ?good? vintage tube ?47.
The mic comes packed in a nice wood box. Also included are its matched
power supply, a ?spider?-style shockmount, and a six-pin cable for
connecting the mic to the power supply. It would be nice if the box or
case could also house the power supply and shockmount, as the one for
Soundelux?s U99 does. The mic ships set up for a fixed cardioid polar
pattern. You can easily change this by removing the headgrille/capsule
and body casing and flipping a little switch inside. Changing the
switch requires just a small blade-type screwdriver and took me all of
three minutes. With the switch flipped, you have continuously variable
polar patterns ranging from omni to cardioid to figure-8. Control over
polar pattern selection is handled by a knob on the front of the power
supply. That?s the only control you?re given; there?s no pad or filters
on the mic or the power supply. I set the mic up in my studio and
settled in for some tracking sessions. First up was male voice. What
immediately struck me was how full and present-sounding the E47 was. It
has a smooth, unhyped top end, with plenty of clarity and bite. It?s
very dynamic and sounds ?live,? enhancing the raw sound of the
vocalist. Set for non-omni polar patterns, it also has significant
proximity effect; a skilled vocalist can really put this to work in
enhancing a track. Next up was electric guitar; I broke out my Tele,
Strat, and Les Paul, as well as Marshall, Fender, and Boogie amps. In a
word, the E47 sounds great on electric guitars. Because it has no pad,
I did find that I had to pull it back a bit when the amps were wound
up. The mic offers excellent bite and presence without harshness. On
distorted guitars, the sound is fat and round, capturing good, solid
thump from a 4x12 cabinet. On clean, chicken-picked Tele tones, the mic
tames the strident shrillness of the bridge pickup without compromising
the attack or twangy ?pop? of the
sound. Nice. I especially liked the E47 for rhythm tracks on small amps, where it added fullness and girth to the tone.
Moving to nylon-string classical guitar, I pulled the E47 back a foot
or so to minimize proximity effect and set it halfway between omni and
cardioid polar patterns to capture a bit more of the room sound. The
results were excellent. The sound was round, yet articulate. The attack
was solid, but toned down the click and stringiness of fingernails on
strings. There was plenty of detail; I could easily pick out when my
right-hand middle finger plucked a string ? there was a tiny rough spot
on my nail that was easily audible scraping on the
strings. I had similar results on steel-string guitar, whether strummed
with a pick or fingerpicked. The sound was bright, but not harsh, with
excellent upper-midrange fullness and presence. On passages where the
acoustic guitar was tuned down (as low as C), the E47 had no problem
capturing fat low-end tone from the bass strings while still
maintaining the clarity and articulation of the upper strings. As with
the classical guitar, the E47 seemed to ignore the harsh clicky attack
of fingernails and pick on the strings, delivering a natural-sounding
clear attack from each note instead. The E47 also worked well on
percussion. It doesn?t have the high-end ?sizzle? that some modern
hypier mics tout; this was apparent on metallic instruments such as
triangle and finger cymbals. However, those instruments had a full
round sound that sat in a mix nicely. The verdict should be obvious by
now: I really like this mic. Whether you view it as a vintage
re-creation or simply as a brand-new studio mic model, the E47 excels
at just about every task, whether vocals, instruments, or whatever. At
almost $4k, it?s not the cheapest mic on the market, but it offers the
sound quality and versatility to justify its price tag ? it?s the kind
of mic that you?ll
find yourself turning to again and again.
?Whether you view it as a vintage re-creation or simply as a brandnew
studio mic model, the E47 excels at just about every task."
SUMMARY:
Designed as a re-creation of a 1950s tube ?47, the E47
offers big sound and smooth articulate response. It?s pricey, but if
you?re looking for one great mic to cover a lot of jobs in your studio,
this could be the one.
STRENGTHS: Fat sound. Strong proximity effect. Smooth, unhyped top
end. Variable polar patterns. Can be set for cardioid-only operation.
LIMITATIONS: None that weren?t there on the original. Less expensive
than a vintage ?47, but still pricey.
? mgallagher@musicplayer.com