Who knows the 3U Audio mics?

Ragan is an expert on these too...
Chris

ragan is for sure your man on these. He's had a fair bit of direct communication with Guosheng, I believe.

MKID was sort of 87ish. There was the GZ67fet and the GZ67 tube.

They sound very nice, based on all the clips I've heard. The AA version of the 67 tube sounds excellent to me too.

But... I still fully expect the
Bock/Heiserman/Campbell and (of course) the Neumann capsules, to all sound superior in comparison.
Chris

I've had a lot of experience with 3U.  It's a company with zero marketing whose whole existence is from word of mouth enthusiasm.  Guosheng Zhuang is the owner/designer.  He's been designing/building capsules for other mic brands for a couple of decades and only within the last 5 years or so started selling mics directly.  Dennis Dreadstone (aka Kidvybes, RIP) is basically the one who turned people on to this brand.  A random eBay sale caught his eye because the seller (Guosheng) published hi-res pics of the circuit and it was made with good quality components not usually seen in budget mics.  Dennis was also super knowledgeable re: mic manufacturing and who was using what OEM for what components and what was under the hood of whose mics.  Anyway, he turned some of us on to them and the line just kind of blew up from enthusiasm.  I have eight 3U mics here so you could count me a fan.  

I'd spent years trying out almost all of the usual sub-$1k suspects from Shure, AT, Oktava, AKG, Neumann, etc and when I first tried a couple of Warblers, I found them to be a remarkable bang for the buck.  My pair of MKID's prompted me to sell my trusty pair of 414b-ULS (which had been my go-to utility pair for years).

Anyway.  They're very solid mics and in my opinion (subjective of course) you have to spend double or more on traditional retail mics to get into the same quality of components and sonics.  

For some balance, I also shelled out for a Max Kircher MK67 and I use it as my main go-to LDC.  It brings a size and lushness that my 3U stuff doesn't.  It's also about 5-8x the price.  I've had several other high-dollar (I guess that's relative...I mean $2-3.5k) mics through here over the years and I appreciate high-end stuff as much as the next guy.  But if you want to get into the classic sonics ballpark on a budget, I don't think you can do better than 3U.  

I've done a lot of comparisons and clips over the last few years.  You can scroll down and listen if you want to. 

soundcloud.com/fir_out


But if you don't want to muck around with that, the TLDR version is that the Warbler series is the biggest bang for the buck.  And of that series, I think the standouts are the MKID (U87 voicing...check my comparison to a vintage U87 if you want, very close) and the MKIVD (251-ish voicing).  The "D" versions of the Warblers are multi-pattern ($349 when I bought mine).  If you don't need that and want to save some dough, there are the non-D, cardioid-only versions as well ($270 last I checked).  All of the Warbler mics have a three-position high-frequency rolloff which is very useful.  The GZ series are $599 and have AMI transformers in them and a few other upgraded components.  I've got a pair of the GZ67FET and they're quite nice mics.  He also sells a super cheap, transformerless CM-1.  The Black CM-1 is a center-terminated, U87-ish voicing and the Teal CM-1 is an edge-terminated, 251-ish voicing.  They don't quite have the weight of the Warbler or GZ series mics but they're incredible bang for the buck.  I've got a Teal CM-1 that I really dig.  They're like a hundred bucks or something ridiculous.  

Anyway.  There are a lot of decent budget mics out there these days but I think the 3U stuff is exceptional.  You buy directly from the owner/designer and the price reflects that.  He doesn't advertise and there are no dealer markups in the chain.  Best way to order or inquire is just to email Guosheng.  You'll get the best price and availability that way.  

3uaudio@gmail.com

Good luck with whatever direction your client ends up going.  

EDIT: If you end up listening to my Soundcloud clips it's probably worth noting that the Warbler 127 is his transformer-coupled SDC.  When I was talking about the "Warbler series" I was meaning the LDC Warblers, which are all named MKI(D), MKII(D), MKIII(D), etc.  

...some of which have 3U capsules in them...

Hmmm.... I guess I need to try out some of these....

It appears they have a tube model the GZ67 tube. Has anyone ever tried the tube mic?

I have the gz67fet, warbler 1D and the km84 SDC version. After a while when you get better mics these sit here unused. Nothing bad about them but you sort of move on from them. Great mics though for the price.

I also emailed Guosheng.

My pianist still has my Gefell, but when we're done I guess I'll recommend a MKIV or MKV (the dark, "ribbon"-ish one, but that might be too dark, so probably MKIV).

Edited to add: If anyone has actually used MKV, is it really ribbon-dark? What I'm looking for is more of a U89 profile.

Thanks for the assistance here.

Here is just a bit of special info seeing how we have the popular 67 thread's going at the moment.
I have the Warbler MK1D (U87 soundish) and the GZ67fet. I forgot to mention they actually are the made with the same capsule in both mics.
When I was looking at these Gousheng explained it like this.
"The Warbler MKID, GZ67fet and GZ67 tube mics have same capsules. The GZ67fet has more 3D depth and articulation than Warbler MKID. The GZ67 tube mic has more 3D depth and weight than GZ57fet."
It seems to be an accurate description when comparing my MK1D with my GZ67fet. I did not get to use a GZ67 Tube.

I still have them and use them sometimes, yep.  They're solid mics.  I probably reach for the Warbler 127s more often but I still like the CM100s.  When I want a little cleaner, faster transient response, I grab the CM100s.  

More often than not these days when tracking acoustic guitar, I just use the 67, but sometimes I still use one of the SDCs.  Sometimes the 67 and an SDC.