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Post by chessparov on Aug 21, 2021 23:43:50 GMT -6
I think an old 414ULS is an underrated mic. Even scoffed at. But they are very useful and workman like. Also the Sony C48s are great. They used to be cheap but I think they’ve gone up in price. I think I said this in another post but I got a Heiserman brass C12 capsule and had Eric install it into a ULS for me. It’s very very good. Until a close friend gifted his 414 B-ULS to his daughter (does VO very successfully with it now)... I planned to make an offer on it. For his voice, now uses a U87ai. Chris P.S. I'm kinda chicken to get any Sony's. Isn't their Customer Service sketchy?
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Post by EmRR on Aug 22, 2021 8:26:35 GMT -6
My B-ULS was clearer and less bright in a female vocal shootout than my UMT70S, MK67, MK47TheirschBlue. It was between those and the Samar ribbons. A TLII would be the bright 414.
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Post by robschnapf on Aug 22, 2021 10:40:10 GMT -6
[/quote] Until a close friend gifted his 414 B-ULS to his daughter (does VO very successfully with it now)... I planned to make an offer on it. For his voice, now uses a U87ai. Chris P.S. I'm kinda chicken to get any Sony's. Isn't their Customer Service sketchy?
[/quote]
What customer service? I've had these since 1990. Tantalums had to be replaced in 2010. Other then that, smooth sailing.
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Post by johneppstein on Aug 22, 2021 10:42:50 GMT -6
On the bright side of 414ish? A brighter version of a mic that (in its modern form) is already way too bright?
EEWwwww.....
John, would you call the B-ULS pretty neutral? I thought the Austrian Audio's were somewhat brighter. Those and the non-tube LDC Lewitt's, you'd have to some de-essing on me-for example. Chris P.S. Don't laugh, but I like the Warm WA-14 too. But still defer to the wiser gathered here. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Chris AFAIK, the "P48" verion of the 414 was the last where they were not messing with "improving" the design. Newer ones vary as to how far they deviate. Although the p48 does not have the brass frame it's pretty close otherwise; the only problem is that it will not work on cut rate phantom systems that do not deliver the full 48 volts. Here's a hint - the more complex the circuit board, the worse the 414.
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Post by Ward on Aug 22, 2021 12:20:29 GMT -6
On the bright side of 414ish? A brighter version of a mic that (in its modern form) is already way too bright? EEWwwww.....
John, would you call the B-ULS pretty neutral? I thought the Austrian Audio's were somewhat brighter. Those and the non-tube LDC Lewitt's, you'd have to some de-essing on me-for example. Chris P.S. Don't laugh, but I like the Warm WA-14 too. But still defer to the wiser gathered here. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Chris John can make his own remarks, but I can't help but welcome the opportunity to speak about mics I have. The BULS is the most unlike of the lineage from C12 to C414xls. I have multiple C12a, C414eb, C414uls, C414xls mics. The air and sparkle of the C12 lineage is in very short supply. JM (and others) HO, YM will not likely V.
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Post by bossanova on Aug 22, 2021 14:56:15 GMT -6
C48s were under $1000 forever. When did they get so expensive? Eric did my buddys 414EB and my ULS at the same time. The ULS was higher output and lower noise then my buddys EB fir whatever reason. Rob from my days of being a gearpimp that tracks right, AKG under Harmon was all about lowering noise. The EB I had was one of those stupid, stupid deals. I found it at A&P Pawn in Houston a block from what was then the big GC in Houston, the guys at GC had refused to take it on trade, go figure, because it was modded and nobody would touch it, I pulled out $450 cash and walked out with a mic. Those of us over say 45 ( I’m not googling you to make sure you fit but from what I have heard of your work and what you have posted I’ll assume your one of us😃) have more respect for the younger amongst us put the 414 in a sort of middle ground between the holy grail mics and the rest. We came up in a world where we would walk in and find either an 87 or a 414 was the studios top mic, the 101 47 clones didn’t exist. As much as Harmon tried to suck the soul out of it we still made it work. Now if Sony would have put 1/64 the effort they put into any of their consumer marketing ( okay my first 2 C535’s cost me $175 ea because they didn’t know what they were doing ) the 48 would be on everybody’s radar. I think that one of the best arguments for the 414 is that it was Luther Vandross’s studio mic of choice long into the superstar period where he and his producer could have recorded him with any vintage mic they wanted. He didn’t change it up until 1995 when he switched to an 800g.
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Post by Chad on Aug 22, 2021 16:25:27 GMT -6
What does anyone think about the Soyuz 023 Bomblet in this role?
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Post by Omicron9 on Aug 23, 2021 10:28:54 GMT -6
I had pairs of the XLS and XL-II, both from around 2000 or 2001. Bought both pairs new. At the time, I preferred the XL-II as they were brighter; sold the XLS not long after getting them. Kept/used the XL-II pair for probably 15 years. It got to where I wasn't using them so they got sold. No fault of the mics, tho. Tastes and aesthetics change, develop, and evolve. Both pairs were really great mics. Never any issues. Speaking of changing tastes, I miss the XLS and sometimes toy with the idea of getting another pair. Mine were the current version at the time; 5 patterns with LED indicators. The current current version has 9 patterns and a blue circular badge on the front side. The XLS pair I had were not what I'd consider bright. The XL-II were, but that's what they're supposed to be. I do kinda miss the XLS pair. Were I to replace them, I'd likely go for the current version (9 patterns/blue badge) because of the additional patterns and they have lower self-noise, too. I compared the frequency plots of the current version with the version I had and as I recall they were pretty much identical.
I am also a fan of the B-ULS variant, but refer to my post in the "is vintage gear getting crazy expensive" thread regarding those.
If you're looking for a 414, don't get too caught up in the "older is better/newer is garbage" routine. Get one into your space from a dealer with a return policy and hear it for yourself. The used prices for the current versions and the previous "current" versions (like I had; a large AKG logo on the front, but not a circular badge and 5 patterns vs. 9) are still very reasonable and likely about what you'd pay for a new clone. Again, great mics. Just because they're not EBs doesn't make them bad. It only means they're not EBs.
Happy hunting! -09
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Post by Omicron9 on Aug 23, 2021 10:33:20 GMT -6
The best affordable 414 alternative would in all honesty be a used 414! ...(snip) ^ This.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2021 0:53:19 GMT -6
But, the current-ish eb models are pretty solid. The TLS are pretty bad, IMO. And there was another that was like "XL" or something similar that i thought was ok. Do you mean the B-ULS TLII? The transformerless one? They are maligned, but I always had good luck with those as overhead and tom mics. ***EDIT*** the quotation was missing.
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Post by johneppstein on Aug 24, 2021 12:13:59 GMT -6
I had pairs of the XLS and XL-II, both from around 2000 or 2001. Bought both pairs new. At the time, I preferred the XL-II as they were brighter; sold the XLS not long after getting them. Kept/used the XL-II pair for probably 15 years. It got to where I wasn't using them so they got sold. No fault of the mics, tho. Tastes and aesthetics change, develop, and evolve. Both pairs were really great mics. Never any issues. Speaking of changing tastes, I miss the XLS and sometimes toy with the idea of getting another pair. Mine were the current version at the time; 5 patterns with LED indicators. The current current version has 9 patterns and a blue circular badge on the front side. The XLS pair I had were not what I'd consider bright. The XL-II were, but that's what they're supposed to be. I do kinda miss the XLS pair. Were I to replace them, I'd likely go for the current version (9 patterns/blue badge) because of the additional patterns and they have lower self-noise, too. I compared the frequency plots of the current version with the version I had and as I recall they were pretty much identical. I am also a fan of the B-ULS variant, but refer to my post in the "is vintage gear getting crazy expensive" thread regarding those. If you're looking for a 414, don't get too caught up in the "older is better/newer is garbage" routine. Get one into your space from a dealer with a return policy and hear it for yourself. The used prices for the current versions and the previous "current" versions (like I had; a large AKG logo on the front, but not a circular badge and 5 patterns vs. 9) are still very reasonable and likely about what you'd pay for a new clone. Again, great mics. Just because they're not EBs doesn't make them bad. It only means they're not EBs. Happy hunting! -09 I guess a lot depends on what one thinks about really bright mics. Since I tend to be really sensitive to sibalance I generally don't like that trait. I don't believe that HF response and detail are the same thing.
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