Telefunken TF47 good compliment to Serrano 87?

My memory of the TF47 is a little hazy,
since I tried/sang through it at the last Winter NAMM of 2020.
I remember it sounded very nice though.

But my faves of the Alchemy line, were the Copperhead and the TF51.
That edged the TF47 IMHO.

But having said that...

For a little le$$, I did "fall in love" with the Beesneez BU67.
(A planned acquisition for 2023)

The objectively "best" vocal condenser mic I have, is the Soundelux U195 (now UA 187).
Effectively a U87 derivative and I mean that in a positive sense.

FWIW I think the BU67 is more than enough "different", from my U195.

I also like the UT and Heiserman 47 FET styles a lot. Having the U195 already, did soften the urge to add another non-Tube condenser though.

But the BU67 nailed a certain Ballad tone,
I was wondering if I could achieve.
(Ala the old Ricky Nelson records)

My short list for an Vintage 87 style
is Beesneez 87/UT 87 Twin/Serrano BTW.

Since I'm "just a singer" the cardiod BU87, is fine and dandy. Plus I loved the mid-range tone of it, on the clips I heard.*
Chris
*I have access to using a Vintage 87, so that kept these choices moot.

I think a 47 is a nice compliment to the 87. 87 is a wonderful solid state mic and the 47 is a classic tube mic. Sonically, the U87 sits somewhere in the middle. Not overly present and not overly warm. The 47 sits in the overly warm side. For my money though, I’d look at a Pearlman TM-1 or others a over TF47.  For a budget the Warm WA47 is very nice and can be had for $600 used. You may even consider Stam’s SA47 if he has one in stock. I’ve just not been overly impressed by the cheaper Telefunken mics. My friend David Roof had one, and eventually upgraded it to the Wunder CM7G. It was a definite upgrade.  Before he upgraded he made this video.  You can hear the TF47 next to a U87ai. I think you can download the files too.



Oh, and the BU67 is a wonderful mic if you are looking for a U67 sound. Maybe a touch more mellow on the top, but really nice. 67s are a lot like an 87, but much more warm. Still, sonically they are in the middle. 

Honestly, I love many of then T-Funk microphones and have 3 of them (M80 M82 CU29) but the TF47 is not their finest hour.

There are other alternatives as Vincent pointed out, and I would go with hadaja's advice and talk to our friend cdkelly about having a 47 or 48 made - if that's the price point you're sticking to.

But, you state you want different enough to an 87 style microphone? Maybe shop for something truly different like something from the C12/251 lineage? Or a ribbon?

Thanks guys, what piqued my interest is theres a TF47 out there for $1199... Solid price. Also I (maybe naively) feel like reselling a T Funk is easier with the brand recognition than some of the other options presented if I need to move on.

In most cases I would agree with you, but Telefunken really screwed the pooch with their original affordable line being High priced Chinese clones with no real upgrades. Yeah it was 20 years ago but it turned off a lot of people.

 Yeah, I have an RE-16, RE-11, EV 635, RE320, handful of others

Sometimes you gotta follow your heart, man.

Still, I would’ve had cdkelly make me one at that price

Assuming it's mint...
Killer deal on the Multi-Pattern Copperhead!

IMHO that's an excellent choice.
Chris

Oh, I think Chad’s is a little more than that, but worth the extra couple hundred or so.

 Looks like around 2000

Advantage is you can decide on the big expensive parts, Capsule Transformer, probably even body and Tube. You could start with a better Quality Chinese K47 and upgrade latter same with transformer. If you really wanted to you could find an old badge.