Stam vs. Heiserman U47

I have the Stam SA47, and it's been a total surprise. It has the deep warmth of the original, but there are more highs than I expected, (in good way). I've used vintage U47's, and a really good one has a natural balance and a bit of that beautiful enhancement of a main vocal. A big part of that is actually a natural lack of added sibilance and a bit of tube compression. I can't speak to the Heiserman because I haven't tried one, but the Stam 47 is now my main vocal mic. Some other "47 style" mics seem to think an unnatural bass boost and lack of highs equals "warmth", but it doesn't. The Stam sounds right.

I've had a few $2,000-$2,500 microphones that sounded perfectly fine, but had no magic. My Stam 47 has that, it's something you might call character. There are some other high end mics that have it, the Soyuz 0-17 and the Chandler REDD come to mind. So it depends if you like that particular character, but at least it's really there and not hype.

Almost forgot to say welcome to the forum drumstar.

I have no experience with the Stam, but I can easily say the Heiserman H47T is worth every dime. From the immaculate packaging, to top of the line connectors and components, to the wonderful service, to the ability for easily swapping out different capsules/headbaskets, they are top notch. The sonics are widely regarded as the best out there by many top pro's. (myself included) I'd easily spend the money again, and actually might opt for a pair when opportunity affords.

Nope, I have both! I like to use one for acoustic guitar and one for the vocal. It's song dependent which one gets vocal duties. Lately it's been the 47.

I just began a track with one acoustic and a guide vocal. It's for sending it out to get a piano part done, and then I plan to try some orchestration and then recut the vocal. You can hear the hum from my refrigerator in the beginning, and I was just sitting at my desk for the rough vocal.

There's no compression yet on the vocal or the 2 bus, so it's fairly raw. The guitar is the Taylor Doyle Deluxe that's designed to be quite bright for live singer/songwriter type gigs in clubs, so keep that in mind.

It's the first track I've done since having three surgeries this year that required intubation, so my voice is still recovering and it's a bit strident. I thought you might enjoy hearing the SA-47 though, so here ya go..




https%3A//soundcloud.com/martin-john-butler/thank-you-for-everything-sa47

The Heiserman is a posh option but the Stam is good quality at a great price. I believe whichever you go with you’ll be happy as they both have a top end end feel at a top end tier. I have both plus original’s and Flea’s and they’re all good quality options depending on your budget.

Thanks for sharing this Martin, I just bought a used Stam mk2 which I'll receive in 2 days and this makes me feel good about my purchase as I really like how it sounds on your voice. I actually think that extra brightness might be really cool as the original U47s I use often need a little high end push for modern productions. 

I think your voice sounds really nice here, I like a little roughness around the edges ( though I can understand that for a singer not being completely in control is frustrating).

The guitar sounds a bit small/bright for my liking, I probably would use a different mic, maybe a ribbon to give it better separation from the vocals.
What preamp are you using?

Oh wow someone with BOTH .
So when you say ‘posh option’ is there anything regarding the build (or sonics) over the stam that ‘feels’ or looks (or sounds ) more ‘posh’or of higher quality ?…i’m not necessarily trying to save $, i just want the best one possible , BUT if one is half the price for the same quality build wise and sonically then , sure ….why not lol…thanks Paul.👍🏻

I don't have a Stam 47, yet. But might some day.

I can give you a Heiserman/Singal Arts comparison but not at the moment - I'll work on that.

My own thoughts with the Hesierman H47T verses Signal Arts 48 is that the Heiserman sounds very hi fidelity and more modern vs the Signal Arts, especially with the K47 capsule. Yet, the Signal Arts reminds me more of Bluegrass Dan's old Telefunken U47 (cardioid to cardioid).

I don't find the Heiserman M7 head basket to be dull. The K47 just sounds a little more present and maybe a tiny bit scooped

Fact. A good U47 or an accurate high quality reproduction seems to have a built in Pultec EQP. When you boost and cut the same frequency by the same amount in a Pultec, it tightens up the low by lowering the sub 50hz content and giving that same amount of audio real estate to the 50-100hz range.

That's what a quality 47 sounds like too. And a 48 sounds slightly better. in cardioid, of course. JMHO

Has anyone heard the difference between the baseline and premium versions of the SAE mics? Wildly interested in trying a U48 with all the vouching Ward was done for it.

I've got a Wunder CM7GS/M7. It has a Theirsch Red M7 capsule. The CM7GS is his glass tube model with an EF800. I've also got a Miktek CV4 (also with an EF800) that I installed a Beesneez K7 in. I also have had a Neumann U48 in the studio a few times and we did a lot of comparisons. There are differences and If I could only have one, I'd take the U48. But, the Wunder and the modified CV4 do sound very good and the slightest bit of EQ can make them all sound identical. To my ears, the U48 had a slight lift (1dB) at 10khz, compared to the others. I did not check the capsule in the U48 but my guess would be that it was a K47.

I had Ben's M7 capsule in another mic but I think it may have had some issues. His K7 capsule is great and I highly recommend it.

All that to say, I believe the U47 sound can be approached from a few different angles. Many builders are using the EF800 tube with a BV8 transformer. I presonally think the capsule is nearly everything and each is pretty unique to itself. I'd love to try the Heiserman but I'm not sure I can justify a purchase of yet another mic in the U47 family.

For me, the key selling point to a U47 type is the slightly larger than life bottom with a mid push that brings vocals forward, along with never being sibilant. M7/K47 take EQ so well, which is good because I always need to add 10khz to vocals recorded with them.

Hey enlav
Signal Art will make either the 408 circuit which has a bot more weight to the sound or the the other H47T style EF800 style which is airy, nice mids and reasonable low end.
ITs up to you which one you like.
I have had both. I liked the weight of the 408 tube circuit one for a few years but when I got my Heiserman H47t I liked that style of circuit more so I got Chad to do that custom 47/48 style mic. It did cost a little more to get nice NOS tubes and the better capsule. I thought it was worth it and in the end I sold both the 408 style model and the Heiserman one.
Couldn't be happier.