Hello from Flea Microphones!
After being alerted to this thread and reading it, we have decided to respond and provide the statement and some clearer information about the things discussed.
Firstly, we would like to apologise for any misleading information on our website or our dealers' websites that may have led to our customers or our dealers' customers being "scammed", we don't have any interest or intention of scamming anyone.
Another thing we'd like to do is shed some light on information about the tubes used in our microphones.
Historically, users of Flea microphones may encounter the following tubes:
Flea 47 microphone. In the beginning, about 20 years ago, we used the Telefunken EF14 and UF14 tubes, but there was a problem because a lot of them were microphonic and noisy. We worked closely with Andreas Grosser, who was probably the biggest guru in the world of microphones, and together we came up with the Flea 47 version, which was equipped with the TELEFUNKEN EF12 tube. The number of Flea 47s equipped with the TELE EF12 was about 700 sets. Over time, these EF12's disappeared from the market, and those that were available were pretty bad, not usable in microphones. It came to the point where we chose one good one out of 5. This would make the mic too expensive, so we started looking for a replacement to completely replace the TELE EF12.
The result was the EF12ER tube that Andreas Grosser made exclusively for us. This tube is actually a subminiature glass tube mounted in a metal chassis, with the socket of the original EF12 to make it easy to replace in case of service. This glass tube was carefully selected by Andreas from thousands of tubes and in the end of the day the price of the fully assembled tube was at the same level as a good original EF12. In this case, we were confident that any tube we bought would work well, so we didn't have to raise prices because of the tubes.
When Andreas left us last year, we had to find a way to continue with an EF12 replacement, and because it's a great tube, we started making it after several months of development. We call it the Flea EF12. As we are always looking for ways to provide our customers with only the best sound and quality products at affordable prices without unnecessary price increases, alongside the development of our EF12 we have also been looking for other tubes that could be used in the Flea 47. And so we discovered the EF800, which did not meet our expectations, and the E80F tube.
The E80F turned out to be another great replacement for the EF12. In fact, the E80F is the successor of the EF12. BTW, this is not a cheap tube, mathematically every 4th tube is good, 3 out of 4 are thrash. So everyone can imagine that we have already trashed thousands of tubes. This is not a cheap tube anyway!
So far there are about 400 Flea 47's out there that are fitted with this tube, and to be honest, not a single dissatisfied customer.
WE HAVE NEVER USED A FET REPLACEMENT IN ANY TUBE MICROPHONE. WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A FET REPLACEMENT LOOKS LIKE BECAUSE WE HAVE NEVER HAD ONE AND NEVER USED ONE!!!
The last type of tube we used in the Flea 47 was the original VF14 but this was usually supplied by the customer, or we managed to get a few pieces from our sources. After the tube became extremely expensive we decided to stop offering it.
As far as U48 is concerned, the only tube the customer can meet there is Telefunken or Valvo EF12 or our Flea EF12, both are vacuum tubes, not fet!
FLEA 12:
regarding the tube, first about 10 years, we used GE6072a and GE6072a***** and JAN6072a and Raytheon 6072a.
Gradually the market for these tubes became more and more expensive, and at the same time there were more and more tubes that were too noisy and unusable.
We discovered the Electro Harmonix 6072a, which we tested and with the right operating point setting we were able to get the sound as when using a GE tube. The problem is, of course, the big rejection, where only one out of 5 tubes meets our criteria. At a price of 30-40 Euro it is not a cheap tube at all. So comparing cheap and expensive tubes is absolutely superficial.
We have written the history of the use of the tubes in our microphones in a few lines, but in reality it is a lot of work, time and knowledge of all the people at FLEA team who are constantly trying to improve the quality of the microphones. It's really 20 years of hard work, with everyone on the team trying to improve a specific area.
I am sorry, and yes, our grammar may not be genial, maybe it would be if we were posting on forums from morning till night, but since we prefer to work on microphone quality to deliver the best we can to our customers, our grammar is not that correct on the other hand.
But, our customers are not interested in that when recording, they are interested in good sound!
And now about Tim Campbell's CT12:
TIM CAMPBELL'S CT12 IS WITHOUT ANY DOUBTS GREAT CAPSULE THAT ABSOLUTELY CAPTURES THE SOUND OF THE BEST AKG C12 THAT WE SELECTED.
When we decided to make our FLEA 12, we started from the experience we gained from owning and working with more than 30 AKG C12s that passed through our hands.
It may be strange for some, but every C12 we had was in original condition and every one sounded different. We chose the method and the way to select the best sounding C12 by practical deployment, recording and testing of C12’s in our recording studio.
www.facebook.com/people/Bird...0062987181773/That CT12 is great capsule has been confirmed in many tests (and not only ours) that we have done over 20 years. And we still do. Coincidentally one test we did this week on Tuesday in Vienna, we were comparing the original ELA M 251 s/n1163 with our Flea ELA M 251 s/n101.
Quite simply, Tim Campbell's CT12 is absolute top.
What to say in conclusion, at this moment we have more than 3000 microphones produced. The fact that they are made does not mean that they are in stock, but they are in the mic lockers of more than 3000 satisfied customers, among which there are many first-class producers, sound engineers, musicians, etc.
Wishing everyone peace, lots of good music and sending greetings from Slovakia!
P.S.: We apologize again that our English is not great, but we think, one who want can understand!
