Redd 47 Mic or get redd 47mic pre

The Chandler Redd mic has a fan base and I certainly wouldn’t mind adding one to my collection at some point, but the built in pre limits flexibility which can be both bad and good as there’s one less detail to distract from the music when recording.

In addition to the Heiserman H47t mic, I do own the Chandler Redd.47 preamp and like it, find it has features to alter its sonic impact on the chain (can use output knob along with gain setting for more or less clean signal). It’s also much less expensive (especially used) compared to the redd mic and I think it has the ability to take standard phantom powered condenser mics into the territory of the sound of a tube mic: nice harmonic content. I even like TLM102 through it. The high pass filter is also useful.

I doubt you can go wrong either way, but buying the pre (especially used) is a lower financial commitment, probably relatively easy to sell.

I have a pair and they’re terrific on everything.

Flexibility can be viewed in different ways. The preamp has a lot of features, which will obviously work across your mics. The mic has its own unique sound with the platinum capsule married directly to the preamp circuitry, as well as the Drive, Low-Contour, and Output Control features. No, you cannot leverage the REDD's "preamp" for other mics. You can, however use the mic standalone, dial down the gain to +4 and use external preamps, and/or run it directly into any other external hardware such as a compressor or EQ.

Both the preamp and the mic are stellar.

I concur with previous posters.

The redd.47 is the complete opposite of a U47. I liked it when I demoed it. Very bright but with nice lowmids. I want one!

If you check out my YouTube channel you'll find several tube preamp episodes, one with the redd.47 Vs D.W fearn and Neve. That will give you a good indication on what they would sound like.

Hoping you may be able to help. I wish to replace the output transformer in my DA2 as its lacking low end. My D4 uses the same output transformer but has good low end so it must be a mismatch between the DA2 circuit and the output transformer. This was acknowledged by Dizengoff and they used a different transformer for a small run of DA2 a few years later. But there was no mention of transformer specs either by them or anywhere on the net.

Do you know what type of output transformer I should select for more low end ?

I wish I could tell you, I didn’t change the transformers on any of them, here is the schemo for the rca ba2c which I believe the Diezengoff was based on

If your Heiserman 47 has his HK47 capsule a Redd.47 pre would add even more upper mid response, but would work well if you have his M7 as that has less of a boost in the upper mids.