Lauten Atlantis or Vanguard V13, or V44s?

I was all set to make a Blumein joke.
But...

Did look up his biography.
He only lived to 38.
Life tragically cut short in a WWII plane accident.

Yet one of the most prolific inventors of the 20th Century.
So...

"Here's to" all the Pioneers of Recording Technology.

I think most of us forgot to try all the polar patterns on our mics.  I’ve had a few mics that were much better in wide cardioid than cardioid. 

I can’t speak to the Vangaurd mics, but I’ve used the Atlantis quite a bit, and it’s a wonderful sounding mic. A true modern workhorse with 3 very usable and different voicings.  It’s definitely on my list to grab at some point. Everyone’s positive thoughts on the V44 has me thinking though. 

Vanguard V14

Mic did not work out here after one capsule became noisy. Bright sound did not suit either. Returned to dealer.  

One channel of the mic blew up after one use and became fizzy and noisy. When I integrated the mic into a mix after my report above, the thin, bright sound grated and was rejected. Mic had little detail--only bright Chinese sound. Returned to the dealer for a refund.

I have used both. I bought the v13 after all the rave reviews online. I tested it extensively for a month, but just couldn't get into the sound. Sold it. Long and behold I bought it again as I got some different preamps and did more room adjustments acoustically. I still couldn't like the sound enough to keep.

Now, I'm not saying the mic sounded bad but it sounded too smooth on my voice and not enough low mids. I have a manley reference, lewitt pure tube, u87, tlm 193, signal arts u47, lauten Atlantis and many others mics higher in price.

The Atlantis on the other hand is just amazing. The different voices is like having three different mics. The sound is full and clear. It's the kind of smooth I was looking for. Smooth on the highs and very neutral. This thing takes eq like no other. I always purposely try to make a mic get harsh with eq to see where the the harsh frequencies are. This mic would not get harsh no matter how hard I pushed the high end eq gain.

On another note, I picked up a Baifeili 81 which looks exactly like the vanguard V4 from temu. So, I bought a used v4 from guitar center to compare both. Opened both up and they are the same identical red circuit board with the same basic schoeps circuit. They sounded damn near identical. I just found that interesting at the time.

The baifeili V5 is actually pretty good with the k47 capsule as well as the tf22 mic. At the very least, they make good donor mics.

In with the Atlantis not only does it sound great people really enjoy the look of it. I actually grabbed mine for $1200 scratch and dent. I was scared at first thinking it was going to be extremely beat up. When I received the mic it was in pristine condition. I can't see a scratch or dent anywhere. I was going to go eden route but I didn't want another tube mic.

I’ve used all three and AndersMV is pretty much spot on. The real TLDR is that you will not make a bad decision.

I own the v44s and the Atlantis is literally going to be my next mic.

Need a stereo mic, or want to achieve efficiencies/speed setting up overheads? V44s all day

The Lauten is probably more versatile than the v13 with the 3 voices & because it is little more scooped in the mids or cleaner sounding as mentioned. It still has a lot of character and is a warm sounding mic. It’s nice sometimes to not need a psu for a mic. However, it’s more expensive than the V13 and the heaviest mic I’ve used yet.

I sold the v13 after I got a tube mic with a ct12. The V13 is great though and sometimes I wish I didn’t sell it. Great mono overhead mic as is the Atlantis.

You can’t go wrong with either. Great problem to have.

Already had to deal with this on GDIY 🙃

It’s actually not a V4. Yea it’s a similar circuit and similar style (nice of them to rip our brand dress off). They even copied my gen1 PCB darn near identically although they couldn’t figure out inductor polarity so they moved those around. They did leave off the Tom Petty lyrics and Marty Druckman memorial silkscreen so that’s…nice I guess?

There’s quite a few component differences and the capsule is a k67 style (last time I checked anyways) that’s got a rather yucky top end. I’d definitely not call them “sounding the same”.

First thing you could do is ditch the polyester “wima” caps for true WIMA MKPs. The transistor is undoubtedly different than the expensive one we use as well.

BFL is made out of a factory in Enping, where we’ve never done any manufacturing (nor have we ever sourced entire mic kits single factories(.

I happened to be looking up some bai feili mics on YouTube tonight and came across this. He tends to agree with me.

I'll pull both out tonight and test. I haven't used the cheap one since I bought it as I didn't know how reliable it was. It's good to know the vanguard isn't smoke and mirrors. That was going to be my last purchase from them. I'm glad now I can continue to buy from them.

Thats one of the best drum videos I've ever seen.  I real world guy, doing the job and explaining what's up with tuning and resonance. 

I'm loving the Atlantis.  I might be able to get into one of the Vanguard mics soon.