JK's MKU47 build thread

It sounds good. I personally couldn't care less if anyone else thinks it's "up to spec".

Respectfully of coarse.

   As most of you know, I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I tell the truth as i see it, so if this brings backlash? then so be it!
I'm sick of this guys BS honestly, what I believe you're reading is Klaus protecting his own best interest, which would be fine as long as it's NOT at the expense of others!
  Question, Has anyone heard a klaus mic? what does klaus do exactly?(his site tells you exactly nothing) does he reskin capsules? because if he doesn't, it must mean he's modding classic Neumann circuits?...seriously what?
   If he is indeed modding classic circuits?, it's utter sacrilege imo. He has also self proclaimed his sonic impression as "evolving"(his words) as to the proper aesthetics? So for someone so exacting in his stance, this is a little confusing? I mean a Neumann mic that leaves his hand should sound like the "ideal" neumann mic..right? If you're such an exacting expert, the goal is a fixed target right?
   My personal position is that if there is something "broken" inside a classic mic circuit, you fix it as close to original as possible and nothing more! Do no harm! These are historic relics for god sake! The capsules are another story altogether, they take some strange voodoo skills as far as i'm concerned, and we all know who the king ruling that sanctum is.
   I bought into the whole "this guy is renowned, he must be the best" thing, and after i read Klaus giving ben sneesby's k47 capsule the highest praise I've ever seen(yes, a stunner to all in the know lol), i excitedly bought a bunch of useless BN capsules(i'm guessing the one Klaus got had ALL the backplate holes drilled?, and no wrinkles like 3 of the 5 pieces i received?, the other two sound great as cool looking paperweights), they ended up as the biggest waste of $, and worst experience in my DIY building career.
   Only after this I started reading/noticing Klaus contradicting himself on many occasions(i was probably looking harder?), Honestly, his reputation since my debacle seems a bit of an internet zeitgeist in retrospect? So clearly i'm not buying what he's selling anymore. Yes from a historical perspective he knows his shit. That and $5 will buy you a coffee at Sixbucks.
   
   IMO This is NOT rocket science no matter what Klaus pretends, so i'll put my money where my mouth is, I WILL PUT MY DIY MK47 AND C12 UP AGAINST ANY MIC of the same family KLAUS HAS EVER WORKED ON- IN A BLIND POLL, AND I'LL BET THE "MICS" THEMSELVES THAT AT LEAST HALF(IF NOT MORE)OF THE PEOPLE WILL PICK MY MICS OVER HIS.
   To be clear, I'm not selling shit, I'm a nobody, but i've been obsessively into this for over 20 years, and I trust my ears, i've had my hands on/in some pretty good sounding mics, my self built MK47 lived with a bunch of diff caps for good periods, the blueline was the easy winner in the MK47 imo(thats not saying the others were bad or the blueline couldn't be better with some sinsay sauce?), the blueline was more stable, focused and 3d to my ears, it has great top end, but definitely NOT in a C12 sort of way(sibilance nor extension, as it shouldn't).

The MKU47 has the potential to sound as good as any U47 out there...period, i'll bet klaus on that.
example, here's a DIY C12/MK47 clip i posted a while back, recorded in my garage, not a drop of anything added, i didn't even bother to correct phase or match levels 8) I will be posting some samples of JK's mic after burn in as well.
https%3A//soundcloud.com/tonycamp/u47c12-clones-over-shoulder-stereo-sample-no-processing-at-all

as we speak i work 8) This is superbowl/supermic weekend 8)

I think I will just sell everything, clean tony's toilets  and ask him to record me for the rest of my life, does acoustic guitar sound any better ?

MAN !!!!

Klaus is an expert for sure, and he may be right. There may be no ideal capsule for a current u47 production mic, but his experience is limited to memory here, and we all have a way of glorifying those magical moments of the past. Most everything is magic until you know how it works, then it's just physics. I think what we have here is some memory glorification mixed with a wide variance in the capsules that did ship in production U47s. Klaus may simply just remember those mics as being better than anything his (older and more experienced) ears hear now. As Tony said, if it's impossible to do now then what is Klaus selling? I can promise this, anyone with an ear worth a damn will be wide eyed with an open mouth the first time they hear the MK-U47 with a blueline or Redline cap. Hell, I think the mparts K47 clone even sounds pretty damn good in one. I'm looking forward to hearing Eric Heiserman's undoubtedly fine capsule soon too, as well as resident mic ninja Sinsay's capsules. The reason Neumann switched from the M7 to the K47 was consistency, so which M7 is Klaus referring to? One made on Wednesday or Thursday? Plus, we are not talking about forensics here. Nobody is trying to exactly match a particular vintage 47 on a particular day. A time machine is needed for that. We are talking about re-creating a tool that gets you to a specific place and only folks who have never used one will tell you that it's not possible.

I love Klaus for sharing his knowledge freely and openly with the world and in that he is a valuable asset to us all. That said, there are two kinds of experts in the world. Those who think their knowledge and opinion are complete and exact and those who take and treat their expertise as evolutionary. I think that's why we all loved the late Oliver Archut so much. He was as much an expert in the field, but not afraid to change his opinion or learn something new.

Klaus isn't really offering anything new here. He is just creating a wave of confusion and doubt about an otherwise very valuable project. He mentions the blueline is not the be-all, end-all U47 capsule though and in that I agree. The redline is also awesome, and my instinct and experimentation tell me that there are other capsules that will be both different and equally as amazing in Max's version of this mic.

We are all just learning after all, like the guys who designed and built the U47 to begin with.

Yeah that clip is a how to.

Hey tonycamphd - what's the tuning on The Rain Song...I could google...but you know...

I know everyone's gaga over the Thiersh caps, but I've got one of the heresy K7's from Sneesby in mine and have heard clips of the K7, blue line and redline back to back - same performance, same studio that Scott Leibers and Dan Deurloo did. I'm not bummed at all that mine has the K7. It's a fantastic capsule.

I have a friend who owns two of the Klaus U87 mods. The mics sound great. Klaus doesn't mess wit the capsule but he does go through the mic and replace some of the electrolytics and other little tweaks that make the mic sound a little more open in the high end. It's not voodoo. Much of it is just a collection of mods guys have made over the years. It reminded me of a more thorough and updated version of the "New York Mod" guys used to do to vintage 87s. Klaus does a lot more than that and it sounds better than the New York Mod.

I personally like the way a vintage U87 sounds, I don't want more of an open top end on it. If I did I would use a different mic like a Sony. Most of these mods are for guys who own one or two mics and think they need to make these changes to their vintage mics which they don't. The vintage U87 sounds best as is.

As far as Tony Campbell's comments I agree that Klaus does try to keep private very simple mods that have been made to Neumanns over the years by many people who came before him. And most of those guys in the old days didn't try to build a cottage business around it but you can't knock the Klaus for building a business, especially as times have changed.

AS far as a MK47 having the potential to be as good as any vintage Neumann U47, sorry Tony but now you're jumping the shark a little. It's a great mic and I love mine, but it will never sound like a vintage Neumann U47. And it doesn't need to. It's close enough and a great tool, but it's no Neumann. In all fairness those vintage Neumanns were made in the post war era and during a time when Germany had the resources and engineers to help spur its development. It's just not fair to compare Max's clone to a vintage Neumann and you don't need to. And most people don't need a vintage Neumann. If you are an accomplished recording artist and you make records for a living I can certainly see why you might choose a vintage Neumann U67 or U47 in the studio, they have a wonderful complexity and sound that is unparalleled in my opinion. But sometimes that's not the right fit or not the signature that's needed.

But make no mistake there is definitely a certain compression and mojo, and detail in a vintage Neumann U47 that is not in the MK47. But you're comparing a $12,000 mic to a $2,000 mic. I would gladly use either one but the Neumann has those little incremental extras the MK47 doesn't have. Just not worth $10,000 extra to me unless it's in someone else's studio. LOL

   I really think you're being honest in your belief, but this drives me nutz because it's based on ? there is nothing substantive to support these statements IMV. You're certainly entitled to your opinion of course, but the statements don't stand on their own. I could say.. "No 2 Neumanns sound the same".. would anyone argue that? That alone kinda blows these kinds of statements up. 

I'm not a DIY guy so my perspective is different than yours Tony. It might drive you crazy but that's how it goes in life. I often go through this with Chefs and foodies. If you can't tell or notice why one Chef's creme brûlée or polenta is better than anothers it doesn't mean it isn't there, that is just your frame of reference. You can't yell at others who have a different palette and say "there is no quantifiable difference". It's a silly argument and doesn't hold true with audio either. I have heard and used all sorts of vintage mics, preamps etc. I can always hear a difference in every piece of gear I use. If you think detail in a microphone is not an advantage, and or the compression effect that a vintage U47 inherently has then that's your personal preference, maybe you don't like hot blondes either