U47 clone? MXL Revelation

[CoolCat]

the U47 clone , the K47 turns into a K67 capsule, the tubes change, nothing is the real one and the real ones are old as fu..ngus

I highly respect Recording Hacks mic work, and they lead me to a cheap U47 "sound" at least per the videos and shootout.

Tube Mic Voiceover Test

Sausalito, CA based voice actor Mark Keller set up a killer VO mic shootout by pitting his U47 against the sE Gemini II and MXL Revelation. We have HD video and the original audio WAVs. Are vintage mics really so magical? Hear for yourself!

recordinghacks.com

I can be honest, my room and noise floor sucks, its ok at times. My main hobbyist gearhead standard is the SM58 which I really like and can EQ to sound better.

But the point is the U47 sound, clone, attempt to be a tube-47 wannabe with some labor of love by the designers...MXL Revelation aka revII.

For me the MXL flagship was enticing enough to try at home. I chose it for a few reasons.
# 1 it was cheap, and I grabbed a return/open box at $309.
# 2 Harvey Gerst and Alex use it in their pro-studios...even though they dont have to.
# 3 it was cheaper than most and had the Recording Hacks articles & sound clips.

the quantity of U47 clones is so large, and all are not the original, and the price and labors of love of the mic dudes all seem to want to re-make a U47, as some challenge of all challenges....the tube one especially.

I might be back to offer some more opinion of my own. But initially the RevII is a lot more LDC than my 58. It also takes out the S'ss and my horrible shssh spikes. At -40, 10mv/pa its a really good sensitivity for my stock preamps too and room noises, as compared to 28mv/pa LDC that can pickup the attic fan spinning, the 10mv/pa is even less than the Shure LDC I tried out. They discontinued the other Revelations due to parts and sales and returned with this one. I probably would have bought the obsolete Solo as in a crap room I dont need Fig8 and Omni...Cardiod is 99.999% of the time. I tried the RODE NTV, a first tube mic and this Revelation is not like that. I dont know what 87,67, vintage U47 sound like in my closet studio, so I will take the internets words...and thanks to Recording Hacks work.

add: shootout with TLM170 and U47

MXL Revelation

 

[CoolCat]

A few days later....the MXL RevelationII (U47 sound attempt) has a really nice ability to handle my sss's and distorting ssshh's...for no better way to explain it. I have zero U47 clones or otherwise experience so my opinion is against SDC and SM58/SM7b.

Noise wasnt any issue with the MXL -40db(10mv/pa) other than it is more sensitive and picks up a room more , as most LDC's do.
So it was reading about 10db louder on the preamp meter, than the SM58 for example.

I went off on a tangent...
and compared the u47clone to all to my current pieces of preamps and a KT2A.
When doing these comparisons and putting things under the microscope the noise floor always seems to come up.
So in my HR opinion, the DMP3-MAudio seems to be the best in less noise floor and enough gain for anything I toss at it.
My interface IC preamps work fine too and have less noise floor. Adding 1073 clone or a ART tube or APHEX preamp adds some slight more noise, adding the KT2A cranked up for effect/smashed radio album sound adds some too. Cloudlifter was on the SM58.
Todays SDC were USA vintage 849 (think SM81)...and the MXL Rev..U47clone.

Its about the MXL mic, and its different and I like it , but it doesnt sound as good in my room as the pro-studio comparisons above.
Its clone days...a U47clone into a 1073Clone into a LA2A clone...playing a Beatles clone song.

Still fun messing about with this stuff....

ADD: a few more hours and days....
Had some odd noises, wasnt sure if it was the cables, my preamp, the MXL Rev2?
It seems this mic needs to settle in, so after a minute or two or 5 minutes things got much quieter.
This isnt a SM58 to plug and move and bang swap channels....its a LDC with 10x's the sensitivity and tubes and a power supply.
Reseating cables and 5 minutes warm up seemed to remove "the waterfall" noise.

PROs: handles sss and ssshh's amazingly well, probably the best Ive owned. Several comments say its very similar to U47 tube sounds....not read anything bad about it.
PRO's: Price is MXL levels not $800 or $8000....new is $500 but a person can probably get a little off that.
PRO: Multi Pattern- Variable...good side rejection when in Fig8...cool for acoustic guitar players singing at the same time.

CONS: LDC , higher sensitivity pickup more noises in a below average room...dynamics and solid state preamps win the "quiet contest of noise floors"

 

[CoolCat]

Well to close this out, the MXL Revelation II was returned. After a few more hours and running through what stuff I have here the noise was a bit much and there was some electronic noise that came from the power supply I think. Either way it would come and then go and due to that I sent it back.
When it was quiet, the noise floor was decent and usable and I really like the sound/eq of the mic for vocal, and acoustic. It had a nice sparkle on acoustic like a SM81 does.
The price was great at $300, but I think the noise background "waterfall-white noise" that would come and then go was why it was returned and I got it so cheap.
Anyway Musicians Friend returned it no issues.

Ive had quite a little run of bad budget stuff with tubes in them? hmm...

The SM7b/SM58 into a Cloudlifter into the interface was the clear winner on silent background and best lowest noise floor.

I do kind of miss that LDC sparkle though and the MXL RevelationII... now wanting to try another "U47 ish" mic... Im not sure I'll got tube though, due to my limited space and the powersupply possibly adding noise to everything. Maybe a UT 47 FET or a CM48 fet tuned like the MXL Rev2... TransformerLESS like the Nuemann TLM series, as I do like the silence background instead of the running-water noise which made me want to dig out gates and expanders and I dont want to deal with those either.

MXL Revelation sound was really 5 stars....er....except for the random noise on this B-Stock unit.