Warm WA47Jr first test

TalismanRich

Well-known member
I have to give Sweetwater credit, the WA47Jr arrived about 24 hours after it was ordered!

Before golf this afternoon, I had a chance to do a quick and dirty comparison of the 47Jr to my NT-1 and Studio Projects B3. I had a scratch guitar track for the Beatles' For No One, and set up the mics together at 120 degree angles with a nylon pop filter in front of them. I did a quick rundown vocal to see how they compare. I was surprised that the B3 was pretty darn close to the 47Jr, maybe a touch more sibilant. The NT-1 is definitely the warmest sounding.

Here are the raw files for each mic, at 320k. Let me know your thoughts.

It will probably be a few days before I get back to recording. Saturday is full with golf, a football game and dinner afterwards. Tomorrow will be painting outside while the weather is nice.

Once I get the porch and garage trim painted, I can get back to playing.
 

Attachments

  • For No One Rode - NT1.mp3
    4.5 MB
  • For No One Rode - SP-B3.mp3
    4.5 MB
  • For No One Rode - WA47Jr.mp3
    4.5 MB
Very nice. I preferred the Warm over the NT1, even though the difference is subtle. Aren't new mics great? I just got a Neumann TLM 102 and now I'm debating on buying a Telefunken.
 
I had a chance to do a quick and dirty comparison of the 47Jr to my NT-1 and Studio Projects B3. I had a scratch guitar track for the Beatles' For No One, and set up the mics together at 120 degree angles with a nylon pop filter in front of them. I did a quick rundown vocal to see how they compare. I was surprised that the B3 was pretty darn close to the 47Jr, maybe a touch more sibilant. The NT-1 is definitely the warmest sounding.
Interesting - the Rode seem to be the most articulated - the B3 the least. The Warm Audio was the least remarkable.
 
Man all three were so similar. In a mix and some eq , dynamics...I dont know if I could tell.
for me I wouldnt need 3 mics that sound so similar. but I find that with my own tests too, mics, preamps, etc..not some night and day difference.

Toss in a raw SM7b and then maybe a larger difference. Or if one is a better pattern mic...
But with the three LDC's here, to me so close in sound, I would then look for other comparisons, the cost....the feel...the add-ons, the deal the build...the vibe you like personally.

My first listen I liked the Warm the best, but then 2,3,4 listens and its pretty minimal.
The WARM has the capsule and internal components of "brand name" so with that at least it brings to the comparison X vs Y(with top brand name parts).....then a person might not hear much of a difference and wonder then what is the hype excitement about WIMA and etc..parts too? WARM is what I think of the HiEnd of the Chineese stuff. I had the 47jr then the 47tube and its the same capsule. Some like the 47jr better because its not cumbersome like the tube and powersupply and cables etc...a LDC Fet, offers less hassle, and sounds pretty damn close for a fraction of the cost.

My recent compare mics is KSM44 and MXLV67g, dont get me started now Im running with a Channel Strip with EQ...lol
EQ on the mics , well, then where does that go?

I was listening closely to see which one handled the SSHHHEEE SSSAID SHH spikes but none of them really had that issue, which is probably the singers skill or natural tones. Then its which mic popps the worst? none did, again the singer and maybe a good p-pop filter is in place.
But those are the two big uglies and I didnt hear it on any of the three mics.....so to me very similar in sound and track to track.

Maybe it comes down to which one is cheaper? or which one has a better shock mount? :eatpopcorn:
 
I was listening closely to see which one handled the SSHHHEEE SSSAID SHH spikes but none of them really had that issue, which is probably the singers skill or natural tones. Then its which mic popps the worst? none did, again the singer and maybe a good p-pop filter is in place.
Aw, the singer is a hack... a real amateur! :D

You mentioned cost and shock mount. With the $50 off, I figured what the heck. At $250, the Warm is now cheaper than the Rode, and it's multipattern. My Rode has the Rycote mount, which I REALLY like. I'm glad I didn't go for the Miktek a while back, I think it would be too bright for me.

When I recorded the track, I had an 8 inch nylon pop filter about 3 inches from the front of the mics, and I was about 8 inches back from the pop filter. The record volume was about -15dB. I normalized the files, and then tweaked the volume a few tenths of a dB to get the peak difference to less than 1dB. There was no EQ, compression or anything else. Recording was done at 88K/24bit, and rendered to MP3 in Reaper at 320K.

I picked For No One specifically because it has lots of potential sibilance issues. Lots of S words. I was really curious if the 47jr would have a big advantage here. To me, the NT-1 controls sibilance by not peaking the 5-10k region like a majority of the mics out there. The SP-B3 was my first condenser, I got a pair when I bought my AW16G around 2005. At the time, the SP mics were the hot item, especially the C3. The B3s are actually turning out to be pretty darn good, especially for what was a $120 mic (at the time).

After I get finished with my chores around the house, I'm going to try doing some M/S guitar with the 47jr in fig 8 mode, and the NT-1 as the cardioid. Could be interesting.

I think I'm done buying microphones, unless I try one and it simply blows my socks off.
 
the WARM 47jr with the patterns and extra-high end parts makes it a huge seller.
the price is better than most DIY's...it has the 47 capsule...dual diaphragm. ..the shockmounts...really? how do they sell it so cheap?

after listening to 20qty hi-end samples this morning of multi-thousand $ mics and expensive preamps that all sounded very very normal..
...it all starts seeming silly to me. With the gear like a WA47jr hanging as good as nearly anything, imo, and I can say that about a lot of mics when some "eq love and "comp n verb vibes" are added. Mics at some point get kind of like preamps, where theres some difference in sound but then it becomes what knobs do you want, what switches, FIG 8? or HPF, or sensitivity specs...noise specs?

The NT1 amazing super quiet specs, has all the holders and amazing price too. The WA47jr has all the patterns, a pad, HPF and the full dual capsule. I suppose thats a considerable difference of the the two maybe more so than sound?

WA47jr 10mv/pa and the NT1 at 8mv/pa....those are the sweet spots for my HR, not too sensitive like 28mv/pa....and not too low 1.5mv/pa requiring boosters/preamps.... interface preamps work great with the 8~10mv/pa range.

still seems to me, once the EQ is turned on the mic differences get miniscule.
Dont most agree the CAPSULE is the big one?
then Transformer or not, the discrete components and "eq' ish things more subtle.

what makes a mic "bad"?
sibilance? p-popps? noise floor? being able to take a drop or two?

:eatpopcorn:
 
I think the Warm might mix in with less tweaking for this use case and voice, and probably lots others. But (quick listen on cans), it seemed to lack a bit of weight (Warmth or maybe a bit more [abused word here] "air"?) in the lower end that I like for much of the singer-songwriter kind of stuff I do. Of course, mic position might be all that it would take to change my mind.
 
Thanks for the comments. I haven't gotten back to the mic comparisons. I wanted to do some work with my Taylor.

Unfortunately, the weather outside has been really nice, so I've been doing some house painting while it's warm and dry. Pulling storm windows and doors is more of a chore than I remembered!

I think the Warm might mix in with less tweaking for this use case and voice, and probably lots others. But (quick listen on cans), it seemed to lack a bit of weight (Warmth or maybe a bit more [abused word here] "air"?) in the lower end that I like for much of the singer-songwriter kind of stuff I do. Of course, mic position might be all that it would take to change my mind.
I think that the NT1 has the lower weight. It's been my go to mic for vocals.so far. The 47jr is more midrange and top. I don't know if it will replace the NT1 for my vocals. We'll see...
 
I had a bit of time before the day started so I ran off this quick test of the NT1, WA47Jr and SP-B3 on my guitar. While still "close" the guitar definitely shows differences that the vocal doesn't. Here I'm definitely feeling the WA47Jr is more even, has more sparkle than the NT1, but better controlled on the bottom than the SP-B3.

Comments?
 

Attachments

  • Guitar Rode NT1.mp3
    3 MB
  • Guitar SP-B3.mp3
    3 MB
  • Guitar Warm 47Jr.mp3
    3 MB
No, the Warm47jr had less boominess. The NT1 had the most. The Warm also had more twang in the picking. The NT1 was duller.

What acoustic? It sounds nice.
 
I thought the SP sounded the most balanced, I liked it the best. Nt1 was the warmest and had the least of what I would call high pitch/string noise. The Warm Jr. was a little too bright but sounded ok. None sound bad, they are just different.
 
The guitar is my Taylor 310ce with Elixer light phosphor bronze Nanowebs. The mics were about 20-24 inches away, pointing roughly at the neck joint. I moved back a bit to try to minimize the slight difference in placement.
 
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