Signal Art U-48 Premium Ref Historic Switch Edition Review
Oct 31, 2024 10:18:09 GMT -6
Johnkenn, ericn, and 8 more like this
Post by cdkelly on Oct 31, 2024 10:18:09 GMT -6
Hey, thanks for the kind words, John! Just now seeing the thread. To answer the question, yes, I did work on the Warm 47! SAE also have a mod out for it which brings it to its fullest potential.
And speaking of more affordable tube 47's/48's, we 'may' have something cooking on the UNITED STUDIO TECH front to show you all very soon!
Best,
Chad
Long title. www.signalartelectronics.com/product-page/u48-premium-reference-historic-switch-edition
Community Note: I traded ad space plus money for this mic. But I will tell you my honest impressions and you’re welcome to ask me anything.
I’ve always wanted a U-48 for the Fig 8 over the Omni of the 47…and I had been looking at Signal Art for a while. I had a client that I mixed for that recorded different vocalists all the time. Every time he sent something I was kinda surprised at how good the vocal recording was (In this case, I figured it was gonna be a problem with both the Indian and the Arrow)…and every time I asked, it was the same answer: Warm 47. Color me shocked. It actually kinda sounded like a 47. So over the years, I had heard that Chad Kelly had worked on this (guess I should confirm this with him lol) and it really made me interested in what he was doing without the built-to-a-price build. Enter Signal Art Electronics…SAE.
Chad is a super nice guy and very, detailed and verbose on the subject. He didn’t try and up-sell me on anything, and I felt like what he was telling me was truly his best advice. He told me about the three capsules he offers (though I’m not sure one is available now.) I ended up going with the OPR capsule as Chad said he thought this was probably the most true to a vintage example. He said he feels like the 408a Western Electric tubes give the closest approximation to the VF14 available. I spoke to Chad and bowie about upgrading tubes and they both said that the 408a was probably the best version of that tube available. Chad says he goes through about 8-10 before he finds the right ones. I guess there are a lot of noisy ones. There’s an explanation of why he chose to build this circuit on the SAE U48 page.
The Build
It’s a beautiful mic. Very well done. Love the mechanical switch on the 48. Looks very historically accurate. I’d love to look inside, but I’ll have to wait until my wrist heals from trying to unscrew the bottom body screw. Seriously. Couldn’t get it going and just gave up. Wondering if it’s locktite or something? I was surprised at the quality of the cables provided. Medical grade IEC, Gotham cables, a brand new multimeter. Good functional case. Not a Pelican case, but if you wanna lug this thing around, you might invest in one eventually.
The Sound
This k47 capsule sounds a lot like the M7 caps I’ve used and tried. It’s beautifully detailed, but not sibilant, has a little peak at 3.5kHz, but that could be my room. That being said, it’s not as forward in my Soyuz. IMO, 47/48s are all about the mids. Like the 300 Hz to 1 kHz (I’m just spitballin’ here). I always tend to judge a mic with: how do these frequencies sound when I boost them? When I cut - say 400Hz - how do the upper mids sound? When you boost is it harsh? When you cut do you reveal a super harsh upper midrange that is well - a nightmare?
Happy to say, this mic captures every frequency cleanly and clearly. I’ve use mics like one 67 (won’t mention the manufacturer, but it got Warm) and when you pulled out some of the bottom end to fit in the mix, you were left hearing the glass-cutting upper mids. Put it back in, and they were masked. It was kind of shocking. (OK, I just thought of analogy that is akin to the song Dude Looks Like A Lady, but I’ll leave it to your imagination.)
It’s lighter in the lower mids (150-300) than a Heiserman - and if you’re looking for a comparison, I’d say the H47 sounds a bit more modern. Less mid forward and more smiley. I tried their M7 one time and from memory, it was similar. I go back and forth about what I think about that big of a bottom end. The Heiserman is so big, it’s hard to dig out the bottom sometimes to fit right in a modern mix. But it’s got a huge bottom. Chad tells me that the OPR is actually really big on the subsonic frequencies - I assume he means lower than like 65 Hz? Vocals and AG obviously don’t reach down that far…I actually thought the bottom end was perfect for the acoustic passes below. I don’t think I’ve ever had an acoustic recording by an LDC that wasn’t HPF that I thought wasn’t way too big on bottom.
My vocal can get piercing in the mids. I’m always dealing with it. I’ve noticed that there’s a resonance on my vocals right around 3.5kHz. Once I notch that out, it’s amazing how much - what’s the word - “calmer” or more pleasing it is. I do think it’s inherent to this capsule as I don’t have that particular frequency as a noticable issue with other mics…but I do still have similar resonances with other mics. I assume it’s a room issue. My vocal is bright, piercing and loud…and we’re all our own biggest critics…so some things I obsess over might not make a difference to you. It’s like - I know that spot in my voice and when I hear it - I’m hyper sensitive to it. Just FYI, Chad mentioned he would put any capsule provided in the mic.
My take on the OPR capsule is this: it sounds like an M7. To me, this is what I would call “more vintage.” Here’s Chad’s description:
“So, the stock OPR is warm but neutral. It is tuned lower than many capsules, to historic specs. it has a wider frequency response than some capsules, particuarly low end reach. It gets down into the rumble/subsonic region; but it is not by any means muddy or bassy, dark or bright. It's quite neutral, but just casts a wide net. I think for general music application, to include vocals, this capsule wins out by a hair, and also if you are trying to stay close to what the first K47-fitted U47's behaved like.”
Neutral is a good description. It’s not lacking lower mids…they’re just not unnaturally boosted for instant-Sinatra. I can see adding a little bit at 200Hz and maybe taking out a tiny bit of 3.5kHz on my vocals.
The Price
You’re not going to find this quality any cheaper. Period. This is a bespoke mic from someone that knows what they’re doing. They’re $2300 for the time being and perform like twice that price. I’ll add samples as I finish them and pics as I get them.
Acoustic
SAE U48 into H2 0011 No Verb - drive.google.com/file/d/1-iT8Q5TvZjhSAiGD8itQ5oTJAWQ0rvjp/view?usp=sharing
SAE U48 into H2 0011 With Verb - drive.google.com/file/d/1ALizlYJej12nYS9m28qpmYNGnvWDYiYu/view?usp=sharing
And speaking of more affordable tube 47's/48's, we 'may' have something cooking on the UNITED STUDIO TECH front to show you all very soon!
Best,
Chad
Community Note: I traded ad space plus money for this mic. But I will tell you my honest impressions and you’re welcome to ask me anything.
I’ve always wanted a U-48 for the Fig 8 over the Omni of the 47…and I had been looking at Signal Art for a while. I had a client that I mixed for that recorded different vocalists all the time. Every time he sent something I was kinda surprised at how good the vocal recording was (In this case, I figured it was gonna be a problem with both the Indian and the Arrow)…and every time I asked, it was the same answer: Warm 47. Color me shocked. It actually kinda sounded like a 47. So over the years, I had heard that Chad Kelly had worked on this (guess I should confirm this with him lol) and it really made me interested in what he was doing without the built-to-a-price build. Enter Signal Art Electronics…SAE.
Chad is a super nice guy and very, detailed and verbose on the subject. He didn’t try and up-sell me on anything, and I felt like what he was telling me was truly his best advice. He told me about the three capsules he offers (though I’m not sure one is available now.) I ended up going with the OPR capsule as Chad said he thought this was probably the most true to a vintage example. He said he feels like the 408a Western Electric tubes give the closest approximation to the VF14 available. I spoke to Chad and bowie about upgrading tubes and they both said that the 408a was probably the best version of that tube available. Chad says he goes through about 8-10 before he finds the right ones. I guess there are a lot of noisy ones. There’s an explanation of why he chose to build this circuit on the SAE U48 page.
The Build
It’s a beautiful mic. Very well done. Love the mechanical switch on the 48. Looks very historically accurate. I’d love to look inside, but I’ll have to wait until my wrist heals from trying to unscrew the bottom body screw. Seriously. Couldn’t get it going and just gave up. Wondering if it’s locktite or something? I was surprised at the quality of the cables provided. Medical grade IEC, Gotham cables, a brand new multimeter. Good functional case. Not a Pelican case, but if you wanna lug this thing around, you might invest in one eventually.
The Sound
This k47 capsule sounds a lot like the M7 caps I’ve used and tried. It’s beautifully detailed, but not sibilant, has a little peak at 3.5kHz, but that could be my room. That being said, it’s not as forward in my Soyuz. IMO, 47/48s are all about the mids. Like the 300 Hz to 1 kHz (I’m just spitballin’ here). I always tend to judge a mic with: how do these frequencies sound when I boost them? When I cut - say 400Hz - how do the upper mids sound? When you boost is it harsh? When you cut do you reveal a super harsh upper midrange that is well - a nightmare?
Happy to say, this mic captures every frequency cleanly and clearly. I’ve use mics like one 67 (won’t mention the manufacturer, but it got Warm) and when you pulled out some of the bottom end to fit in the mix, you were left hearing the glass-cutting upper mids. Put it back in, and they were masked. It was kind of shocking. (OK, I just thought of analogy that is akin to the song Dude Looks Like A Lady, but I’ll leave it to your imagination.)
It’s lighter in the lower mids (150-300) than a Heiserman - and if you’re looking for a comparison, I’d say the H47 sounds a bit more modern. Less mid forward and more smiley. I tried their M7 one time and from memory, it was similar. I go back and forth about what I think about that big of a bottom end. The Heiserman is so big, it’s hard to dig out the bottom sometimes to fit right in a modern mix. But it’s got a huge bottom. Chad tells me that the OPR is actually really big on the subsonic frequencies - I assume he means lower than like 65 Hz? Vocals and AG obviously don’t reach down that far…I actually thought the bottom end was perfect for the acoustic passes below. I don’t think I’ve ever had an acoustic recording by an LDC that wasn’t HPF that I thought wasn’t way too big on bottom.
My vocal can get piercing in the mids. I’m always dealing with it. I’ve noticed that there’s a resonance on my vocals right around 3.5kHz. Once I notch that out, it’s amazing how much - what’s the word - “calmer” or more pleasing it is. I do think it’s inherent to this capsule as I don’t have that particular frequency as a noticable issue with other mics…but I do still have similar resonances with other mics. I assume it’s a room issue. My vocal is bright, piercing and loud…and we’re all our own biggest critics…so some things I obsess over might not make a difference to you. It’s like - I know that spot in my voice and when I hear it - I’m hyper sensitive to it. Just FYI, Chad mentioned he would put any capsule provided in the mic.
My take on the OPR capsule is this: it sounds like an M7. To me, this is what I would call “more vintage.” Here’s Chad’s description:
“So, the stock OPR is warm but neutral. It is tuned lower than many capsules, to historic specs. it has a wider frequency response than some capsules, particuarly low end reach. It gets down into the rumble/subsonic region; but it is not by any means muddy or bassy, dark or bright. It's quite neutral, but just casts a wide net. I think for general music application, to include vocals, this capsule wins out by a hair, and also if you are trying to stay close to what the first K47-fitted U47's behaved like.”
Neutral is a good description. It’s not lacking lower mids…they’re just not unnaturally boosted for instant-Sinatra. I can see adding a little bit at 200Hz and maybe taking out a tiny bit of 3.5kHz on my vocals.
The Price
You’re not going to find this quality any cheaper. Period. This is a bespoke mic from someone that knows what they’re doing. They’re $2300 for the time being and perform like twice that price. I’ll add samples as I finish them and pics as I get them.
Acoustic
SAE U48 into H2 0011 No Verb - drive.google.com/file/d/1-iT8Q5TvZjhSAiGD8itQ5oTJAWQ0rvjp/view?usp=sharing
SAE U48 into H2 0011 With Verb - drive.google.com/file/d/1ALizlYJej12nYS9m28qpmYNGnvWDYiYu/view?usp=sharing
