What's the latest gear you've acquired?

Just got the very first Blackspade UM-17R MK II, and it's a champ. I've only had a few minutes with it, so I expect even further improvement when it's had a couple hundred hours use. I've had two of their mics with the Thiersch M7 Blueline capsule, and switched to the Redline because I wasn't completely satisfied with the tone I was getting. Mike from Blackspade was incredibly helpful and intuitively suggested I try the Redline capsule because I'd expressed a preference for the tone of the Neumann U-67 and Soyuz 0-17 and a couple of other mics, and they all didn't have PVC skins on the capsule.

They're releasing the Redline Mk II UM-17 R in a few weeks, so I have the first production model, handmade at Blackspade Acoustics in Switzerland. After much back and forth, I received the mic two days ago. I thought we'd settled on the Blueline anyway, and tried a test vocal on a track where I had used both the Soyuz 0-17 and the UM-17B (blueline). So I did a cranky vocal early in the morning, just to be sure it was working, and then compared it to the other two. So, I actually thought I had the Blueline capsule in my new mic when I did the test, so I had no bias toward the Redline. To me, the new build is more like 75% U-47, 25% M49. The previous version was more like 85% M-49, 15% U-47, and I definitely like the sound of the new version better. I did quite well with the original, so this was a pleasant surprise.

I noticed that the new vocal felt bigger than the previous Blackspade vocal, more open, less sibilant, cleaner, smoother overall, more gain, (not to say the original was overly sibilant), and the high end was so smooth and airy, it almost reminded me of a C-12 in that regard. I compared the new track to the Soyuz track. I should be clear about that, the Soyuz in my experience is a monster. It's in the direction of a Neumann style, but is seriously not a clone, it's in the world class of vintage U-67's, C-12's, and U-47's, but has it's own unique character.

I honestly can't say for sure yet if I would choose the Soyuz over the new mic, as I haven't used it enough yet, but, for it to be that close in quality at $1500 less in price is amazing in the first place. They've obviously gone for the quality build and not the hype, as there are some mics being sold with nearly identical parts to the UM-17 B and R for $6,000. 

I'm very happy to feel I'm finally not settling for a compromised vocal sound. Will I eventually find another main vocal mic I prefer, who nows, give me a U-67, or a C-12, and I might find I prefer them, but I may not, and that's really saying something.

Oh, and the ten year warranty, not too shabby.