Another vote for the Upton 251. A pair of them landed at my studio a year or so ago and I've been in love ever since. I've had several opportunities to use a few different proper vintage 251s over the years, and these Uptons are the first clones that really wowed me.

I had all three together in my studio , Upton, Telefunken and Bock, the Upton I had received had a loose capsule in it so I had to send it back , I was able to demo a few songs. what I found was
the Bock sounded very nice and took eq better than the Telefunken and the Upton . This was the third Telefunken I had demoed and it was good , one out of the three 251 mics I used was magic the other two just good . the Bock did not have the reediness in the mids that you hear in the Telefunken but was the most versatile of the three mics. Since the Upton was not up to par it would not be fair to comment except to say that the other two sounded better to me in my studio on my source. When people compare all of these clones I have had them all. I searched for a mic for my daughter for 3 years before I found the right one. She currently uses a new Telefunken c12. Extremely powerful Alto voice .

The difference between the clones and the AKG c12,s and Tele mics and all the others becomes extremely noticeable when you push the mics with very dynamic female singers . My daughter's voice is extremely complex and it takes a very special mic to handle the task. I laugh when I see people trying to compare a modded $300 mic talking in to the mic .
when you push the Tele or the c12 is when the magic either happens or the mic falls apart.

My Soundelux has been shining for quite a few years. Amazing microphone and a perfectly equal high end mic to my C800-G. They are both incredible.
Also, don't forget that you need a great chain, preamp and converters as without it you won't get the best out of your mic.

I have 2 Bocks and they are fantastic. Incredible, smooth top end and full of body.

If the likes of Bock and Flea are currently beyond one's reach, would anyone have a preference between the following:

Advanced Audio CM251 (per marketing spiel, Jack Douglas heard this and bought two)

Warm Audio WA-251 ZenPro Heiserman Mod Edition

Thanks for any user impressions of either. They're within spitting distance price-wise.

Upton

I would take Advanced Audio over Warm.

IMHO the edge goes to Warm...
If you have the Zen Pro Heiserman mod.
Or have Chad @ Signal Arts mod it.
(In that price range)

Haven't tried the Upton, sounds great on John Kennedy's vocal clips.
Bock sounds awesome, when I've tried it.
I'm a fan of how David voices, all his vocal microphones.
Chris

I have an Upton.amazing mic.
Dallas tuned it just the way I wanted it.
He's waay into it.

dallas?

Dallas Upton = Upton Mics and Vintech Audio.

Stam Audio SA 251 is the best I have heard. It was almost indistinguishable from a vintage 251. Fantastic mic.

+1 on the Upton. I think ‘best’ can be highly subjective. But to my ears and it seems a lot of people it is really great!!

What a out the new Flea 251?

Vs the Heiserman? Their 47’s are close in quality.

I have two Soundeluxe 251's that I bought in 2002 that are probably more like Bock 251's as David had them for awhile in 2018 and upgraded everything he thought was best to upgrade. they sound fantastic. they have been great to have as a pair on many things over these twenty years. they are built like tanks. I expect to own them forever.


Be well

- Jack

Had both Upton and Bock 251's for years, sold them both after I got a Telefunken USA 251E two months ago

I really like the sound of the Upton a lot. The Telefunken USA one though is a mic I see a lot on pop productions these days. Does the Telefunken USA really sound better in your opinion?

No people just hope it looks like a real one.

For the money probably nothing can beat SubZero SZ-V12C (Avantone CV-12) + AAM Apex 460 mod pack. The result is a killer mic for slightly over €400.
You can go even deeper and get Heiserman HK12 or Tim Campbell CT12 and you're done.

hard to believe

The Tele 251e reissue( with an AC 701) I would characterize as more "laid back", the Upton 251 is a little more "upfront" and a touch brighter.

When you compare both the Upton has a more "wow" thing and modern sound, the Tele reissue is IMO more understated, but similar to an O.G. Neumann U87 I found the reissue takes EQ a bit better in the mix when shaping the sound overall. I feel you can EQ the reissue to sound like the Upton but harder to vice versa.

Also sibilance i found was brought out more pronounced on the Upton if there already.

Both need a customized chain (chosen preamp/compressor) to bring out there best quality if you ask me.

But if you compare both to an original its a whole different ball of wax.

Upton can voice their 251 to be a little darker on request one time for free (just cover shipping). IE as compared to how it ships stock, which is a little on the airier side - this is what most people expect IME. But it’s nice the option is there. I find sibilance +\- to be VERY preamp dependent.

Again just an opinion and to be honest I don't know if i would want the Upton voiced darker. The upfront character is what made me prefer it against the Bock 251. For a more modern vocal sound on a female vocalist for exampled it would work great and I would have no problem using it.

For more general use (acoustic guitar/drum overheads) besides female vocals, the Tele 251 reissue to my ears is more versatile (and a little boring at the same time).

But to be honest neither one to my ears stacked up against the original.
It was not only "ear opening" but a tad depressing, as in my heart (and wallet) I knew i would never be able to buy one in this lifetime.

IMHO, yes.

Out of the three, the Upton was the brightest and the Bock was the darkest(all relatively speaking). So sibilance had always been a problem with the Upton for me, and it's a bit thin comparing to the other two. And honestly Bock didn't really sound like a typical 251 to me (plus I never received a single reply to my emails in the past years from the company so I would avoid Bock as much as I can).

I used OG 251 a few times years ago in other studios so I am not quite sure if I could still remember that sound correctly. So my impression/decision was merely based on those three mics themselves in terms of which one sounded the best to my ears, not which one sounded the closest to the OG 251.

I used a few Tele USA 251's before (not mine) and they were nice but not wow. But this one which I just bought two months ago from VK is really stunning, the clarity is sick with full body and not harsh at all. I put in a NOS 6072 from Bowie and it sounds even better( a little more warmth and body in the low-mids , along with a smoother upper-midrange and more mellow top end). We shootout these three mics with a few engineer friends and we all picked the Tele USA without hesitation. The pres we used were RnD 5024, REDD47, and Coil 286. I don't know, maybe they have improved something in the recent years, who knows.

Honestly, I could care less if the Tele USA is a clone or reissue or whatever you wanna call it, as long as it sounds good to my ears, YMMV

Bock is it's own thing for sure. Tube changes the shade too loads. I put a matched 5* pair in and it got darker Kind of like a dark C12 really. Lovely though. I don't like these fizzy clones, I'd rather use my Sony C800G.
The CK12 is still a difficult capsule to clone. I think the Austrian Audio followed by the Haun are my favourites. Austrian Audio should do a C12a that would be so easy.

Hard to believe that probably nothing can beat this combo at this price tag or what?

http://recordinghacks.com/2010/02/14...udio-cm12-mod/

In general, 3 hours of work (no rocket science), 400-500€ and you've got descend pro level sounding elam251/c12 style mic.

I've made my own after lots of weeks of research and I'm more than happy with the results.

In general when comparing tube mics to any mic specifically a vintage tube mic, the actual tube in each mic makes a huge difference.

Modern tubes which all manufacturers have to use due to supply/avalaiblity will have a fairly large difference that can be heard in tone, depth and sometimes compression character. So if you really want to compare capsules and circuits fairly then you need to use the same tube in each mic.

I know it's a pain but that's really the best way to compare.

I also have a vocal that I run into a speaker and re record back in with the exact same chain so I can compare just the mic or whatever tweak / mod I may have made. This takes out performance issues that could possibly confuse the ears when comparing very subtle differences.

Fizzy is never good. The really great bright mics are never fizzy. They are clear and not problematic in the top. As you know, when you hear a great mic its hard to use the other mics with all the little issues.

The Bock is a good mic, my preference is the Upton though. Thanks for the insight on the Upton compared the USA Telefunken. The USA Telefunken with AMS Neve 1073DPA with Tube Tech CL1B seems to be a popular combo in pop productions these day. I don't see the Upton around as often but love the sound.


I thought the Austrian Audio one was supposed to be a bit different. Is it still better then what's in the Upton or Tele USA in your opinion?