As of today, the OP has ONE post on GS, the one that started this thread.
I usually don’t think much of such threads, because we are duped into giving advice to someone who is not listening and apparently did not care a bit about the subject in the first place.
But there has been a lot of good information here about every aspect of an historic icon microphone. And we’ve heard from some people who are reaching icon status themselves.
Humans can be so unpredictable!

Well, you have to start somewhere...
And yes, this for once was a good read!

I've chosen different route.
Ordered U47w from Gunther Wagner as one of main working tools I needed years ago and continuously hunted in Germany and USA for proper vintage U47 since then.
As I'm not a collector I didn't care for anything except sonics.
Simple truth, couldn't find 'subjectively better sounding' vintage U47 than Gunther's recreation and stopped the torture. The difference between some quite good original U47s is way bigger than between several best U47 and U47w I had a chance to test.
Finally, it is not an absolute must, except for total gearheads.

Wagner U47W

I had a client with Wagner #69 . It was awesome and every bit as good as our 1956 M7 U47 but new and with an ‘inky black’ silence and quietness about it.

Totally get one posters cure that the hunt was over.. I’d be there too if I bought one as good as #69

Wiggy

I too love my Wagner U47w with an M7 capsule.

Ghost

Is the used Wagner really worth £16k on Reverb? Surely it can’t be that different from a Flea, Nordic or a Wunder.

Seems steep to me, but it does sound like a U47.
I have never used a Flea, Nordic or Wunder, so they may be just as good.

Ghost

You always run into a wall when it comes to the compression from the vf14tube. Most Wagner has EF12 tubes and the lowlows are mostly missing.

whisper softly is as loud in volume as when you scream

I think at some point we’re going to have to readjust our bias(pun intended 🤣) towards anything Vf14 related.

If we’re not here now, we soon will be in-terms of just no NOS or used ones around for sale or use.

What’s going to be the new benchmark for what a 47 will sound like?

Wiggy

Hmm, I don't have a problem with the lows on mine.

nuvistor + bv11

I’ve used nuvistor’s a ton… no problems at all!

The thing about the nuvistor is that the bv8 turns ratio isn’t too favorable so you lose some low end. With a BV11 type ratio you regain it. That’s a mod Bock came up with back in his studio tech days iirc.

I’m thinking lately about setting up a kit mic like that.

A Warm 47?
Chris

All was said here ^^^^

But where's the fun in that?

Wait!
He forgot one thing.
Just get a SM7. And the Cloudlifter.
Chris

Telefunken u47 from French.

good luck on getting scammed... :D You forgot an irony smile on your post ;D

btw. i see one original for 34k dollars and one for 20k dollars going on ebay from most likely serious sellers. Prices gone over the roof lately?

I've compared my Wagner U47w to the Flea 47 Next: www.pilgrimstudio.ch/comparisons.php

The Flea sounds a little more polished and more modern (less "fireplace in a log cabin" feel) to me.

This is a clone from USA .. indeed. Sorry but I thought everyone know this.

Heisserman is WESOME NOTHING BAD TO SAY ABOUT IT ALL IS PERFECT WITH THAT MIC

Yep he called us POOR PEOPLE
kind of condescending tone on it.....

I’d like to hear that cos all the Nuvistor’s I’ve heard sounded dreadful.

Why is this a “reply” glued on to a post of mine from January 2021?
I would only expect a reply two years later when I am communicating with beings who are outside our solar system.
(And I am not admitting to having such communications.)

BV8 just has too low of a turns ratio for the output impedance of the circuit, when the nuvistor substitute is running in it.

It brings to mind some of the chatter about EF86 going on. The bass issue people experience with things like vintage EF86 vs the some of newer things that aren’t *really* EF86, just russian “equivalent” labelled as EF86 for our market, is somewhat related. Just a fair bit milder in effect. They have different plate characteristics from a real EF86, and have a hard time with the demands of the U67 circuit, especially in how the tube is loaded by the output transformer and preamp.

It took a whole year to get my reply from...
Bruno Mars.
Chris

I have spoken with Gunter Wagner about his mics and was very impressed by his unrelenting efforts to make clones that sound and operate as close to original u47s as possible.
Gunter explained to me years ago about how important the mesh material was to recreating the U47 head, and how the specifications of the original mesh are not properly copied by most clones.
He said he would periodically travel to Germany just to source the original mesh material from its original manufacturer to make his heads.
This is also probably why an original u47 head is worth up to $15,000 alone, without an amplifier section, simply because there are specs that make it unique and special to the sound it is creating.
The mesh material, the exact dimensions of the head, the type of metal, all of this impacts the resonant frequencies inside the head, (the physics of the sound waves and what happens to them when exactly would be better explained by someone with more technical knowledge of this). But this is why, even an original U47 head is now worth so much. The sound starts with the head and the capsule.

Also Gunther used primarily NOS parts that’s he hoovered up from Neumann before he left so he had a enough to make around 100 mics I’m lead to beleive by many in Australia that were able to get them when he was still making them.

Yes. Actually the last time I spoke with Gunter, I was looking for a specific part he had, but he had no extra, they were all going in his mics!

I will bet for an “online beer” that you don’t wanna hear any difference. if it's done properly.