I've never felt a "wow" from my U195s. On the other hand, the Peluso 22 47 is an "omigod". The LE can only be that much better, I imagine.

... though the U195s are what I go to for overheads. I think they're pretty good for that.

some mics are more sensitive to the pre they're matched with. the 195 is one of those. it's a drag, but that's what i've found. ( ever use a 57 with the great river? Ouch!) the mic works beautifully, for me, with a 1066 or 512. i wouldn't use it with an overly bright or clean, audiophile pre. although i don't find myself using it on vocals as often. make sure you use a pop filter- the stedman metal ones are excellent- that'll cut down on the sib.
very useful mic, and well-built.
david lawrence

It's also great as the outside the kick mic. Like you need to spend 1200+ dollars on a outside the kick mic.

the 195 dont event beat the TLM103, sound too thin. Need alot deEsser Work.

Cant compare to U87. Too far away dfegad

right now I'm picking up a U87 myself...

getting the Gefell before the price increase

BUT... already picked out my Christmas gift. The Peluso 22 47 LE with Telefunken tube

I tried out a u195 a little while ago on a male singer, and it sounded quite thin and sibilant compared to my tlm 103. I much prefered my Neumann or even my Rode NT2a / K2 to the Soundelux 195.

The Soundelux 251 sounds amazing though.

i for one, really enjoyed the sound of the 195 when i was using it for about 8-9 months at a studio i was working at. the path was usually 195->9098 Pre/EQ -> Summit Audio DCL-200/TubeTech Compressor or 9098 Compressor to PT...doing mostly rap vocals...not always the best choice, but certainly always a good choice, especially when the client wanted a quick sound.

sorry thats bull, I have a U87 and a U195 amongsts others and the 195 is fatter than my U87. The U87 has a more forward mid range, but the U195 has a bigger bottom, especially w fat mode. But the 2247 is way bigger than both.

Both Soundelux and Peluso are great USA companies, making great products ( and yes i quite like the newish 251 Telefunken clone). But at the end of the day these companies are making clones of the big name German brands. Given a choice with a suitable budget, i would still take the real thing if i could get my hands on one. If i couldnt afford it, i would save.

To be honest, any decent high end product worth its weight, would not use gimmick switches like a 'fat' mode. You could do better with a decent EQ than a silly little switch (prone to be a future problem). It just shows that some of these mic companies don't know the draw line IMO.

Well, Brauner uses a silly little switch on the VMA. But generally I agree with you on this point.

J.D.

I agree with the sibilance on the U-195. Great fat sound but if there is any sibilance in the singers voice then you better plan on breaking out the deesser. i actually just traded mine for a vintage U-87 which I prefer for vocals by a good margin. just has a beautiful midrange and is super smooth on top. I have heard other U-87's that I don't like as much but this one is an exception.

I am getting it all prettied up at Korby right now and get to try her again on Monday which i am stoked about. Should be fun.

I also have a Blue lollipop cap for my 451 and it is great. Very bright but when it works it is magic but it is picky and sometimes can sound mediocre. Very odd how it can go from amazing to just ok with different voices.

But now I am going to get a B6 capsule (the 47 type) and see what I get. I am also debating getting the 2247 by Peluso.

But to sum it up, my old 87 is much darker (in a good way) than my old U-195. Not as much lows, but for voice I would usually cut the lows that the 195 added half the time to help it sit. I find the U-87 to just sit better from the start. YMMV

What about that new TLM49 with the "U47" capsule, could it chime in here somehow?

So I picked up a Soundelux U195 last week and liked the mic, but returned it for the new TLM49. I had a few problems with the U195, could have just been this particular one. The mic would emit what appeared to be a voltage spike every 2 seconds or so. Would register on my Vt737 VU meter and in protools (waveform looked like an EKG). Only happened in normal mode, when switched to fat mode, problem appeared to go away. Also the output level seemed to change randomly. Switches on mic made alot of noise when used. Also found the mic to be very full sounding, but very sibilant as well.

In any event, I am trying the new TLM49, and also picked up a U87ai to compare the 2. I will keep one of them. Will post results soon. My chain is Neumann into vt737 into 002 rack. Used mostly on Vox and Acoustic Guitar.

And I thought we were talking high end. The poor bloke probably trusts neumann more than your monitors or room.

what is your response supposed to mean?

Thanks for the input on your experience with the U195. I would love to hear about the results from the TLM-49. I have my eye on this mic; it's in my price range (actually it's at a very interesting price point, $1500 USD; there are not too many mics at this price...).

So by all means, let us know about the TLM-49! I am less interested in whether you prefer the U87 to the TLM-49 (I already know what a U87 sounds like) than just in how the mic sounds IYO.


Cheers,

J.D.

Hey JD...I have been using the TLM49 on my voice, as well as acoustic guitar through my VT737 pre for the last few days. I really like the mic alot, think it sounds very full and clear. Nice rich bottom end. It seems to work real well on my voice, my acoustic sounds great as well and I will be returning the U87 today.

That's cool to hear... I wasn't too impressed with the TLM103, and I want to like this new mic. I have a 737 too so it's good to hear that you like the combo. Keep us posted on any developments!

Oh, one more thing: do you have experience with the AT4047? I own one and think it is a great mic, just wondering if you have used one and how it compares to the TLM49 (of course it's much cheaper, but it is probably the best mic I have used under $1000. IMHO.

Cheers,

J.D.

Wow, time to lay into the 195 ..

When I started up, I could manage only one "decent" mic, and went for a 195. Maybe not the best on everything, but very useful across the board .. acoustic gtrs, amps, drums (FOK especially), and of course .. vox. I rarely have a session where it doesn't come into its own on someone's voice somewhere, and on a recent album I've tracked, it was the vocal mic we preferred over 10 or so that we auditioned at the start of the process.

Which isn't to say that it's perfect or even near to it, but for the money, it doesn't disgrace itself .. which I would imagine could also be said for a decent used 87.

FWIW, if I was looking round now for an 87 alternative, I'd be considering things like the Pearlman/Pelusos, or a few mics different mics from ADK (for the same money).

IMHO of course ..

Every condensor I've ever used needs de-essing on the essiest singers. The U195 is certainly better in this regard than many others I've used. I find it to be a versatile mic that works very well on almost any source: vocal, acoustic guitar, clean electric, OH, and strings. There are some vocalists I've recorded that it doesn't agree with, but that could be said for any mic.

I'm extremely happy with my U195, and, when I don't have time to fuss around with auditioning lots of different mics, it is the mic I use. It's never going to sound bad, in my experience.

the u87 and u195 are different beasts. u195 is a very sweet, soft mic. in fat mode it has a substantial low end and a somewhat scooped mid. the u87 is a very hard mic with very detailed ballsy midrange. both are good mics, happily equipped with transformers, but they serve different functions.

JD, I do not own a 4047 but was actually thinking about picking one up. I heard decent things about it. I also have not heard a 103 so I cant comment. Sorry.

I personally prefer the U195 over the U87. The sound of the U195 DOES depend on the preamp A LOT - it needs a lot of gain over other mics. I like it with my A Designs P1 and my Neve 1066s

Just to clarify -

The Bottle B6 is sim. to a AKG C-12
The Bottle B7 is sim to a U47
and the BO is sim to a ELAM251.

Trebor

I have a Soundeluxe U195 that was sent back to Bock a couple years ago and upgraded the capsule and gave the mic an overhaul. It is fantastic.

Thankfully, they are now available again under the Soundelux brand, with a new K67 capsule,
I have a Bock Audio 195 [with the older capsule] and we use it every session.

IMHO the U195 is a very nice mic, but I never use it for vocals. I have other mics for the job which I always liked more, so I stopped testing... Great on kick, bass, some EG... nice mic. It doesn't compare to a classic mic like U87.