Warm Audio Announces WA-8000 Tube Condenser Microphone
by The Press Desk   5th October 2021

For anyone looking for a tube. I went through quite a few tubes in this mic until I found one with a low enough noise floor. I actually ended up settling for the NOS National 6ua6, It's a rebranded tube made in Russia. But be careful, when buying as National has rebranded 6ua6 tubes from RCA and Sylvania also, but he goes out of his way to to grade and label each tube's original brand. He's on Ebay if anyone is looking. Here's a link to his store https://www.ebay.com/usr/mercedesman...75.m3561.l2559

Never had an issue with tubedepot either. Ordered and it shipped the next day. I’ll see how it sounds when it arrives.

https://tubedepot.com/products/6au6a-6aw6-ef94-6136

IMPORTANT: To clarify so that that there is not any confusion for people who may not know the facts around the Sony c800g tube, the Sony c800g tube is not an RCA or Sylvania NOS tube, and the tube depot link posted shows an RCA NOS. There is absolutely nothing wrong with installing whatever tube that you like inside your own microphone, but this is the severe problem where people do this exact thing installing random tubes inside a real c800g microphone, then turn around and try to sell the microphone for $20,000 online leaving the new owner to be out $500 for the correct tube or potentially more if they are not comfortable doing the tube installation themselves, as it is a more involved process than on a WA8000. Different tubes produce a different sound, not always bad, just different. Anyone looking to obtain the c800g sound, should use the correct c800g tube.

I already recorded like 10 tracks with the WA8000 and its sounds clean and you guys are out there swapping tubes loll make some music

X100

Years ago you could easily order the tube directly from Sony, that's not the case any more because of supply chain issues. This is why I said if your lucky enough to even find a decent Russian UAU6 that's in good condition. Any other tube won't give you the same sound. You might as well buy a different mic. The stock tube is a UAU6 Tube but from France which is why the sound is very different from the Sony.

That's not true. There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from buying tubes directly from Sony. Sony still sells tubes to anyone directly from their parts department website without restriction.

https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-parts.aspx


As an owner of a c800g and several WA8000 mics, and being well aware of the tube that comes in both mics, it's always good to clarify for anyone who might not know the specifics regarding the tube and it's importance to the sound.

I never meant they stopped selling I meant they are always out of stock. Last time I checked they were on back order with no ETA unless they recently got a more in stock.

I edited previous post for clarification

Isn't sony just rebranding tubes so they can sell them under their name?? They have to get them from SOMEwhere . .

Of course Sony is getting them from somewhere. There is a manufacturer that Sony gets the tube from and then they place their logo onto it, but there is more to it than just adding a logo, the tubes are generally 50 years old and there are lots of variants in not only noise, but also tonality and volume level and more specifically relative voltage level without regard for impedance. It's not uncommon to go through a dozen generic tubes and only discover 1 that meets the level of appropriateness for the microphone. Have even seen tubes that sound good crack after a week or two of use, so it is not as simple as grabbing the tube and placing it in the mic. I have over a dozen tubes directly from Sony and I can confirm that it can take a while before you find a generic tube that matches the Sony tube even when it's the correct tube.

That part!

Not sure about anyone else, but I own a very busy production facility and we are recording, mixing, and mastering songs every day and sometimes 60 hours a week. The assumption that 2 or more things can't be done at the same time is outlandishly wrong and nothing more than an opinionated assumption.

Where is your body of work located?

Not here to prove nothing to you! I'm official. Just ask anyone in the circle, and they will let you know exactly who you're dealing with. Drop the m because they call me link. It's not about internet clout in this forum. I just do the work and keep on moving. Did lots of Sqad Up mixtapes too! Stop playin

Not my channel but that's me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ej6lb5Q7o

Additional Credits

Lil Wayne
Birdman
Wake Flocka
Kidd Kidd
Gudda
T.K. Kirkland
Bizzy Bone
Dru Hill
Al Sharpton
Evander Hollyfield
Michael Buffer
Lou Ferrigno
Royce Gracie
Jessie Jackson
T.D. Jakes
Kelly Price
and many more!

AND your body of work is?

Lmao why are you so mad and offended. You’re on a public forum. I came here to read about reviews of the WA8000 no to read a bunch of tube swapping, capsule swapping. Might as well get the Sony one don’t you think

Maybe you misunderstood. I already own the real Sony c800g. Just was helping those who want the help. I just buy lots of gear to see what's what. We are all here for different reasons, its a public forum. Not offended at all.

My catalog is being built. But I’m also not on here bragging and getting offended every time someone leave a new comment. If you’re so busy—you surely wouldn’t have time to see every comment someone leaves.

I didn’t ask about your work to down play you. I’m asking out of curiosity because you’re always lending input.

Never bragged about anything not one single time. You asked, I answered. Always very careful about what is said because people take things the wrong way. I go long periods of time without even posting, I happen to be on vacation and have some extra time. I'm lending input because I have 15 years experience owning and taking apart the real Sony C800G, and have modified a number of WA8000 mics for people all over the globe. Lots of misinformation is out there so hopefully the experience that I have with both products is helpful to whoever can use it.

I’ll PM you

Nice credit list! Most of my credit and body's of work are in TV/Film.

For those that are interested, I have 3 Russian Tubes available for the MOD. Tubes have been tested and are in excellent condition. Many of you know I have a local source for the tubes, however these are the only remaining working Russian 6ZH4P 6J4P Tubes I was able to find. If you are interested in buying a tube or for the tube swap mod, send me a DM.

Got this mic two days ago. I like it very much. More than the c-100 I had here for testing. Completely different to my U87. I think I will keep it and maybe try a tube mod later.
Some say this mic has high output gain but it is actually quiet in comparison to my u87. It needs 5 dB more gain on my neve 1073 to be as loud as the Neumann.
Is the mic being even quieter after the tube mod?

Did a tube mod and capacitor/capsule swap and still have to gain up the output on my 1073 equal amounts as stock/ compared to my u87. Tube mod is definitely worth it!!

Ok thanks. Jeah maybe ill try the tube mod. From the examples above I heard that the Sound will become more mellow und maybe a little better lowend.

isn't omni the most used mode with the orginal c800g? So you mean that with tube right?

I meant the tube inside the mic. I recorded in cardiod. Think this mic sounds the best in cardiod or at least in my room.

Ok i ordered some tubes. Did you adjust voltage in some way or just installed the tube?

you can drop the tube in so being its the 6J4p, no need to do anything fancy.

Yes i ordered some the 6j4p. Hopefully a good ones

So I received the tubes. Testet some of them in the mic. Found two that sounded good but actually quite different from each other. One is darke (more lows) and one is clearer with higher output. All the tussian tubes gave me a little higher output on the mic but when I level match them, the new tubes sound a little bit blurry in comparison to the stock tube. Will let one burn in over night and see if they change the sound more.
Maybe I just stay with the stock tube since it already sounded good to me. The russian tubes have indeed more lowend (almost boomy) and are a little bit smoother on top but the midrange seems a little bit recessed to me. But maybe this is more of the sony sound.
How do you check if you have a very good tube? I have 16 tubes so it is quite a hustle to test all of them

What's up guys, just giving my input on my experience with the WA-8000. Random to start off but, I bought my first WA-8000 from Guitar Center, and then bought one from Sweetwater because I wanted that 2yrs free warranty. Having both in possession I noticed a quality and weight difference with the microphones. Guitar Center was very light and seemed like a plastic metal (please don't get technical on me, I don't know these things), but the one from Sweetwater was a lot heavier and has a heavy steel metal quality to it. If I hadn't purchased them at the same time I probably wouldn't have known the difference, I'm glad I did anyway and returned the one from Guitar Center, maybe that'll be helpful to someone idk. Back to the topic, I have my WA-8000 with two preamps, UA 710 Twin Finity and Grace Design M101 (both which are extremely different from each other) and my interface is a UA Apollo Twin X. The WA-8000 is going into the preamp and the preamp into the interface "line-in", and I also ordered and tested the microphone with a matched Russian Tube of the C-800G. I even bought the MXL-V69 Tube Cable from Amazon which happens to be a Mogami cable to test. I also bought a Genuine Gotham GAC-7 from Microphone Parts to test also. The difference between this one and the stock is that Microphone Parts Gotham Cable has the Genuine Neutrik NC7xXX-BAG XLR7 connectors (black housing, silver plated pins) on it. My room is pretty well treated along with a Kaotica Eyeball, that I feel helps in my scenario. I burned both the stock tube (Thomson France 6AU6WB) and Russian Tubes (NOS 6J4P=6ZH4P) for 72hrs prior to recording. IMHO and experience using both cables, both preamps, and both tubes I struggled with the WA-8000 via Russian Tube the most. I noticed that the Russian Tube is brighter than the stock and has a louder noise floor than the stock tube, it doesn't make it wrong it just didn't fit for me. It was too bright for me, weather going into my 710 Twin Finity pre or my Grace Design M101 with both Gotham and Mogami cables , I constantly had to tame the frequencies from 5k-12k, especially in the 8k-11k area. I noticed myself spending more time correcting the vocal than recording itself. There is also a difference with the cables, I noticed that the Microphone Parts Gotham cable plugged into the Twin Finity pre and Grace Design pre to be more neutral in sound and kinda huged the vocal in a way as if it were being compressed, the Mogami cable changed the tone of the microphone a bit that compliments my voice. Once again non of this makes it wrong, just different. I noticed the Mogami cable added a little body to the WA-8000 and I could hear the higher frequencies way clearer and cleaner than the Gotham cable. I recorded also with the stock tube and I noticed the noise floor was significantly lower and to my ears, the tube sounds more balanced and though not as bright as the Russian tube still bright. I also don't have to subtract any higher frequencies in the same ranges with the stock tube as I did with the Russian Tube UNLESS I choose to in order to give me a different tone. I can go on and on about all of my different test methods, like the Grace Design having a lower noise floor than the Twin Finity and how the Grace Design is a clean mic pre not being Solid State nor have any transformers etc, the UA 710 Twin Finity is a blend mic pre between Solid State and Tube which BTW I switched the tube to a Telefunken Black Diamond ECC83-TK. Trust me I did A LOT to get to my final verdict. And btw I have seriously considered modding every part of the WA-8000 and look, my bottom line is to make good music, I am currently working on a new project and I've FINALLY gotten into a place where I'm comfortable and confident with my vocal chain and mixing with my WA-8000. I realized quickly speaking only for myself that I was going down a rabbit whole with all this modding stuff. What genuinely works for me is my WA-8000 and the stock French Tube by Thomson France 6AU6WB (enclosed with the Kaotica Eyeball), MXL-V69 Mogami Tube Cable, UA 710 Twin Finity (100% Solid State), and into my UA Apollo Twin X, this set up suits me best as an artist and engineer. This was a lot I know but I wrote this much to help this much! Peace & Blessings. May The Lord keep you, protect you and guide you in all things!