[lucey]

Spent a few days here and there on it ... flutes, harmonica, various voices male and female. Eventually became very clear on the whole picture.


ELUX 251: more raspy hair, more bottom, less top air, less detailed tone, more distant.

Korby 251: cleaner image, more immediate, more top, less bottom, less 251 rasp but still some.

winner - Korby.



Korby 47: rich botttom/dark, clear

soundelux 47: not as dark, hyped top (10-12k way hyped). more distant

winner - Korby.



Manley Ref Card (w/ cryo 6072): slight rasp, bright/hard top, slight bump on the bottom

Korby 251: a hair less rasp, less hyped top, softer bright top, less bottom overall could be better in a mix, or not

winner - tie



the Ref Card was better than the Soundelux 47 at it's own game, with a similar curve and clearer. The Manley was similar yet different to the Korby 251. Turns out the ref card is a great mic with this tube (not as great with the stock tube. see tubeworld.com for nice tubes.)


the Korby set is great ... 4 distinct sounds with custom capsule cases and a nice (heavy!) hardshell case, plus a custom shock mount that is easy to use. A modern, artsy looking mic set and packaging, not a vintage copy package as both Soundeluxes were. i found myself thinking ... "why would i buy a glossy new mic made in the style of an old mic? Why not buy an old mic or buy a new mic with a new style?"

The Korby C12 and U67 (modified) caps were lovely. C12 was bright and sweet as expected. The 67 was silky with less bottom than their 47 and had some added top to the 67's I've used before (as advertised). All 4 Korby caps were very clear as in 'not there' with both vocalists and instruments. Only the 251 had any distortion to the tone ... the other 3 are different clean sounds,

rich/dark (47),
some lows, some highs - middle sound (67),
a little thinner, brighter and a touch raspy(251)
bright/clear/thin (12)

I loved the ELUX 251 years ago when i first heard it but it was no good, too much hair and not enough detail. Sorry but neither Soundeluxe was as clear (as in: sounded as high quality) to any of us there. Maybe that's the "vintage" sound you're selling?

Yet if so, I'd thought a vintage 47 was dark? So what's with the hyped 47? Not just a little top added, like the 67, it's waaaaay bright.