Quote:
Originally posted by faeflora
Can anyone give the reasons why Telefunken USA is often stated to be a bunch of jerks? |
I have dealt with Toni Fishman for the last year or two and bought his mic collection and a pair of the new 251's. I have 20 Telefunken 251's, 18 being vintage (59-61) and 2 being new from Telefunken USA (I bought the AC701 versions). The new 251's sound wonderful overall. They sound at least as good as half of my 18 vintage 251's, and I have also heard a couple of other new Telefunken's (6072 version) that Toni brought by the studio for us to audition that sounded great. He is building a fine product, and it is a relief to know that there is qualified service available on these mics. We have some of our 251's that have a certain magic that I haven't heard in the new mics, and that I also haven't heard in 90% of the vintage 250's and 251's. Much like vintage U47's, some have the magic and some don't. Most vintage mics of the same model do not sound strikingly similar, and good luck finding two that sound exactly alike. There are certain 251's that sound great on acoustic guitar and not on vocals, or that sound great on vocals but not drum overheads. As with all mics, take the time to try mics in different applications and trust your ears. Also listen to your mics with different mic pre's before tossing them aside because they weren't perfect for xyz application.
As far as being jerks, I am unaware of that and can only say that they have treated us fairly and that we have done a lot of business with these guys and I plan on doing more in the future. I love the Telefunken name and hope that it is around for a long, long time. John