Flea 47 or Josephson C716

[didier.brest]

I would expect the C716 being more transparent, like the Brauner VM1 compared to an U47 in this vocal test.

[aileka]

I have both the Flea 47 and the Josephson C700S, same capsule, same transformerless solid state electronics as the 716, but with two other capsules for stereo or surround recording.
So the C700S would be in the same family as the 716 and if not sounding exactly similar, they would be quite close.
I have not been able to compare the Flea 47 and the 716 side to side, but
the Flea 47 and the Josephsons are two entirely diffferent types of microphones.

The Flea is definitely much more colored, and the Josephson very transparent.

I would think the 716 would be much more versatile than the Flea.

Both microphones are excellent, of course, and among the best available, but they follow very different philosophies, one, the Flea aiming to faithfully reproduce the classics of the past, the other the Josephson opening a new path and being one of the most interesting and original modern high end mics.

Then the choice is a matter of taste, and matching to the recording situation.

[aremos]

I have A/B'd these 2 microphones & they are both fantastic and, fortunately, very different.
I know it's easy to say "get both" but if you can you could cover a lot of ground & different sources with them.

If you're interested in clips or anything else PM me.

[Fletcher]

Though not the FLEA version, I am pretty far from being a stranger to excellent 47's... and having been the first guy in the US to get a 716... I've done a bit of the "compare / contrast" thing. While at the best of times I'm fairly good at collecting a few adjectives, stringing them together and can often present a cogent thought... the words entirely escape me on this one.

Both are amazing tools... both are capable of transmitting the emotion from a performance with ease... yet they contain wildly different textures of audio... textures so complex that they are no easier to convey with words than the difference between blood red and midnight blue... and make no mistake, both tools are in the same league as both of those colors in their depth and vibrancy... its just that written [or even spoken] language lacks the descriptive power to do either tool proper justice.

I absolutely wish you the best of luck finding someone who can do either tool justice with the written form of communication... though fervently doubt it is possible [Charles Bukowski might have been able to do it... but I don't think he was much of a microphone buff... and he obviously never used a 716].

Peace

[automatom]

That was exactly the kind of poetry I was hoping for Fletcher!

[aileka]

Fletcher nails it!

[automatom]

So Fletcher, to paraphrase Bukowski should I love the C716 "like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.” or should I buy one?

Or do I give in to my long term fetishisation of the 47 and cure myself of "a serious illness, an illness from which (I'll) never entirely recover.”

It maybe ought to have been my original question but if you had £3,500 burning a hole in your pocket, which would you buy first?

[didier.brest]

It would depend on what I would like to record with. For a male baritone voice, the FLEA 47 would be my choice without any hesitation. For piano, I would much like to get the Josephson.

[aileka]

Didier is reasonnable! Get the Josephson, it will be more original and certainly more versatile!

[Peacock]

my vote C716. Incredible capture without the boat anchor.

[vincentvangogo]

Originally Posted by Fletcher

I absolutely wish you the best of luck finding someone who can do either tool justice with the written form of communication... though fervently doubt it is possible [Charles Bukowski might have been able to do it... but I don't think he was much of a microphone buff... and he obviously never used a 716].

Peace

"Flea's a bad-ass and no mistake- works like a 4th avenue wh*re who just got rolled in the projects, but I'll be damned if the 716 ain't just the thing when you're raggin' for the clean stuff." Regards Hank Chinaski

(Sent via Ouijah board.)

[AB3]

If the 716 is beautiful and clean - a compressor, pre, etc. can always add color.

If you start with color - it is difficult to remove.

Also, I think the eq curves are important. What part of the vocal range should be enhanced or diminished? These two mics, from what I can read, would be very different in that regard.

[Rolf Ebitsch]

Originally Posted by automatom

Flea 47 or Josephson C716

Question:
Which one did you bought at the end?

Thanks.
R.

[wagz]

ditto.

[automatom]

In the end, I tried a 716, but found it to be too sensitive for my recording environment. Great sounding, but not the thing.

Then I came across a second-hand MG UM900, that's about 12 years old (so has the old-type pvc m7 in it) and I fell in love. Magical microphone that sounds good in every situation, all the time.

Still toying with getting either a flea47 or an AG voxorama, but I'm pretty certain that the UM900 is all the mic I'll ever need. Doesn't stop the desire for more stuff though.

[Doc Mixwell]

Gefell UM900 is a gem. It is a real romantic microphone, with a soul of its own. I find it really sexy sounding, and when this mic is the "right" microphone for a vocal, its ALL_RIGHT!!! Its quick and clean, very detailed, without a "bloated" appeal, but certainly not lacking euphony, to my ears. A real specialty piece! Very versatile, with its pattern's as well.

The Josephson has a great vibe, I think. Like others have said, it is a very clean sound, exacting. A true precision tool for the pro engineer! Though it is a fixed cardioid pattern, I strongly feel I could put this microphone, on just about anything and work with it to get a great sound.

The top is soft and clear, without resonance. Bright and open, without any stridency. I also think it is nicely flattering in the right ways. This mic is getting REALLY close to the C700A in cardioid, to my ears. Certainly, slightly different as things go, [with the ingenius Josephson metal Foam head] I think they really did a great job with the C716, honing inspiration from their C700A and C720 microphones [very rare limited edition]..

The C716 appeals to my aesthetic greatly, and I thought it sounded wonderful through my tube gear, and my solid state gear. It seems very pliable and flexible to me, and I liked how I could mold it downstream without it sounding harsh or weird. Its a very pure sound.

I have a really small, acoustically dead and dry space. I thought the mic sounded absolutely breathtaking when I tried it out with my gear. Listening to its noise floor, the side off-axis color, and the directionality of the mic, I was deeply impressed, and honestly floored.

[automatom]

I agree with all of that Adam. My problem with the 716 came down to needing one mic I could swing from guitar to vocal and never introduce different types of compression or eq in quite a live room.

The 716 just catches EVERYTHING. Which is precision incarnate, but also meant I was hearing lots of the room, all the time. You could carve it out into something very usable, but, like I said, it's a speed and versatility issue here.

The UM900 is very real sounding, but also retains all the joy of the m7 capsule's brilliantly complementary proximity effect. Plus it doesn't have anything like the field of the 716. Stick it through a slower tranny preamp and it's very old school sounding, stick it through my prism pre-amps and it sounds like the future.

[automatom]

I will add that I wished I could have kept the 716 too.

[Rolf Ebitsch]

I was on the Josephson exhibition stand on the Frankfurter music fair 2012.
Tested some models.
By the way, the german salesman was also a very nice person.

These microphones impressed me very much !

Josephson stand very above on my wish list,
together with a Wunder Audio CM7-GT M7

R.

[RKrizman]

Are there any samples of the Josephson floating around?

-R

[RKrizman]

Actually, I did find this:
Josephson C716?

post #25.

Sounds very nice. Love to hear further samples.

-R