Warm Audio is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of audio equipment. The Texas-based brand offers a wide range of products that are very popular with professionals, including compressors, equalizers and all kinds of microphones. The Warm Audio WA-47F is a new large diaphragm FET condenser microphone that has recently been released by the company.
Designed primarily to pick up vocal and drum sounds live or in the studio, this microphone incorporates many of the technical aspects of the classic 47 with which many of the hits of the last 50 years have been recorded.
Up to now, Warm Audio products have never disappointed the professionals. Could this also be the case with the WA-47F? What is this microphone really worth? What about its sound quality as studio equipment? Is it a good investment for use in your home studio? Find out the detailed answers in this guide.
Warm Audio WA-47F: a recreation of the iconic U47 FET
Warm Audio calls the WA-47F a “faithful recreation” of a classic released in 1969: the U47 FET from Neumann. The latter is known for its very low SPL, its cardioid directivity that effectively handles vibrations, and its high sound sensitivity.
Like its predecessors (the micro Warm Audio WA-47jr, WA-87, etc.) The Warm Audio WA-47F was designed to conquer the most prestigious recording studios. Its predecessor, the U47 Fet, has been a favorite of many renowned artists and recording engineers for its exceptional consistency and remarkably rich signal detail.
Appreciated for its ability to easily handle powerful sound sources and fast transients, the U47 Fet has been used to record some of the most famous music of all time. It has also won over a generation of drummers with its intense, accurate bass when used to pick up the sounds of a kick drum.
Warm Audio WA-47F: an excellent design and a very neat finish
Appearance is the first eye-catching element of a product. Warm Audio’s designers have never downplayed this aspect. Like all of the brand’s microphones, the Warm Audio WA-47F impresses with its exceptionally clean design and finish.
Its authentic appearance speaks volumes about the quality of its construction, giving a first glimpse of its true capabilities. The microphone is housed in a sturdy nickel-plated brass body for durability. The basket shape of the body allows the capsule to have more space for optimal sound picking up.
The microphone is housed in a high quality wooden box for safe storage and transport. It comes with a sturdy stand attached to it, providing effective protection against noise generated by handling during recording sessions. The Warm Audio WA-47F can be easily installed on any type of microphone stand.
Because of the importance of a meticulous finish for this type of high-end product, the Texas-based brand works with renowned musicians and sound engineers to hand-check each WA-47F. The components are meticulously inspected, including the capsule, voice coil, connector, and magnet. The aim is to ensure that no defect is overlooked that could affect the quality of the microphone.
By the way, you can also consult our guide on selection of the best studio headphones. This guide offers you the 12 best professional studio headphones to choose from along with those specific details.
Warm Audio WA-47F microphone features at a glance
Inspired by the famous U47 Fet, the Warm Audio WA-47F is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone designed using only the highest quality components.
Like the originals, it faithfully reproduces the sound of the WA-47 tube microphone, replacing the valve with a high-quality field-effect transistor. This allows it to pick up rich midrange sounds and more expressive bass. This studio microphone is an indispensable tool for handling loud sound sources.
With a single backplate, the Warm Audio WA-47F features a faithful reproduction of the classic vintage K47 style capsule with a large gold diaphragm, the same type of capsule used by its predecessor the WA-47. This element provides a powerful, punchy sound with a very wide frequency response.
The picking up sound is driven by a TAB-Funkenwerk (AMI) USA custom output transformer. In addition, the Warm Audio WA-47F features high-end Fairchild transistors and Wima and polystyrene capacitors. The combination of all these elements allows this microphone to provide a better response curve ideal for deeper and more detailed sound picking up.
To enable the Warm Audio WA-47F to handle loud sources effectively, Warm Audio has provided a -10dB attenuator that generates enough headroom to avoid signal saturation.
A low-cut filter is used to muffle annoying low frequencies when recording vocals or sounds from electric lead or bass guitar cabs. When activated at 140 Hz, this filter avoids the application of post-production equalizer when working on audio data during mixing.
The Warm Audio WA-47F belongs to the category of condenser microphones and must be connected to a mixing console or a converter, on a microphone preamp, or a sound card with a microphone input providing a phantom power supply of +48 volts. Also, it is necessary to know the proper recording technique if you want to get the best result with this microphone recorder.
Focus on the sound quality of the Warm Audio WA-47F microphone
When it comes to sound quality, the Warm Audio WA-47F is on par with other high-end microphones in its category, including the Blue Yeti USB microphone with its convenient connectivity, the Rode NT USB that simply plugs into a USB port, and the Neumann U67 condenser microphone with three selectable polar diagrams.
The strength of the Warm Audio WA-47F lies largely in the use of the WA-47-B-50v capsule, the K47-style recreation of the original microphone. It allows for picking up a frequency response between 20 Hz and 19 kHz, resulting in a very clear and extremely detailed sound.
When recording vocals, the midrange is gradually installed and the high frequencies (treble) remain at the right height to maintain the natural quality of the voice. In the case of loud sound sources, the Warm Audio WA-47F provides a good, unsaturated signal even at higher volumes.
The other strong point of this microphone is that it uses very high quality field effect transistors and polystyrene and WIMA capacitors, which are found only in the most expensive audio equipment. They provide excellent signal conversion for outstanding recording quality. They also facilitate high level sound pressure management with great precision.
In addition, the Warm Audio WA-47F would not provide that sweet, voluptuous sound without its TAB-Funkenwerk (AMI) transformers. Made in the USA, this transformer has quite a history.
Its design dates back to the development of the most coveted German analog audio innovations. It is this component that gives the sound picked up its punchy and powerful character. That’s why the Warm Audio WA-47F is ideal for picking up the sound of a bass drum or bass amp.
Discover also : Test and review of the Bird UM1 microphone. This guide will give you a complete overview of this USB microphone, its audio processing technology, its technical features, as well as its sound quality and our opinion on its overall quality.
A punchier bass drum sound
The Warm Audio WA-47F picks up the sound of the drums in great detail and faithfully reproduces all the frequencies of the instrument. It is true that Warm Audio places more emphasis on using this microphone on the bass drum.
However, our tests revealed that the WA-47F performs equally well when used to pick up the sound of the toms and snare of a drum set. These elements resonate with more punch.
The low tones of the toms are faithfully reproduced, and the highs produced by the shimmering tones of the snare drum are picked up without any loss. With a frequency response of 20 Hz to 19 kHz, this microphone has sufficient range to handle the harmonics of other instruments and even of speech.
Many drummers and sound engineers prefer to use a 47 FET microphone placed on the front of the bass drum head to replace all kinds of dynamic microphones that is usually placed inside the drum. When positioned at the right distance, the WA-47F allows for more accurate sound wave picking up without losing any detail.
Indeed, the dynamic microphone tends to pick up more the snap of the bass drum. In addition, it doesn’t pick up enough of the drum hit and the air pressure “boom” generated by the bass drum head.
However, these sounds are extremely important and much sought after in the mix. Hence the great advantage of using the Warm Audio WA-47F to obtain a space effect bordering on reverberation on the sound of the kick, thus making it more alive.
The Warm Audio WA-47F is suitable for recording all types of voices
The Warm Audio WA-47F is a faithful recreation of an original with which many world-famous artists have recorded their voices. The special feature of this microphone, like its predecessor, is its very good SPL handling.
In other words, it is an excellent microphone for singing, since it is very tolerant of screaming or shouting voices such as when singing aggressive rock metal.
It is no wonder that artists such as Bon Scott of AC/DC, and David Lee Roth of Van Halen have opted for the original of this microphone. But the Warm Audio WA-47F is also suitable for other styles of music with less energetic or softer falsetto vocals. The transient response is excellent, regardless of the character of the source voice.
However, the WA-47F may not round out or smooth out high frequencies as well as some conventional tube microphones intended exclusively for voice recording (such as Rode NT1000 for exemple). For voice-over and speech, just speak into the microphone in a natural way to get a clear voice and very pleasant to listen to.
You’ll soon forget about your gooseneck or wireless lavalier microphone once you try the Warm Audio WA-47F. You can even consider using this microphone to control voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, etc. instead of using a wireless microphone. Of course, the use of a Pop Filter is a must when using the Warm Audio WA-47F.
A very popular original microphone for guitar and bass recording
Many famous musicians have loved recording their instruments with the original U47 FET. The sound of this omnidirectional microphone is particularly rich in detail, as all frequencies are picked up faithfully.
In our test, we placed the Warm Audio WA-47F a reasonable distance in front of an electric guitar amp. Once the microphone was on the stand, we turned on the recorders and listened to the sound through stereo headphones. We were blown away by the result. The sound of our stratocaster electric guitar was so good that we liked it right away.
The same thing happened when we applied a typical aggressive rock distortion effect to the guitar. There was no saturation at all. We also tried with an acoustic guitar, this time without an amplifier.
We were once again impressed by the sound. There is no need to bring the guitar close to the microphone, as the Warm Audio WA-47F generates almost no proximity effect. We then tested it with an electric bass guitar. The result is just as impressive. The bass sound is very well reproduced when playing normally. In Slap, the high tone that characterizes this Bass technique is very well picked up to the smallest detail.
Technical specifications of the Warm Audio WA-47F microphone
- Gold plated, large diaphragm, single back plate, K47 style capsule
- TAB-Funkenwerk (AMI) USA customized output transformer
- High-end Fairchild transistors
- Wima and polystyrene capacitors
- Directivity: cardioid, omnidirectional
- Polar diagram: Cardioid
- Max SPL : 137 dB, 147 dB with 10 dB pad activated
- Frequency response: 20Hz-19kHz
- Output impedance: 150 Ohms
- Nominal load impedance : > 1 kOhms
- Attenuator and filters : -10 dB Pad, low-cut filter at 140 Hz
- Signal to noise ratio (+ weighted) : 69 dB, 76 dB-A
- EIN / Clean noise (+ weighted): 25 dB, 18 dB-A
- Total weight: 3.5 lbs, microphone only: 2 lb
- Microphone dimensions: 8 » X 2,75 » (20,3 cm X 7 cm)
- Accessories included: hard microphone stand and high quality wooden box
Our Global Review
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Quality / Price ratio
Overall Score
Our opinion on the Warm Audio WA-47F microphone
The Warm Audio WA-47F is a multi-purpose microphone that is ideally suited to a wide range of sound sources from any instrument or voice. Simply place it at a safe distance from electric or bass guitar amplifiers and enjoy the incredibly accurate sound it picks up and delivers.
For those seeking a more vintage drum sound, especially for the bass drum, this microphone is ideal. It is ideal for a variety of voice recordings, including voice-overs and speeches. Its high SPL and very low noise level allow it to handle loud sources effectively without producing a saturated sound.
All in all, if you’re an avid audiophile, buying the Warm Audio WA-47F is a good investment considering all it can do and the exceptionally good sound quality it delivers. Many well-known artists and recording engineers have already adopted this affordable, low-noise recording equipment. Why not you?
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