Schilles LydBlogg

Golden Age Premier GA-47

Posted on 12. desember 2017 Updated on 13. desember 2017

Neumann U47 er en av de mest ettertraktede mikrofonene på markedet. Neumann sluttet selv å lage den i 1965. Senere har det dukket opp utallige kloner. Nå lanserer Golden Age Music sin versjon GA-47.

En sann studioklassiker

Neumann U47 er en sann studioklassiker som knapt trenger noen ekstra presentasjon. I denne artikkelen har jeg beskrevet historikken, hvordan den låter og ikke minst så kan du lese om de beste klonene på markedet.

Her er noen av kjennetegnene ved Neumann U47 –

• Låter stort og åpent
• Varm lyd med fokus på øvre mellomtone
• Smooth topp
• Ble raskt en bransjestandard på begynnelsen av ´50 tallet
• Brukt av bl a Sinatra, Elvis og The Beatles og visstnok
• Vokalmikken brukt på Aha´s ‘Take On Me’ (U47FET)

Golden Age Premier

Golden Age Music – med eier Bo Medin i spissen – ble startet i 1982 og leverer high-end utstyr til det skandinaviske, europeiske og det amerikanske markedet. Golden Age Music har de senere årene hatt stor suksess med sin egen ‘billig serie’ – Golden Age Project. I denne serien finner du kloner av kjente vintage eq-er og kompressorer fra Neve og Universal Audio. Her kan du lese en test av deres UREI Teletronix LA-2A klone

Nå er tiden inne for å ‘step-it-up-a-notch’ med en helt ny serie som har fått navnet Golden Age Premium. GA-47 er første produkt ut, men Bo Medin røper at en GA-251 – en klone av Telefunken ELA-M 251 er på vei  – i tillegg til to nye hardware-bokser.

Golden Age Premier GA-47

Her er noen fakta om GA-47 hentet fra produsentens egen hjemmeside

Trenger verden enda en U47 klone?

Et spørsmål mange spør seg er – trenger verden enda en versjon av Neumann U47?

Bo Medin forklarer det på denne måten –

‘Since we are now presenting the GA-47 microphone as the first product in Golden Age Projects new high end line, changing “Project” to “Premier” for this product range, the answer is “Yes!”
‘After a lot of experimentation and valuable feedback from pro users testing prototype units, we did feel that it was indeed possible to bring something new to the table’

Oppsummert

Golden Age Premier GA-47 er en mikrofon som ikke vil bli produsert i store kvanta – kun 50 stk om gangen. Den blir håndbygget av dedikerte fagfolk og kun utvalgte kvalitetskomponenter blir brukt. Mye tid og krefter har gått med i utvelgelsen av disse komponentene og omfattende testing har blitt gjort.

‘I believe that the level of quality and dedication that the GA-47 provides normally comes at a very high cost, also in the world of U-47 clones’

Bo Medin, December 2017

Pris

I Sverige har GA-47 fått en pris på 14.995.-SEK og den kan bestilles her.

Forventet på lager – tidlig 2018

Specifications:

Mic body and grille. The mic body is made of brass, the grille is made of iron. The grille, which is a critical component affecting the sound character, is similar to the one in the U47.

Capsule
The capsule for the GA-47 is designed to provide the requirements of modern day recordings by mixing the character between a vintage K47 capsule and the one from a K67-style capsule with a wide frequency response and high sensitivity. The result is a truly great sound. Being a dual-sided one, it provides the GA-47 with both cardioid and omni polar patterns.

In order to get a good consistency between units, for each production run of 50 pcs GA-47 units, approximately 200 capsules is evaluated in order to find 50 capsules with specifications that lie within the tight tolerances.

Specifications:
Backplate material: brass
Capsule diameter: 35mm
Membrane diameter: 27mm
Membrane material:6 micron gold-coated mylar.
The capsule is mounted on a 7 mm thick aluminium plate in a special way to minimize the effect from physical vibrations.
The sensitivity of the front and back side of the capsule do not differ more than 0,3 dB. The sensitivity between different capsules do not differ more than 0,5 dB.
The tight manufacturing tolerance will lead to a very good consistency between different GA-47 units.
The capsule is specially designed to complement the electronic circuit of the GA-47 to achieve a frequency response curve with a nice balance between the high, middle and low frequencies.

Tube
The GA-47 uses a NOS Telefunken 800 series super low noise pentode tube connected in triode mode in order to decrease distorsion and noise. This tube is modern glass derivative of the VF14M used in the vintage U-47.

Output transformer
The GA-47 transformer is especially designed with a 6.5:1 dual bobbin transformer by a reputed transformer factory. It is a replica of the BV8 transformer used in the vintage U47. It uses a high quality core material.

Capacitors and resistors
The coupling capacitor is made in United Kingdom, the brand is Ciarit, the same type used in the famous and very expensive B&W Nautilus loudspeaker. It is an axial capacitor made from MKP material with copper pins.It has a delicate, full sound and a wide frequency response.

Other used capacitors are MIAL polystyrene film capacitors with very low loss. The resistors are ALLEN BRADLEY carbon film resistors made in the USA with vintage and warm sound.

Mic interior and cabling
The electronic circuit is mainly built with point-to point wiring and the ground connections are tied together using an insulated soldering.
Teflon insulated, silver-plated copper wire is used for the internal connections.

Power supply transformer and electrolytic capacitors
The vintage style power supply PSU uses a high power R-style transformer with a low noise level and a minimal stray field. The electrolytic capacitors are of a high quality audio style type.

A simple but effective circuit uses dual-stage filtering for the filament voltage. The high voltage is precisely filtered and stabilized using an ON semiconductor zener diode.

Mic cable
The cable is specially produced using 99,99% pure oxygen-free copper, teflon insulation, tin foil and 98% kitmesh, ie with a very high braided density of the cable shield. It has a very open and smooth sound.
The connectors are gold plated.

Mic and psu circuit in relation to the original mics
The polar pattern switch is located on the power supply allowing for easy sound comparisons.
The circuit used in the GA-47 is similar to the U-47 but the component values has been adjusted to fit the EF800 tube.
The circuit used for the power supply is also similar except for adding a zener diode to assure the voltage and current stable.
The connectors are gold plated. All three connectors are placed on one side to facilitate handling and placement.

Specifications
Frequency Response: 20Hz〜20KHz
Sensitivity: 12mV/Pa
Rated Impedance: 200 ohms
Equivalent Noise Level: 10dB
Max S.P.L: 140dB