Warm Audio WA-14 Classic 414 Style Large Diaphragm Microphone

Purchased as a center mic for live bluegrass. As FOH for one of Ontario's premier clubs, I only purchase top tier equipment. This mic replaces a Neumann 103 in our typical bluegrass 3 mic setup. This mic is warm and forgiving, without the over-crisp high end of a modern AKG 414. Smooth natural vocals, and full sounding acoustic instruments. No harder to EQ than any top cond. mic for a loud stage, and the excellent shock mount keeps most of the stage noise out. Warm Audio has built a reputation for great mics, and this one delivers.

I do not believe in emulations. Or, to be exact, I do not believe in clones, but emulations are sometimes successful (a bit like Led Zeppelin vs Greta Van Fleet). Therefore to me the Warm Audio WA-14 is a fantastic microphone in its own right - emulation or no emulation - whose price is unbelievable for what it is capable of doing. Truly, you do get world-class quality here and almost unmatched versatility. It gives you a very accurate, clean, crisp sound if on a discreetly "warmer" side throughout, which personally I just love. I must say that initially I was much surprised by the pristine sound quality this microphone provides, now I am used to it and judge other microphones, even the much more expensive ones, by the WA-14 standard. I have two of them and use them for M/S recordings, which turn out exceedingly well. What I like the most is WA-14's faithfulness to the source - there is practically no colouration, the whole spectrum is reflected beautifully. This microphone shines, as the saying goes, on acoustic instruments (if I were to record string quartet I would not think twice about which mic(s) to chose!) and vocals/voiceovers. Although I work mostly with recording set-ups for classical music, I do know that WA-14 is equally successful in jazz, rock and country applications. One thing is VERY important to know: this mic needs a lot of juice! Using a so-so preamp with it will not do. You either have to have an interface with great preamps (such as Apogee Elements) or a solidly performing stand-alone preamp. I own the excellent Warm Audio's WA273 (I did not want the EQ version of that preamp, just bare bones) and the WA-14 works really seamlessly with it - they are made for each other. Interestingly, it is one of the few non-Neumann mics, which receive consistently the highest ratings - and deservedly so.