Gear of the Year 2015 – Best Mic: Neumann U47 FET

The outstanding microphone award recipient this year was a popular choice with both voters and the MusicTech panel who simply adore this remarkable product. It’s the Neumann U47 FET…

Best Mic – Neumann U47 FET

Details
Price £2,928
Contact Sennheiser UK 01628 402200
Web www.neumann.com

Surprisingly, given how many companies actually make them, we haven’t reviewed that many microphones over the last year. But of the new models there have been, thankfully there have been some absolute belters – including this, the winner of our Best Mic award.

And 2016 looks like being a cracking year for microphones too, with newcomers Aston Microphones already making a splash and brand new models from Sontronics, sE and many others promised.

The U47 FET is, of course, based on a classic microphone, although the history of that model is rather complicated, but thankfully we don’t have a great deal of room to go into too much detail. Suffice to say, this new version is based on the physical circuit layout of v.2 from 1972, with the circuitry and physical features of version v.6, so if you know your Neumanns you will know that this should be pretty good. And it is!

Reviewer Huw Price said: “It is not the subtlest or most nuanced microphone, yet it does have that sense of enhanced realism that typifies so many of Neumann’s products. The midrange is fat and up-front without sounding woolly or too dominant, and the strong upper midrange and low treble allow the U47 FET to cut through without being edgy or taking up too much frequency space. The U47 FET is no half-baked reissue. Neumann has done a proper job and the results are superb. Rather than thinking of this as a reissue, think of it as a resumption of production.”

Read the full review of the Neumann U47 FET here

Sarah James accepts the award for the Neumann U47 FET from our editor Andy Jones

Be sure to read the complete list of winners in the current issue of MusicTech Magazine and check back tomorrow for another winner…