Neumann Vintage U87 Clone : Build Thread.

[joulupukki]

Following up on this JFET selection discussion, I’ve tried a couple other JFETs in the mic and have settled on a 2N3819 that has an Idss of 9.6mA, biasing it for symmetrical clipping. I think it sounds pretty good. It’s a lot less woofy than the first JFET I tried but still keeps the raw clear quality.

During my swaps of JFETs I did hit two issues:

1. I accidentally pulled the solder pad off the underside of the drain pin connection. I was being a bit too aggressive with the tip of my soldering iron. I soldered the current JFET to the board’s top pad for now and am probably done swapping anyway

2. I discovered that the reason some of these weren’t sounding “right” to me was that I had a couple of subtle compressors enabled in my signal chain in the Apollo Twin. GRR! The recordings were sounding closer to how it sounded when I had the J305 JFET installed – which makes me think that I probably had the compressors enabled when the J305 was installed. So dumb of me!

 

[MicMaven]

which makes me think that I probably had the compressors enabled when the J305 was installed. So dumb of me!

Ha - No worries, old man. Just use your DAILY MULLIGAN and it will be like it never happened. Of course you only get one Mulligan per golf game, so my wife says we only get one Mulligam per day of married life. Still, it may be the easiest way out !!! / Happy trails to you, James /

 

[joulupukki]

Here's a quick sample of the DIY U87 compared with the Townsend Labs Sphere L22 with the LD-87 Vintage microphone model. This is using a 2N3819 JFET that has the lowest Idss value (9.64mA) of all the ones I had. I've biased it for symmetrical clipping.

View attachment DIY-U87-vs-TownsendLabs-Sphere-L22-LD-87-Vintage.wav

 

[egroys]

Here's a quick sample of the DIY U87 compared with the Townsend Labs Sphere L22 with the LD-87 Vintage microphone model. This is using a 2N3819 JFET that has the lowest Idss value (9.64mA) of all the ones I had. I've biased it for symmetrical clipping.

View attachment 126749

L22 feels scooped and has a crispy/brittle top that is unpleasant to my ear.
I have yet to try a modeling mic, but it really does come across like a veneer of a U87 here.

Thank you for sharing and enjoy your new mic!