There is an important vocal session coming up in the studio, and I need to get the mk47 up and running in one way or another to throw into the mix, and at this point, I figure the Beesneez K7 and M7 capsules that I have been waiting on for several months now are probably indefinitely delayed.
In the meantime, I have on hand a whole stack of high quality 35mm K67 type capsules that I have imported with the SYT-5 body kits. While the K67 backplate capsule is not what most would consider "proper" for a U47 build, these particular capsules are generally connected to flat response CCDA/C12 type Chinese circuits and work quite well, so I figure some optimizations to smooth them out at least a little have been implemented. Many industry insiders have informed me that this is in fact a VERY capable capsule. While it may not yield a true U47 sound, my gut feeling is it will yield a high quality, useable sound to be considered as an option in the session.
Plus, the cost is almost negligible compared with a premium grade hand-made capsule, so there is no harm in throwing it into the mic and seeing what happens. This way, at least I have the mic up and running and I can get some critical feedback from use in a production environment which after all, is the whole point, right?
First, I remove the 32mm stock capsule and white saddle.
And install the 35mm capsule along with the a new saddle for the larger diameter backplates.
Notice also I have changed to Western Electric 408A tubes. I found these to be a bit more open and articulate to my ear.
With the new 35mm capsule installed, I re-assemble the microphone and check my psu voltages. I notice a ~5V drop on both power supplies upon installation of the new capsule so I trim the PSU's back to 105V and take a quick listen. My monitoring system is not very good at my house, but my initial impression is the new capsule is much smoother than the stock 32mm GT-2B capsule with good bass authority and nice proximity effect. I will delivery the microphone in this state to the studio for the vocal session and see how it pans out. I believe the mic in this configuration should be quite useable.