Townsend Labs Sphere (UA Sphere DLX) vs 3 GroupDIY U 87 Clones

[joulupukki]

I recently finished building a Michael Fuchs U 87 Rev A mic build in a HL-95 mic body. I’ve also built a Dany Bouchard D-87 and modded an AKG P420 with kingkorg’s suggested capacitor mod. I wanted to know if these sound better than the Sphere modeling mic I started with so I did some recording and made a video about it:



One of the biggest benefits I like about these clones vs the Sphere modeling mic is that I only need to use one XLR input on my audio interface. That means I can more easily use two different mics with either my UA Apollo Twin X or MOTU M4. The Sphere takes up both inputs because it simultaneously uses the front and back diaphragm to pull off the modeling.

The real question for me is, do they perform and sound “better” than the Sphere as a U 87 style microphone? I mostly purchased / built these microphones as vocal mics for my home studio. After doing this recording experiment it seems clear to me that I could use any of these mics and get a great mix. Mic placement and acoustic treatment probably makes more difference than which one of these microphones to use. Convince me otherwise if one of these microphones stands out to you as above the other as the “best.”

Technical details of these mic builds:

Townsend Labs Sphere L22 (Now Universal Audio Sphere DLX):
- Stock with no mods.

Bouchard D-87:
- Mic body is an Aurycle A460 because that’s the mic body I already had at the time
- Capsule: JLI TSC-2
- Transformer: 3U Audio GZT-87

AKG P420 Modded:
- Nothing other than adding a cheap 470pF ceramic capacitor onto the existing 220pF capacitor (690pF total)

Fuchs U 87 A:
- Mic body is the HL-95 from AliExpress
- Capsule: Arienne Audio K87 (version 1)
- Transformer: 3U Audio GZT-87

In the video I only demoed the “87 Modern” mic emulation with the Sphere. If you want to hear the “87 Vintage” emulation, it’s available in the raw WAV files (along with the guitar and vocal recordings) here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/hed3...ey=dy0mq39j5e9mg1wo8x6l1zizf&st=2s6s2m0b&dl=0

 

[Khron]

No ORS87-Plus though? Booooooo!...

 

[joulupukki]

No ORS87-Plus though? Booooooo!...

Haha. It’d probably sound about the same as the others. @Wordsushi has done a number of comparison vids of the ORS87 to convince me of that. I would have built one already, but I think I need to diversify the locker a little bit.

 

[kingkorg]

I recently finished building a Michael Fuchs U 87 Rev A mic build in a HL-95 mic body. I’ve also built a Dany Bouchard D-87 and modded an AKG P420 with kingkorg’s suggested capacitor mod. I wanted to know if these sound better than the Sphere modeling mic I started with so I did some recording and made a video about it:



One of the biggest benefits I like about these clones vs the Sphere modeling mic is that I only need to use one XLR input on my audio interface. That means I can more easily use two different mics with either my UA Apollo Twin X or MOTU M4. The Sphere takes up both inputs because it simultaneously uses the front and back diaphragm to pull off the modeling.

The real question for me is, do they perform and sound “better” than the Sphere as a U 87 style microphone? I mostly purchased / built these microphones as vocal mics for my home studio. After doing this recording experiment it seems clear to me that I could use any of these mics and get a great mix. Mic placement and acoustic treatment probably makes more difference than which one of these microphones to use. Convince me otherwise if one of these microphones stands out to you as above the other as the “best.”

Technical details of these mic builds:

Townsend Labs Sphere L22 (Now Universal Audio Sphere DLX):
- Stock with no mods.

Bouchard D-87:
- Mic body is an Aurycle A460 because that’s the mic body I already had at the time
- Capsule: JLI TSC-2
- Transformer: 3U Audio GZT-87

AKG P420 Modded:
- Nothing other than adding a cheap 470pF ceramic capacitor onto the existing 220pF capacitor (690pF total)

Fuchs U 87 A:
- Mic body is the HL-95 from AliExpress
- Capsule: Arienne Audio K87 (version 1)
- Transformer: 3U Audio GZT-87

In the video I only demoed the “87 Modern” mic emulation with the Sphere. If you want to hear the “87 Vintage” emulation, it’s available in the raw WAV files (along with the guitar and vocal recordings) here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/hed3...ey=dy0mq39j5e9mg1wo8x6l1zizf&st=2s6s2m0b&dl=0

Awesome videos, keep 'em coming! You can also use TL Sphere with just one XLR, with or without emulations. Just plugged in directly it should sound very close to u87ai, with slightly more low end.

Also if you ignore the warnings from the plugin you can apply emulations just to the front. Make sure the audio is coming only to the front channel of the plugin, and rear is not receiving anything.

 

[joulupukki]

Awesome videos, keep 'em coming! You can also use TL Sphere with just one XLR, with or without emulations. Just plugged in directly it should sound very close to u87ai, with slightly more low end.

Also if you ignore the warnings from the plugin you can apply emulations just to the front. Make sure the audio is coming only to the front channel of the plugin, and rear is not receiving anything.

I'll have to give that a shot although I'm not sure whether I'll keep the Sphere or not now that I have these other options. I did like the combination of the ribbon mic emulation when recording upright bass. I like to use that near the bridge and then a km84 style at the fingerboard to add a little punch and definition. Although, I've used the D-87 on the lower bout of the upright and that's also worked really well.

The Sphere might be the heaviest (definitely the largest) mic of the bunch. If you watch closely during my video you can see it fall down a little bit throughout that first segment. I must not have had the mic stand tightened well enough. Haha

I think the best "deal" out of the entire bunch is the AKG P420 with the mod. $50 and a few cents for that 470pF capacitor! Unbelievable and a very usable microphone – especially since it comes with a robust case and a shock mount. It may not have been as fun of a build, but I'm pretty surprised how well it holds up against the others.

 

[kingkorg]

I'll have to give that a shot although I'm not sure whether I'll keep the Sphere or not now that I have these other options. I did like the combination of the ribbon mic emulation when recording upright bass. I like to use that near the bridge and then a km84 style at the fingerboard to add a little punch and definition. Although, I've used the D-87 on the lower bout of the upright and that's also worked really well.

The Sphere might be the heaviest (definitely the largest) mic of the bunch. If you watch closely during my video you can see it fall down a little bit throughout that first segment. I must not have had the mic stand tightened well enough. Haha

I think the best "deal" out of the entire bunch is the AKG P420 with the mod. $50 and a few cents for that 470pF capacitor! Unbelievable and a very usable microphone – especially since it comes with a robust case and a shock mount. It may not have been as fun of a build, but I'm pretty surprised how well it holds up against the others.

Not that you said that, modded p420 with that value should be darn close to direct Sphere L22. You can shoot them out side by side, maybe with some pink noise and see how much they differ. So you get to continue using Sphere plugin (only one side) with p420 and ditch the L22.

Out of the whole bunch, Sphere's c800 is i'd say 1:1 accurate. There's also no correction applied to the rear in cardioid. So using modded Perception with c800 emulations should be spot on.

Ribbon emulation curve is doing really heavy lifting, so there shouldn't be any difference between L22 and modded Perception.

 

[joulupukki]

Here's a couple of shorts in a different arrangement of the same recordings so the mics are switching more often.

Guitar:


Vocals in a mix: