Why Aren't More People Interested In Cloning A Sony C37A?

[beatsnblunts]

out of all the gear i sold, i regret trading away my 1957 C-37a the most. And of course a year later is about when they started going way up in price. It needed a tune up and i wanted a pair of ribbons so i traded it to Wes at AEA for a pair of R84’s. It was a beneficiary trade for me at the time. Not so much now

 

[Barry Hufker]

You can't see the future...

 

[paulcheeba]

I have a pair of Manley Silver with the Josephson capsules which sound great. I prefer them to the Tonelux or Mojave.

 

[k brown]

I have a pair of Manley Silver with the Josephson capsules which sound great. I prefer them to the Tonelux or Mojave.

Doesn't the Mojave use the Josephson capsule?

 

[Tim Campbell]

Doesn't the Mojave use the Josephson capsule?

Yes it does.

 

[AlgoRhythms]

One of my biggest regrets in audio was selling my matched pair of Sony C37a microphones. They were perfect in every way. Among the many hundreds of recordings I used them on were two Grammy winning big band recordings, where they were on the featured artist.

I sold them to a label I was doing a lot of work for at the time so I had easy access. But we parted ways and I lost the usage of them for good.

Dumb. They are great mics.

 

[EarthTone]

It seems like a lot of the popularity of these mics got hyped after Bon Iver made these videos. Maybe I’m wrong, but I noticed a lot of Gearslutz (man I miss that website name) were referencing this album as a great C37a example, and a source of driving up the prices of the vintage ones… Also, I gotta say, I play sax and C37’s are killer on horns. It’s sort of in the neighborhood of what happens with the u67- The clarity of a condenser with the high end pleasantness of a ribbon. The rolloff on the top end of these is real.

 

[SparkleBear]

They manufacture the MA37 capsules in my town here in santa cruz! If i recall correctly, its a Josephson capsule that David Royer commissioned. I have been very curious to build a c37 myself but kind of put the idea down when i couldn't find an appropriate capsule available. Second the mention of the FONY37 LOL great play rock.

 

[EarthTone]

They manufacture the MA37 capsules in my town here in santa cruz! If i recall correctly, its a Josephson capsule that David Royer commissioned. I have been very curious to build a c37 myself but kind of put the idea down when i couldn't find an appropriate capsule available. Second the mention of the FONY37 LOL great play rock.

Are they available to be purchased by folks like us?

 

[rock soderstrom]

Second the mention of the FONY37 LOL great play rock.

When I saw the mic for the first time, I had to laugh out loud too . Very nice mic, has style and I think it also sounds good with the bargain KK12 capsule!

 

[spiders]

The Tonelux copy is getting press of late, so despite what @Tim Campbell said, obviously some people do like the Sony and its copies, and choose it even when they have many great mics to choose from!

I know this is an odd thing to say, but I've used a c37a more than any other microphone other than a SM57. I had access to a pair for years and used them on everything. When a C37a works on a track, which is most the time, they are just heavenly. Eventually I had to return them and sought out the Tonelux. In regards to the one I got, it was a pretty serious disappointment. The sound was quite mid focused, muffled overall, and it did not respond at all like either c37a I had used before. In a shootout on a track where I'd previously recorded the vox with a c37 the tonelux ended up last in last place, best to worse being the c37a, UM57, Rode nt1a, tonelux. I have to mention it was no contest as well. Distant fourth. Very poor showing.
I am not a professional engineer, I play keyboards for a living and record mostly my own music. I'm sure an audio wizard could have achieved better results than me, but the fact that I enjoyed the sound of the nt1a, a mic I really don't care for honestly, over the tonelux had me returning it as fast as possible. I think something may have been wrong with it, as I later saw the same mic resold at a steep discount.

I'm in the midst of cloning a c37a now, it's not prohibitively expensive to get the parts together to do it. Here's hoping it turns out ok.

 

[Dylan W]

I know this is an odd thing to say, but I've used a c37a more than any other microphone other than a SM57. I had access to a pair for years and used them on everything. When a C37a works on a track, which is most the time, they are just heavenly. Eventually I had to return them and sought out the Tonelux. In regards to the one I got, it was a pretty serious disappointment. The sound was quite mid focused, muffled overall, and it did not respond at all like either c37a I had used before. In a shootout on a track where I'd previously recorded the vox with a c37 the tonelux ended up last in last place, best to worse being the c37a, UM57, Rode nt1a, tonelux. I have to mention it was no contest as well. Distant fourth. Very poor showing.
I am not a professional engineer, I play keyboards for a living and record mostly my own music. I'm sure an audio wizard could have achieved better results than me, but the fact that I enjoyed the sound of the nt1a, a mic I really don't care for honestly, over the tonelux had me returning it as fast as possible. I think something may have been wrong with it, as I later saw the same mic resold at a steep discount.

I'm in the midst of cloning a c37a now, it's not prohibitively expensive to get the parts together to do it. Here's hoping it turns out ok.

There's a shootout on Youtube between the Mojave and Tonelux. The Mojave sounds nice to me, more in the C37 realm. I didn't think the Tonelux sounded very good, but that may just be for this particular source.

Edit: Here's the video.