Blackspade Acoustics UM25 Tube Mic

Designed & Modded by Oliver Archut / AMI!!!

Blackspade
UM25

Up for consideration is a brand new Blackspade Acoustics UM25 multi-pattern tube mic by AMI. This is Oliver Archut's new incarnation of the classic Telefunken ELA M-251 mic design, with a custom CK25 capsule, and the AMI T14 boutique transformer, shockmount, and Power Supply. Vintage examples of the original Telefunken 251 currently sell from $10k to $15k or more, so here is a great opportunity to own this new mic -- complete with a 5-year warranty, and save over $8,000!!!

HI -RES PHOTOS:
CLICK HERE for 1270 dpi Hi-Res photos of the new UM25 microphone. HERE are the specs form the AMI Website, and HERE is some additional info from Recording Hacks. Here is some additional commentary [ 1 | 2 | 3 ]

HISTORY
Oliver Archut has been designing mics and modding Chinese mics based on the classic German tube-mic designs for the past 30 years. His first Blackspade mic design, the UM17, is one of the best tube mics you will ever find at under $1k. With the UM25, the goal was to build an even higher-quality mic based on an exact replica of the 251 circuit, with point-to-point wiring, and the addition of a custom-built CK25 capsule, that can stand up against the vintage originals at a fraction of the cost. Here, Oliver takes a stock Chinese mic body and uses a 251-style head grill and ads a custom AMI T14 transformer (which he designs and builds himself), and powers it using a NOS Telefunken tube (from his collection of about 100,000 NOS tubes). The result is the amazing-sounding Blackspade Acoustics UM25 mic, selling for just $1,899 -- and this mic still competes favoribly with vintage mics costing up to $10,000 (including the U67, M49).

UM25 FEATURES
* 3 Polar Patterns:
Cardiod, Omni, Fig. 8
* NOS Telefunken Tube
* Power Supply
* Shock Mount
* Mic Cable
* Flight Case
* Assembled in USA

SOUNDFILES
Here are a few dozen MP3s of the UM25 in various sized rooms, and using a variety of signal paths. This is straight signal with no additional EQ, compression, or effects:

LARGE ROOM
UM25 into a TAB-Funkenwerk V78M preamp, into a Echo Indigo IOx convertor, using a Santa Cruz OM/PW acoustic guitar, and Shafer baby grand piano. Note the low self-noise of the mic during the empty spaces on the piano samples:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
1 | 2 | 3 | 4

19C STONE CATHEDRAL
UM25 into a Sony PCM D1 flash recorder, on female vocal, nylon guitar, church congregation:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

LARGE ROOM
UM25 into a Sony PCM D1 flash recorder, on electric guitar (PRS 513 / Peavey amp):

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

SMALL ROOM
UM25 into an ADL 600 preamp, with Rosetta 200 converters, OM/PW, nylon-string harp guitar, and VO:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
VO: 1 | 2 | 3

HERE are over 100 additional large room comparison files of various mics in the same room all using the V78M mic pre. Check out the file name in the URL of the MP3 to see the mic and pattern used.

SHIPPING & TERMS
USA shipping is $25 via FedEx Ground, with tracking, Insurance and Signature Confirmation. Satisfaction Guaranteed, with a 3-day return, buyer pays shipping, so please ask questions first. I do accept PayPal, as well as Visa, M/C, AmEx, etc. Thanks for looking. This auction is for a new Blackspade Acoustics UM25 mic, for which I am an authorized dealer for USA, Canada, and Japan.

OLIVER ARCHUT
In addition to designing and modding the UM25, Oliver has also builds the classic Telefunken V-series mic pres (see the new V78M). Oliver has also designed and built the Lucas CS-1 and CS-4, along with several other award-winning mics for quite a few well-known mic companies, and some of which are listed here. Also, his company AMI builds the highest-quality mic transformers, DIs, tube mic PSUs, and tube guitar amps. Because of his enclyclopedic knowledge of classic German vacuum tube audio design, Oliver is highly sought after as a designer and design consultant for a wide range of professional audio products.

PLEASE CHECK OUT my other audio gear and Classical Harp Guitars for sale in Current eBay Auctions, and check out some of my vintage Neumann and Schoeps and Archut mics that have Recently Sold on eBay.

AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR