sE Electronics - EDEN (LT-386)

When I think workhorse, I think original U87s. If you like your U67s but not those, there's a good chance you just don't like the solid state sound. You might get more from a modern 'clean' valve mic, like an M149 or Lauten Eden. Still, there's some solid state LDCs that are worth trying. * Original C414s are real workhorses (Comb, EB, C412s) - but they've gone very expensive for what they are. Some swear by their C414 ULSs, but ours never won a shootout on vocals. Skip anything newer than the TLIIs. * U89s / TLM170s are good if you want something modern / neutral. They're the opposite side of the scale to your M49 - but do their thing very well. * Some people really love the Soyuz 017 - but its capsule is a k87 copy, so the FET version could be too similar to the U87 for your tastes. * I haven't tried the newer Gefell stuff, but a producer brought his MV-692s in (with M62 capsules), and they sounded beautiful. Really, anything old with a nickel capsule is worth trying for vocals. They have a smoothness and 'air' that's often lacking in FET mics. But before going out and renting a bunch of mics, try some of your SDCs. They get overlooked a lot these days, but you'd be surprised how great they can sound on vocals. Often they do the "cut through a dense mix" thing better than a FET LDC.

The vintage ones sound a lot better to me... But yeah. They're very versatile, but you will do just as well for that mic circuit type with a Lauten Audio, a Dachman Audio... Probably also a warm Audio... For much, much, much cheaper... And that's even if you're looking for the u87 sound... You might very much prefer a different voicing... It's a very useful mic.... I like having a transformer in the circuit... But if you don't need that or care about polar patterns.... The price of admittance goes down once again. There are so many good mid tier and affordable would have been high-end microphones in modern times..... Even after these tarrifs cause not price hikes.... The years of it seemingly costing thousands for really good mics are far behind us.