The Neumann M 49 is back!
Who would have guessed? Neumann reissued another classic tube condenser microphone! After the reissue of the Neumann U 67 in 2018, the M 49 V is the next legend that is back on the market. While prices for used originals have skyrocketed in recent years, the price tag of 8.500 € seems hefty but reasonable at the same time.
An old M 49 would trade for up to 20.000 € depending on its condition. So, of course, the new M 49 V price seems way more interesting, especially as it comes with a Neumann warranty, new electronics, a brand new K49 capsule, and even two ways to change the internal circuitry.
The “V” in M 49 V stands for “variable”, as the circuit of the new M 49 can be adapted to your needs thanks to two internal switches:
– one switch activates a cardioid-only mode, which increases the mic’s sensitivity and reduces the noise level at the same time,
– the other one deactivates an internal high-pass filter (that was added to the electronics of the M 49 in 1958), which makes the bass response a tiny bit fuller. According to microphone specialist Klaus Heyne, deactivating this filter also positively affects other areas in the frequency spectrum.
Unfortunately, as the microphone is made by hand and as some of its parts are rare, Neumann stated that it would only produce 25 microphones a month. As you can imagine, we were thrilled to get our hands on a pre-production unit! Over the past few weeks, we used it for extensive tests in our studio. So stay tuned for more videos and a detailed review of this classic mic.
Our overall impressions of the M 49 V are very good indeed. As the original Telefunken tube AC701k is not available anymore, Neumann did extensive research and testing to find a proper alternative tube. Obviously, they succeeded and found a NOS tube that lives up to the specs and is worthy enough to be used in the reissue. Besides the tube, the electronics parts are similar to an original M 49 c.
