The WA-251 was created to offer a classic microphone design to a new generation of recording artists at an affordable price. We spent a great deal of time listening to different \u2018251 microphones to determine what people liked about them and why, how various styles of components impact the tone, and how to give the WA-251 microphone a signature that pays homage to the vintage classic, but also stands out on its own.<\/p>\n
The WA-251 is an all vacuum tube, large diaphragm, transformer balanced, multi-pattern, large condenser microphone, based on the classic \u2018251 that has been used on countless hit records for the last 50+ years.\u00a0 The WA-251 is designed for pro studio, home studio, live, and broadcast applications and sounds great on vocals, acoustic\/electric guitars, acoustic\/electric bass, drums, piano, strings, brass\/woodwind instruments, and an array of other sources.<\/p>\n
The classic \u2018251 became extremely popular as a vocal microphone in the 1960\u2019s and is now considered to be one of the greatest condenser microphones ever created.\u00a0 The classic \u2018251 is still widely used today in professional recording studios but has become extremely rare and cost prohibitive to acquire.<\/p>\n
Designing our WA-251 to sound like the classic \u2018251 was no easy task, especially since some of the vintage components are no longer manufactured or available.\u00a0 We are pleased to release such a gorgeous sounding classic to the market at a price that\u2019s reachable to more people than ever before.<\/p>\n
A LOOK INSIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n The Capsule<\/strong> The Tube<\/strong> The Transformer<\/strong> The Cable<\/strong> The Capacitors<\/strong> The WA-251 was created to offer a classic microphone design to a new generation of recording artists at an affordable price. We spent a great deal of time listening to different \u2018251 microphones to determine what people liked about them and why, how various styles of components impact the tone, and how to give the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/WA-251-ACCESSORIES-300-DPI-copy-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestudiolounge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe WA-251 utilises a custom reproduction of the vintage CK12 style capsule that was used in the classic \u2018251 microphone – designed with a similar hole pattern and frequency response.\u00a0 Our version of this capsule (model# WA-12-B-60v) is carefully manufactured by an Australian capsule supplier and is precisely reproduced to the vintage specs.\u00a0 We are pleased to offer such a great CK12 style capsule re-incarnation because it allows us to nail the sonics of the most important piece of the formula.<\/p>\n
\nA Slovak Republic JJ 12AY7 vacuum tube is used in the WA-251.\u00a0 We auditioned 3 tube brands and fell in love with the JJ 12AY7.\u00a0 The frequency response of the JJ tube, and the way it contributes to the circuit is tonally smooth and vintage in nature.<\/p>\n
\nThe WA-251 utilises an American made CineMag USA transformer.\u00a0 This transformer helps provide the present top end and the LARGE bottom end one would hope to get from a 251-style condenser microphone.<\/p>\n
\nOne component of a tube microphone that is often overlooked is the 7 pin cable that connects the microphone to its power supply.\u00a0 When auditioning the WA-251 and other tube microphones we learned quite a bit about 7 pin cables and how the shielding and wire gauge size can drastically change the sonics of a tube microphone.\u00a0 We have partnered with Gotham Audio in Switzerland to use their very carefully built high-end 7 pin \u201cGAC-7 cable\u201d.\u00a0 Using this cable increases top end presence and the overall size of the recorded image in the stereo field by reducing phase shift and the parasitic effect often experienced in poorly built cables.\u00a0 Gotham Cabling is very expensive and boutique in nature and shouldn\u2019t be considered a small addition to the WA-251 package.<\/p>\n
\nThe WA-251 proudly uses polystyrene coupling capacitors, wima film capacitors throughout, and an imported Solen French capacitor on its output.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"