Josephson E225, April 2005
Apr 1, 2005 2:02 PM, By George Petersen
CARDIOID STUDIO CONDENSER MICROPHONE
Microphones
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David Josephson is the best mic builder you've never heard of. Here's a guy who has created capsules for ultrahigh-end, world-class mics from other companies, yet he likes to keep a low profile. And Josephson mic aficionados seem to like it that way, with these mics maintaining their cult status among those in the know. One fan is producer Steve Albini, who years ago asked Josephson to make a side-address, no-compromise condenser that had a vintage European sound, yet was compact and tough enough to survive a drum stick strike. The result is the e22S.
The mic's KA22S capsule is derived from Josephson's Series Six line, with a ⅝-inch diameter, gold-evaporated polyester diaphragm. This is mated to a C609 Class-A discrete FET cascode front end and a custom Lundahl amorphous-nickel core transformer. There are no pads, highpass filters or frills. This baby's built for performance — race cars don't have power seats, air conditioning or cruise control. Retail is $1,480, with a storage pouch and a slick little shock-absorbing clip-mount.
Designed for drum miking, the mic's small size lets you deal with tight spaces and place the mic for optimum pickup, without getting in the drummer's way. Better still, the side-address design means that the sound from the drum can reach the mic directly on-axis. Also, the mic's body stalk gives the engineer about six inches of “reach” over the drum for prime positioning. Used on toms (top or bottom) parallel to the heads, the result was dark with ample resonance. Slightly changing the mic angle added more attack; moving the mic outward toward the rim emphasized overtones — all in all, a huge palette of possibilities from which to choose.
On snares, I appreciated the e22S' 144dB SPL handling, as it offered a punchy, open sound with no need for pads. Keeping the hi-hat out of the snare feed was no problem: The tight, consistent cardioid pattern exhibits an apparent lack of rear lobing and tons of rejection of sources behind the mic, putting the focus on what you need to capture. Here, even slight changes in placement or angles were clearly noticeable, with plenty of variation in attack, texture and resonances from which to capture just the right snare sound. If you've spent years using dynamics on snares, the e22S will be a real ear-opener.
The real surprise was using the e22S on everything from guitar amps to acoustic guitars and banjos to upright bass. The mic's nice balance of lows with uncolored mids and a smooth, slightly rising top end was just right, whether on 12 strings or the sweet sustain and resinous draw of bowed bass. Noise is rarely an issue with a mic an inch from a snare head, but on acoustic instruments, a Millennia HV-3 preamp spotlighted the mic's low 12dBA self-noise, although cranked guitar cabinets seemed to prefer the transformer setting on a Groove Tubes Vipre. One of our editors even tried them for distance miking of a large choir (using a spaced pair on stands in front of the vocalists) with excellent results.
Overall, the e22S is a winner. It's built to withstand tough drum miking conditions, yet delicate enough to capture nuances of string harmonics. At $1,480 each, this mic isn't in the budget league, yet for a mic you could use every day on every kind of source, the e22S starts looking pretty affordable.
Josephson Engineering, www.josephson.com.
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