Joemeek JM37

The Joe Meek JM37 is a large-diaphragm condenser studio microphone.
It is manufactured by the PMI company (USA): http://www.joemeek.com/microphones.html
PMI bought (in 2003) the "Joe Meek" brand from Ted Fletcher, who named his audio equipment line in honor of Joe Meek, the controversial but highly appreciated British songwriter and sound engineer of the 1950's and the 1960's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Meek
The Joe Meek JM37 user manual is here: http://www.joemeek.com/pdf/jm37_manual.pdf
Audio samples here (switch to AAC 256kbps, and prefer "dry" samples): https://www.thomann.de/gb/joemeek_jm37.htm


OVERALL OPINION

I compared this microphone to many others, regardless of the price range - the sound itself does not care about the money involved. I found the JM37 surprisingly beautifully-sounding.
As a sound engineer, the most important things I look for in a microphone are fidelity and linearity. This microphone has a truly remarcable linear response - all the vowels, consonants, and sibillants are perfectly coherent. Many expensive mics do not boast enough of these qualities.
My previous choices for great vocal mics have been: AKG 4000B (no longer in production, replaced recently by the AKG4000, which is not as good-sounding as its predecessor), AKG C414XLS, and Brauner VM1 (probably the best sounding microphone ever made). The Joe Meek JM37 has the 'vocal coherence' of the Brauner, but without being so 'sparkly'. JM37 is a perfect studio microphone, it can be considered a 'reference microphone' due to its linearity.
Price is very good, ~200. (In comparison, C4000B is ~800, C414XLS is ~1500, VM1 is ~6000...)
The overall appearance is nice, it is a rather small microphone (like the Neumann TLM103). It does not come with a spider-mount, but can be used with a general-purpose spider. Like all condenser mics, it needs a pop-filter or a foam-filter, in order to protect the large diaphragm from damage.
I highly recommend this microphone for vocals, both male and female. It will not make a particular voice sound better (or worse!), but if you have a really skilled and/or beautiful voice, it will reproduce it perfectly. That is its greatest quality.
PLEASE NOTE: This review is about the Joe Meek JM37, and NOT about JM37DP.
They are not completely identical sound-wise, and although the DP version has, in addition, a switchable 'omni' pattern and a -10/-20dB pad, I personally do not recommend the DP for vocals (however, it can be used for choir, instruments, etc.).
I cannot make any statements about JM37's reliability, because I did not use it long enough, but it has been performing very well until now. I sincerely hope that the Joe Meek microphones' (high) quality will stay constant in the future.
Thank you for reading this review.

(Originally written by zedbee/translated from Audiofanzine FR)
It came free with a Joemeek preamp I bought. Nice present...

I use it for vocals.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using it for 6 months.

Its poor quality makes this mic remarkable. It looks awful and cheap and the first time you use it you'll notice that the sound matches the finish...

Typical Chinese sound with over-emphasized highs and no accuracy whatsoever.

It sounds even cheaper than a basic Thomann mic.

And worst of all, it got broken after 6 months of use...

It was free so I threw it away without bothering with the warranty...

Mr Joemeek would turn in his grave if he could hear this mic...

I possde a JM37DP for "Dual Pattern" I guess. It has two directional (omni and cardio) and attnuateur (0dB,-10dB,-20dB).

I find it quite ugly. In fact it's pretty cheap with his gray paint mtallise which gives a "plastic imitation mtal" the body of the microphone (although very heavy) is wrong with the screws and his apparent trs chrome grille The e eye tape srigraphie matters worse, the logo really Joemeek toy, and switches (directivity and attnuateur) have a feel and sound that do not inspire confidence.

I put 4 parcequ'avec finish like this, it can not be the average (even for the price).

It looks like the M150 as a Minitel like an iMac!

OVERALL OPINION

I use it recently but I did a lot of dj test by plugging it into a Focusrite OctoPre LE and a Joemeek TwinQ.

To begin with what I like: the cardioid directivity strongly attnue sounds coming from the rear, and omni directivity has not lost too much treble on the ct s (default every microphone directivity common multiple of the double capsule).
it's nice to have the attnuateur pens, and more!

Now, in terms of her later when I would have done more with expriences, but if we can say that dj is not bad, it's "just" a lot .

He has a good and a nice prsence DEFINITIONS, although a low round with an interresting Carved into the top of the spectrum, but there is even something that bothers me in the treble. A "tsk tsk" that appears a bit aggressive too often, too much sensitivity to the whistling, too.

I do not think it can make the micro IMMEDIATE big sound (not like the U87, for example) and you do not get no more beautiful IMMEDIATE heat (or the Oktava C414) but it is not so far from a good sound and with a little correction, you get something trs correct.

O is sold at the price this mic, I think it's a good deal. Not suit the century, no, he does not press the Competition, but it is certainly not the worst of its class and can do great things.

EDIT: One year later with new monitoring speakers.

This microphone is dcidment bad. It's confusing, draft, ca does not even compare to other cheaper mics. Once he gave me a good joke: I recorded the rain, like fire and heard from a safe indoor! I keep it as a micro-order, since I had a gift with a TwinQ, which is not bad at all.