Violet-Design The Wedge

condenser microphone.

OVERALL OPINION

Just one word: MAGIC! versatile voices take flight, the guitar resonance ... short top!
I hate has me take a 2em for recording stereo ambience ...
I put a recording on youtube if some tries. (Namely that the quality is reduced internet!)

This recording was done in one single take guitar track and at the same time


Just a small note, the standard support spider is not worth the 80 € I think ...
for the next I will not take it.

<p>Looking for a good large diaphragm vocal microphone, I conducted several tests of various microphones before purchasing, and I chose this one.
The tests were conducted:

1) In my rehearsal room,&nbsp;the wedge&nbsp;went direct into a&nbsp;JOEMEEK preamp
2) In a professional studio, into Trident and Neve consoles, thru Genelec monitors


We had available a range of different micophones to compare to, such as Neumann KSM105, the Neumann TLM102, Shure SM7 and the AKG Perception Series (type unknown).&nbsp;We have a Phantera Brauner will serve as a reference microphone.

The manufacture of Violet Design is absolutely correct in stating it's uniqueness. It's&nbsp;solidly well built,&nbsp;the design a bit strange, but truly original. The&nbsp;included&nbsp;mic mount&nbsp;does not isolate the microphone a lot of ground vibrations, therefore place carefully.&nbsp;Violet&nbsp;makes an optional&nbsp;shockmount clamp for it sold separately. The transport box is wooden with a magnetic lid closure. It's very pretty,&nbsp;designed&nbsp;to&nbsp;sit nicely in a studio, but not "roadproof" at all due to no&nbsp;actual&nbsp;latching cover.

I found the mic capsule is sensitive to vocal 'plosives, so&nbsp;a pop filter is&nbsp;a necessity for vocals. Some will tell you it can be used without one, and violet themselves gave this information. But my dealer (a leading authority in the world of Swiss Studios) has already had 'plosives because of "spitting" on the membrane. So a pop filter is mandatory if you want to sing</p>

OVERALL OPINION

<p> From the beginning of the test, I note that the microphone reveals every&nbsp;nuance in&nbsp;detail. Breath noise, minor imperfections in pronounciation, the imaging, the mood of the piece. Everything is perfectly rendered.

The highs are&nbsp;detailed&nbsp;but not cold or hard, with a sheen to them similar to&nbsp;vintage microphones.&nbsp;The midrange was accurate&nbsp;with no&nbsp;peaks or dips to color them.

The&nbsp;overall body of the sound&nbsp;has a certain warmth, without overdoing anything. Very nice articulation with a&nbsp; liquid kind of tone. Unlike many reviewers, I&nbsp;will not use the term "transparent". This microphone has a color, but can be described as warm, and true accurate&nbsp;highs.&nbsp;Overall really beautiful, and&nbsp;no matter what console preamp you plug it into, it always comes out great. Complex, yet with just the right amount of snap, but never harsh.

One thing that&nbsp;is special&nbsp;is the versatility of it.

On acoustic guitar, you get something of excellence. The body of the guitar is perfectly reproduced in all its fullness without too much or little of anything, not at all boomye on attack, nor harsh. The original&nbsp;tone of the instrument is clearly defined and the strings&nbsp;and body are well balanced (if placed accordingly). Again, a fairly accurate result,&nbsp;with perhaps a little softening of the higher frequencies, a pleasant quality&nbsp;not found in most&nbsp;other typically used mics&nbsp;for&nbsp;acoustic guitar.

Put&nbsp;on tom drums,&nbsp;it&nbsp;gives a nice emphasis to them.&nbsp;Attack is perfectly reproduced,&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;all the nuances, with a solid resonance in the sustain.
</p><p>Also excels as drum overheads, giving a sweet little attention getting&nbsp;element to the sound. The highs are rich and complex,&nbsp;overall&nbsp;full throughout the spectrum.

In front of a guitar amp, it simply gives what comes out of the amp as you hear it in the room. If properly positioned, the end result is very close to what the human ear percieves as true to source.&nbsp;So then&nbsp;you can do all the little things we normally do with a microphone to vary it's sound&nbsp;(move it&nbsp;closer or farther,&nbsp;either way no problems).

Frankly, for me, there is no need for any other mic other than the Wedge&nbsp;for the instruments I had&nbsp;on hand at the time of the test. I had no other instruments on hand for this test. The&nbsp;Violet Wedge is a balanced microphone, which offers plenty of sound for&nbsp;it's&nbsp;measily&nbsp;650 euros (approx $850 US)

It is, however, not a live vocal mic, because it is too faithful and starts&nbsp;to pick up&nbsp;the whole group. At very high stage volumes,&nbsp;it&nbsp;also had a tendency to feedback, like all large&nbsp;condensers do.&nbsp;So for live work, dynamic mics are better choice.

The difference between the Wedge and&nbsp;the Brauner is not obvious. The Brauner was perhaps a bit smoother on dynamics, which&nbsp;are already very good with the&nbsp;Violet (not in the way "for its price", but in the sense "in the absolute"). Ultimately, the wedge&nbsp;is a category leader in large-diaphragm mics under 1200 euros ($1500 US).</p>