Gallery of Greats

When Neumann asked me in the spring of 2021 to give input on a new model the company was planning to launch, reissuing the M49 was probably the last thing I would have guessed: unlike with the rebirth of the U67, no parts could be borrowed from any of Neumann’s current …

Among the Big Five, the M49 takes a special place. It was the only mic which was never seriously marketed to recording professionals, artists or studios, either in Germany or abroad: entirely a creation by German broadcasters to fit the needs of German, state-owned, broadcast …

In the spring of 2018, Neumann reissued the U67, a three-pattern, large diaphragm tube microphone first introduced in 1960. To simply review build features, response curves, and component quality of the Reissue, in order to determine how faithful it is to the original, would be …

Let’s start with a sleeper, a mic so rare that many have never heard of it, let alone used it. This model in Neumann’s line of solid-state small diaphragm mics stands out from the rest of the gentle, un-hyped KM8x series that commenced in the late 1960s. Its ‘wow’ factor has …

What company can safely use the word 'reissue' to name and shape a new mic after an old, without receiving ridicule or disdain from audio professionals and collectors? Of the remaining heritage brands, only Neumann can. AKG cannot, and Telefunken... well, that's an entirely …