CU29 Copperhead Review - Reviews - Music Tech Magazine

The Copperhead is Telefunken Elektroakustik’s first fixedcardioid valve condenser. Huw Price takes a look at the ‘Tele’.

Price: £1,195.00
Manufacturer: Telefunken Elektroakustik
Website: http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com

CU29 Copperhead
Manufacturer Telefunken Elektroakustik
Price £1,195
Contact Unity Audio 01440 785843
Web www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com

There are no prizes for guessing how this microphone got its nickname. The copper and charcoal looks are certainly eye-catching, but may divide opinions. But for those of us who try to listen with our ears rather than our eyes, that’s all pretty immaterial. Focusing excessively on the styling would also be remiss, because the stuff going on under the covers is actually far more important and interesting.

Despite being a ‘heritage brand’, the R&D team at Telefunken Elektroakustik has been coming up with original preamp circuits with some interesting capsule and valve combinations. Apparently, the CU29 underwent an 18-month development period during which ‘industry experts’ were consulted and experiments undertaken with body styles, screen meshes and electronics.

Copperhead road
Taking their cue from the legendary Telefunken ELA M-series microphones, the designers optimised the circuit layout to minimise the length of high-impedance runs. So the valve is inverted to bring the connection pins closer to the capsule. The valve itself is a selected ‘new old-stock’ Telefunken 6AK5W (aka EF95 or 5654) mini-pentode – and yes, we did check for Telefunken’s diamond trademark moulded into the base of the glass envelope, so you can rest assured that this isn’t just a re-branded valve of questionable origin.

The various components within have been ‘individually selected’ and include WIMA Sprague and Russian-made capacitors along with what appear to be low-noise metal-film resistors. Since there are so few components mounted on the board, it’s probably safe to assume that the preamp circuit is relatively simple; output balancing duties are handled by a custom-wound transformer.

Taking a closer look at the board, it appears that Telefunken is using a combination of PCB and point-to-point wiring. Where possible the legs of the resistors and capacitors seem to have been left long and soldered along the length of the PCB traces to allow for actual physical connections between the components.

We previously tested the dual-diaphragm version of this capsule in the Telefunken AR51, but since this is a cardioid-only mic, only one diaphragm is required. So it’s a centre-tapped design based on Neumann capsules rather than the traditional edge-terminated Telefunken/AKG C12.

Although there’s no flightcase supplied, the Copperhead does ship in a lined wood box and it comes with a spider suspension mount and a generous length of cable to link the mic to the dedicated power supply. Hopefully, UK-market Copperheads will be supplied with European mic stand adaptors and a UK mains cable rather than an American one.

Copping a listen
The first thing that struck us about the Copperhead was its larger-than-life presence. Unsurprisingly, it’s not dissimilar to the Telefunken AR51 in cardioid mode, but to our ears the Copperhead sounds a little fatter in the midrange. The AR51 produces a more ‘natural’ tone, but the Copperhead’s beefy colouration is exactly what many of us would hope for from a valve mic, without sounding obvious or contrived.

Tonally it’s closer to the velvety quality of vintage Neumann-style mics, but a hint of upper-frequency glisten helps to keep the Copperhead ‘warm’ rather than dark and allows plenty of detail to come through. Although the off-axis response is very decent, our tests suggest that the Copperhead prefers to be addressed head-on.

Lead vocals in particular sound superb, almost jumping out of the speakers. Sibilance problems are non-existent and we discovered a very workable proximity effect. We also enjoyed the Copperhead on electric guitar, where the gentle high frequencies exert a calming effect on any harsh edges and the midrange is not dissimilar to that of a high-quality ribbon mic. So if you don’t consider a fixed cardioid mic restrictive, the CU29 Copperhead won’t disappoint.

Verdict
WHY BUY
Rich valve sound
Sweet treble response
Great looks
Excellent build quality

WALK ON BY
Cardioid-only

By any standards this is a superior-sounding valve microphone that just about brings a Telefunken microphone into the realm of affordability.
★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)

Score: 9

This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 99
Filed under Home, Microphones, Reviews, Telefunken Microphone Reviews

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Telefunken Elektroakustik CU29 Copperhead Review

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