C715 Review - Reviews - Music Tech Magazine

Boutique US mic-maker Josephson welcomes a new member into the C700 family. Huw Price wets its head.

Price: £3,000.00
Manufacturer: Josephson
Website: http://www.josephson.com

C715
Manufacturer Josephson
Price £3,000
Contact KMR Audio 020 8445 2446
Web www.josephson.com

Older souls will recognise similarities between the new Josephson C715 and Sony’s 1960s FET C37/C38 microphones. Besides the integral cable and yoke-style stand attachment there’s the mechanical cardioid/omni switch. The capsule’s backplate has an adjustable vent that’s reached by passing a screwdriver through an opening in the back of the grille.

The distinctive grille housing is made from ‘foamed aluminium’, which was invented to prevent fuel sloshing around in the tanks of fighter aircraft –Josephson has applied for a patent to use it for microphone applications. The rigid structure obviates any need for reflective flat metal rings and it provides some degree of pop filtering as well as shielding.

The C715 has an internally shock-mounted single-sided capsule with a five-micron evaporated gold diaphragm and the onboard preamp features a Class-A cascode FET circuit driving a nickel-core output transformer. An internal high-voltage linear power supply generates the capsule polarisation voltage without using a switching oscillator.

The mic preamp we usually use for testing is the stock unit on a MOTU 828 MkII – it’s our first port of call because it’s essentially bland, neutral and does no microphone any favours.

Gain drain
Unfortunately, the MOTU wasn’t capable of producing an adequate recording level with the C715 on vocals or acoustic guitar. Since this has never happened previously we initially assumed that our C715 was faulty, but the very high quality of the audio suggested otherwise.

Josephson designed the C715 to provide a very high output current at the expense of output voltage for more headroom. According to Josephson, ‘the power budget for a mic running on phantom power is very limited, so there isn’t much current to drive the load, particularly at high output levels’. The large Lundhal transformer is wired in reverse to reduce voltage and increase current, which makes the C715 less sensitive to preamp input impedance.

Having said that, you will need a high-gain, low-noise preamp if you want to capture quiet acoustic sources. But if you’re wondering why Josephson didn’t simply fit an attenuation pad, it’s because they apparently ‘increase distortion or alter the sound balance’. Josephson claims that this solution allows the C715 to handle 140dB maximum SPL all the way down to 20Hz, which is very impressive.

Real deal
Like many of the world’s finest solid-state condenser microphones, the C715 has the ability to capture whatever you happen to be recording with a disarmingly realistic and natural quality. Every instrument we tried it on came back through our studio monitors sounding just like it did in the live room.

But this is no sterile ‘measurement-style’ microphone. The transients are fast without being spiky, the midrange is full and upfront without sounding coloured, while the lows are solid and physical without any boominess. Overall, there’s an effortless sense of detail and transparency.

Picking patterns
Cardioid and omni modes actually sound quite different; we generally preferred the airy high-frequency sparkle of the cardioid setting. By contrast, the omni setting seemed to have less high-frequency content, although the bass felt lower and the overall tone was fuller, which suited vocals particularly well.

Like most large-capsule omnis, the C715 isn’t actually omni across its entire frequency range. Treble response rolls off as you move to the sides of the capsule and the treble roll-off is quite extreme at the rear. Nevertheless, the tone is still very usable, especially if you want to knock more of the edginess off electric guitars, vocals or trumpets.

What’s more, anyone discerning enough to buy a C715 will be unlikely to reach for a large-capsule condenser when true omni is called for. And at £3,000, the C715 is obviously intended for well-heeled microphone connoisseurs, but it is unquestionably a refined, sophisticated and sonically superb microphone. MTM

Verdict
WHY BUY
Superb sound quality
High SPL handling
Fast transient response
All-round capabilities

WALK ON BY
Integral cable is too short
High-gain/low-noise preamp essential for quiet sources
Rear treble attenuation in omni
A very serious solid-state condenser microphone for detailed, natural and uncoloured general-purpose recording work.
★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)

Score: 9

This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 102
Filed under Home, Josephson Microphone Reviews, Microphones, Reviews

/mtm/reviews/jospehson-c715

New users, please register here

Please enter your details below to set up your new account. Fields marked with a red asterisk * are required.

Your name
*First name:
*Last name:
Job title:
Company:

Account settings
*Email address:
	Please make sure your email address is correct, as we will send you an email with a link to activate your account.
*Username:
	Choose a username between 7 and 100 characters in length, without spaces or unusual characters. You may use your email address as your username, but note that it may appear in community areas of the site where others can see it.
*Password:
*Confirm password:
	Choose a password between 7 and 100 characters in length, without spaces.
	Remember me on this computer

Your address and contact info
Address 1:

Town or city:
County or state:
Postcode or ZIP:
Country:
Telephone:
Fax:
Website:

	By registering to use the Music Tech website you agree to allow us to contact you with our Music Tech email newsletters featuring news, competitions, exclusive content and special offers, as well as with communications from our carefully selected music technology retail and manufacturer partners. If you provide phone and post details we may contact you by those means as well with special offers relating specifically to Music Tech Magazine and our other publications. WE WILL NOT PASS YOUR DETAILS TO ANY THIRD PARTY. If at any time you wish to stop receiving our email newsletter, simply follow the Unsubscribe instruction on our newsletter. Contact us by email of post if you wish your post or phone details to be removed from our database.

MTM 111	FXpansion BFD Eco Review For those who don’t want to go the whole hog and dish out for the full version of BFD 2, BFD Eco brings you many similar features...	MTM 108	Brainworx Vertigo VSC-2 Review Brainworx’s latest plug-in is modelled on a £3,600 German-built VCA compressor. Mark Cousins finds a head for heights.
MTM 108	Yamaha 01V96i Review The latest incarnation of Yamaha’s new digital console continues the evolution of the 01V. Mike Hillier takes to the stage.	MTM 107	25 Tips for Mix Processing There is a multitude of mixing tools and features to be found in every DAW, but how and when should you use them? Liam O’Mullane takes you through the options.
MTM 107	Control for Live Performance Marrying technologies old and new with the traditional aspects of live performance, controllerism is one of the fastest-growing arenas, both in terms of music itself and the kit we use to make it. Hollin Jones reveals how you can get a slice of the		Music Tech Focus - Ableton Live 2012 MTF Ableton Live 8, 2012 edition is on sale now featuring 132 all-new pages of Live 8 Workshops, tips, features and interviews - buy online now
	Music Tech Focus - Synthesis 2012 MTF Synthesis 2012 is on sale now featuring tutorials for Arturia, Cubase 5, Logic Pro 9, Massive, Reason 5, Razor, FM8 and more	MTM 106	25 Pro Tips for Kick-starting Composition Initial ideas that spark the songwriting process must inspire you enough to see it through to completion. Liam O’Mullane explains how he gets the fire going...

Josephson C715 Review

Sign in to download this article

New users, please register here

See also...

Menu