With the Golden Age Premier GA-800G at NAMM 2020, GAP from Sweden probably fulfills the dream of many engineers. Golden Age Project has reproduced the Sony tube microphone, which is considered a studio classic microphone vocal.
Apparently, not only was the alternative and technically a bit made in Sony’s direction, but it is clearly a serious attempt to get very close to the legend. A (French NOS) 6AU6 with 90V. A max anode voltage is used as the tube, which is cooled by a characteristic, huge grid like the Sony. Not least because of this, quite low noise values of 18 dB (A) with high sensitivity (-33 dB / Pa) and high max. SPL (140 dB SPL with the ball, 137 with cardioid) is possible.
GAP is keen to emphasize that the electronics are housed on a Rogers ceramic board. These circuit boards are used in aircraft technology and are very expensive. High-quality electronic components from Germany and Japan are also installed, but who exactly manufactures the capsule for GAP has so far not been known.
It can be assumed that GAP wants to continue working in the high-end world with the GA-800G because Neumann and AKG clones have seen the world so much that the Sony C-800G reconstructed so elaborately is really an innovation.
This micro phone offers an exacting recreation of the original, down to the esoteric semiconductor active cooling system, which gave the condenser mics a higher signal-to-noise ratio over other tube microphones. This makes the studio microphone quite suitable for modern, clean productions, where noisiness is not a virtue. It offers a 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response and operates in both omnidirectional and cardioid polar patterns. You can switch between the two on the recorder microphone itself.
Price and Availability
Golden Age Premier GA-800G Tube Microphone Vocal has been priced at $3,999.99 and it can be pre-ordered through Bhphotovideo.com store. The power supply works with an included 7-pin microphone XLR cable, into which you can plug your conventional 3-pin XLR cables to connect to the mic to your preamp as well as a Rycote shockmount is also included.
