http://www.adkmic.com/specs/Hamburg.html

The specs for the ADK Hamburg are available at http://www.adkmic.com/specs/Hamburg.html

I'm double posting this same post in this topic and also the topic in this forum for the ADK Vienna.

Both the Hamburg and Vienna are testing out really well. They're both really smooth-sounding mics. Many people are familiar with the harshness and hyped upper-mids in many of the Chinese-made mics. These mics are much smoother and sound well even when used over several tracks.

Here's the thing about these two mics - the Hamburg and Vienna - since so many people have been asking about the difference: They sound a lot alike. I imagine many people wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. They are voiced almost identical. The difference is that the Vienna has just a little more openess to it by what is probably a mild bump - maybe +2 dB at around 2-4K or so, and then another little bump around 12-15K or so. ADK doesn't release response curves [ it's there own intellectual property, so that's understandable ]. So, the Vienna sounds like a Hamburg that has a little bit boosted around 2-4K and 12-15K. Meaning, that you can get a Vienna to sound just like a Hamburg by cutting a few dB at or around those frequencies. And since cutting dB is usually the desired way to go, as far as I'm concerned, if you have a Vienna than you can also get the sound of a Hamburg out of it.

But, you can not get a Hamburg to sound like a Vienna as easily. And I would never recommend a mic that someone had to boost the EQ to get a desired sound, especially when many are not exactly running the highest-end EQ's. : )

These are beautiful mics. One thing they have over a mic like the Studio Projects C1, which is a popular mic that I have recommended often for years in this price range, is that these mics work equally well on vocals and instruments. I have recommend the C1 as a vocal mic only, and have always felt it was a poor acoustic [ especially stringed ] instrument mic. The Vienna and Hamburg raise the bar. There's also a smoother and better mid-range on these mics than most people would expect for mics with a street price of around $250. These mics have a litte bit of color to them, but not too much. So far both these mics have performed well - better than expected - on male vox, female vox, various acoustic guitars [ dark and bright ]. Tests are still ongoing and will include amps, drums, OH's, brass and percussion instruments.

People often ask for recommendations of mics that work equally well with vocals and acoustic guitar. Mics with both those attributes are few and far between and virtually non-existent in this price range. The ADK Vienna and Hamburg record both vocals and acoustic guitar equally well. For that alone they deserve high praise.

To add even more to the confusion between these mics, ADK has also just announced new models, Vienna II and Hamburg II. And they will be additional models, with the original Vienna and Hamburg's still remaining in production and on the market.

At this point I would recommend either the Vienna or the Hamburg as the best all-purpose LDC's you can buy for under $300. And outside of the MXL V69 [ which I've covered and reviewed here ] I think these are the best LDC mics in their price range - flat out.

For anyone who is interested in either the Vienna or the Hamburg and isn't sure which way to go, I'd recommend that you pick up the Vienna - for the reasons I stated above. I feel that with the Vienna you can basically also have the performance of the Hamburg - with just a little bit of EQ cutting. But with the Hamburg you can't really get the performance of the Vienna. Still, either mic is a great choice. You can't go wrong with either one in this price range.

I had initally thought that perhaps ADK had released something of a 'salt and pepper" team in the Vienna and Hamburg. But I don't feel that's the case. IMO, if you have either of these mics that buying the other one is not going to increase your sonic arsenal. In fact, if you have either the Vienna or the Hamburg, and you want another mic - I'd recommend you buy the same model mic so that you'll have a matched pair. IMO, you'll get more mileage out of a pair than one of each.

I'm including an MP3 attachment here of a Hamburg used through an A Designs MP-1 mic preamp on an excellent recording SF member "gonzo-x" did multi-tracking acoustic guitar. Additional notes on the recording are available here.

Tests are still ongoing and these mics are still "on the bench". But this is where I am so far and what I've found out about these excellent mics. More coming soon...

Gonzo_ADK_Hamburg_320.mp3 (5,669 Kb, 175 downloads)

More notes. Maybe some of this is redundant, but they're "notes"...

I spoke with Larry Villella of ADK after I'd had a chance to use the Hamburg and the Vienna side by side. He said I was correct that both mics basically sounded the same with the Vienna being tuned a little brighter. I was surprised they sounded as close as they do, and the only difference I hear is in the EQ curve. Larry also said that they were both designed so that people wouldn't have to use any EQ on them to get the right tone.

They're still great mics and in that price range both the Hamburg and Vienna knock the C1 off its long-held position at the top of the mountain for budget LDC mics. The C1 is still a very good vocal mic, IMO, but the Hamburg and Vienna are even better and worth the little bit of extra investment. They both have smoother mids and work equally well on vox and acoustic instruments.

Even though the Vienna is brighter, it doesn't have the "hyped" sound you get from a lot of Chinese-made budget mics. And there's no grainyness as can found with the AT4033 and AT4040. I'd say if you know you want a mic that's a little toned down then get the Hamburg. If you want something that sounds more open get the Vienna. If you're undecided which one to get then get the Vienna - which I've commented can be made to sound like the Hamburg by cutting a little dB around 3K and maybe even a touch around 12K.

I think if you have one of them it's not worth getting the other one. I know ADK might like folks to think there's enough difference, but coming from an objective guy [ me ] who listens to all kinds of mics through a really high-end critical system - they just ain't that different.

Either way you go I don't feel there's a better LDC mic on the market at this point below $300 than the ADK Hamburg and Vienna.

Can I ask a really random and not very useful question?

I'd like to know what the shockmount is like for the Hamburg, could any post a picture of the mic in the shockmount?

Sorry for wasting your time, feel free to ignore this post

this is the shockmount i have...
it has a simple mechanism for opening the center support ring just enough to slide the mic into place, and is very stable.....
i like it better than my audio tecnica 4033 shockmount....

Cool. Thanks for your help. I may as well add that I very much enjoyed the guitar piece you posted using the Hamburg.... really nice work and it sounded great too I'll also extend my thanks to all who have discussed the Hamburg which has helped me a lot in (probably) choosing it

Cheers

This is from the ADK website on the Vienna:

quote:

he Vienna Edition was the product of a year-long R&D and Beta – done in a ‘tag-team’ approach. If microphones are the paintbrush in the art of audio, then one begins to ask: what color? What texture? Our research has concluded that there is a parallel between music, language, and handcrafted musical instruments. If we compare the Steinway to the Bosendorfer, Beethoven to Mozart, or a Vintage U-47 to an Original C-12, we find similar color gradation – we see it as the Road from Hamburg to Vienna!!!

The Application for the Vienna would be when you want that certain “Sparkle” - Historically the Vintage Austrian Tone.

THE VIENNA IS A POP/ROCK VOCAL MIC WITH AN ABILITY TO HANDLE A WIDE VARIETY OF HIGH SPL APPLICATIONS.

And this is from the ADK website on the Hamburg:

quote:

The Hamburg Edition was the product of a year-long R&D and Beta – done in a ‘tag-team’ approach. If microphones are the paintbrush in the art of audio, then one begins to ask: what color / what texture? Our research has concluded that there is a parallel between music, language, and handcrafted musical instruments. If we compare the Steinway to the Bosendorfer, Beethoven to Mozart, a Vintage U-47 to an Original C-12, there is color gradation – we call it the Road from Hamburg to Vienna!!!

The Application for the Hamburg would be when you want that certain “Smoothness”, Historically the Vintage German Tone.

THE HAMBURG IS A FOLK/JAZZ/COUNTRY VOCAL MIC THAT CAN HANDLE A VARIETY OF HIGH SPL APPLICATIONS.

I'm sorry but I don't find this to be the case at all. As much as I like Larry Villella and the guys at ADK as well as a lot of their mics – including the Vienna and the Hamburg – there just isn't that much difference in the sound of these two mics.

I recently wrote a rant on some insight into the German and Austrian sound in The Les Pauls and Stratocasters of the Microphone World.

I've used the Hamburg and it does have a German type of color and sound. And I've used the Vienna and it does not have an Austrian sound. The Vienna sounds like it was made in Hamburg and about 100 kilometers outside of Hamburg on the road to Vienna the truck broke down. The truck might have made it to Berlin, but that's about as close as the Vienna mic gets to Vienna, Austria. The Vienna has a brighter sound, but it's still got that German color and "sheen" to it. Which still makes it a damn good sounding mic, and in general the one I recommend between the two.

I don't in any way want to take away from the excellent sound quality of these two mics. They're still about the best FET condenser mics you're going to find in that price range. But on the whole Vienna/Hamburg, C-12/47 thing – at least with the Vienna mic they missed the mark. If ADK is on the road from Hamburg, Germany to Vienna, Austria with these mics, the Vienna should have been called the "Berlin".

One thing I've found that I don't like about the Vienna and the Hamburg are the tapered shape of the bodies. From a practical use perspective in the studio, I'd consider this a design flaw that ADK should address when designing the MKII versions. The problem is with the way they sit in the shockmount. If you have them in the upright position with the capsule on top then there's no problem. But try and suspend the mic in an upside down position [ for various applications such as drum OH's, toms, behind the bridge of an acoustic guitar or just because you like to use mics in that position – like I often do ] and the mic can easily slip out from the shockmount.

The Vienna and Hamburg sit in the shockmount upright like an ice cream cone. It's the same cone shape that allows a paper cup to sit upright securely in a plastic holder. But try and set a paper cup upside down in the plastic holder – and the cup falls to the floor.

A straight body allows for an even grip of the mic in the shockmount – because pressure is applied evenly. A tapered body is a poor design because the pressure within the shockmount is mostly on the part of the mic with the greatest circumference – while the section lower on the mic with lesser circumference has very little to no pressure. This makes using a tapered-body mic at angles fewer than 90 degrees on the mic stand unstable allowing the mic to move out of its position or slip entirely out of the shockmount.

In a recent mic test session [ where all the mics were positioned upside down ] we had a Hamburg that was being set into position – with no XLR cable attached – slip out of the shockmount. Fortunately, lighting-fast ninja reflexes caught the mic before it smashed headfirst into the hardwood floor.

Dot,

I have a TLM103, KSM44, pair of Gefell M300's and a few common dynamic mics. I'm getting an itch to add at least one more mic to the collection. We record mostly a mix of blues, country and folk. Pres are A Toft ATC-2, Tampa and GT Brick. Do you think a Hamburg or Vienna might be a good addition for a different color?

Thanks,
Terry

Terry, while the Vienna and Hamburg aren't exactly like the 103, they're not that far away sonically. In fact they're pretty close, especially the Vienna.

Have a look at this in-progress graph.
http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/micgraph.htm

If you want to look in that general price range for a complementary mic to the mics you already have, and also for the kind of music you're doing, I'd recommend the MXL V69ME tube mic. The V69ME is darker than any mic you have, and it's also more colored than any mic you have.

Plus you don't have a tube mic at all, and there's a nice airy quality in the top end of many tube mics, including the V69ME.

I reviewed the V69ME at http://www.studioreviews.com/v69me.htm

That's were I'd recommend you put your $. It's a great mic.

Dot,

Thank you for your advice.
There has been some buzz about the V6 sounding very close to the V69. I'm a little concerned about the V69 - doesn't it have the tube soldered into it? That may make it a little tedious to try tube changes.
Dot, if you have experience with the V6, what do you think? I do plan to go with your recommendation. I wish your store carried MXL so that I could buy from you!

Regards,
Terry

Dot,

Now that I've searched around a little more I see that you were asked about the V69 vs V6 before. In the future I'll use the search button a little more often!

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by tkingen:


I'm a little concerned about the V69 - doesn't it have the tube soldered into it? That may make it a little tedious to try tube changes.

Nope Terry, the tube in the V69 is socketed so tube change is easy.
I'm going to try a Mullard 12AT7 / ECC81 in mine, soon.

Dudge,

Thanks for the clarification. Think it's time to order one!

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by dudge:

quote:

Originally posted by tkingen:


I'm a little concerned about the V69 - doesn't it have the tube soldered into it? That may make it a little tedious to try tube changes.

Nope Terry, the tube in the V69 is socketed so tube change is easy.
I'm going to try a Mullard 12AT7 / ECC81 in mine, soon.

I forgot to post here that the ADK Vienna and Hamburg were reviewed in July 2005...
http://www.studioreviews.com/vienna-hamburg.htm

Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the ADK Vienna/Hamburg to the MXL V69?
I realize one is a tube and the other a condensor.
The application would be rap/hip hop style vocals.
Young, fairly not-so-studio savy operator. Therefore, probably high SPL and not delicate.

Thanks.

Dan,
Have you had a chance to listen to the MKII version of the Vienna and Hamburg? I'm curious to whether their claims of the Vienna being "a little bit more open" and the Hamburg "a bit softer on top" were some engineering on their part to differentiate them more sonically, since you noted they were almost the same except for an extra bit of 3k and 12-15k in the Vienna.

Thanks,

Michael, I've held them in my hands, but haven't heard the new MKII's. They're really completely different mics than the original Vienna and Hamburg. I even recommended to ADK that they call them something else.

When I get them in for testing I'll open another thread.

quote:

Originally posted by MAS:
Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the ADK Vienna/Hamburg to the MXL V69?
I realize one is a tube and the other a condensor.
The application would be rap/hip hop style vocals.
Young, fairly not-so-studio savy operator. Therefore, probably high SPL and not delicate.

Yes, MAS, I've compared them. I wouldn't recommend the V69 for rap/hip-hop vocals. It's got too much of a retro sound. I'd recommend the Vienna.

Thanks, Dan. I've actually had the chance to try out both of the MKII versions of the Vienna and Hamburg this week, thanks to ADK's fantastic Western Canada rep. I don't know how they would compare to their original models, but they are definitely distinct from each other. I prefer the Hamburg, but could easily own both.

The one thing that I did find in common was that they both exhibited a small bump around 3k, like you had observed in the Vienna. I found them both much more pleasant-sounding and faithful to the source material if I cut a little at that frequency...the Hamburg became much more "Neumann-esque" and the Vienna was bright but flat and accurate through the mids.

Would be nice not to have to cut anywhere, but it's an acceptable compromise compared to spending over $1K on a higher budget mic. Plus, it's correctable, as opposed to other import mics...ADK has a nice, smooth quality from 5k and up, where mics from companies like MXL and Apex are harsh in that region, and no EQ is going to fix that.

Looking forward to your thoughts on the MKII's when you get a chance to listen to them.