RMS Audioworks RMS12

on test
RMS Audioworks RMS12
Valve Microphone
Paul White
D
escribed by US-based company
RMS Audioworks as their flagship
microphone, the RMS12 is
a detailed recreation of the much-loved
vintage AKG C12, which was discontinued
in 1963. The RMS12 is powered by
a ‘New Old Stock’ GE 6072 valve and,
just like the original, it uses the AMI Tab
Funkenwerk T14/1 transformer. The
all-important CK12 capsule is hand built,
with great attention to detail.
Only the power supply has been
brought up to date, to conform to modern
regulations and to offer maximum flexibility
in pattern selection, but even that has
a solid retro look to it. Such a microphone
is understandably costly, but then it is still
cheaper than the modern AKG C12VR
— which, although a good mic in its own
right, doesn’t really sound like an original
C12. As Audioworks undertake a lot of
restoration work on vintage mics, including
C12s, they should know a thing or two
about how they’re put together and what
they should sound like!
Inside Story
Employing the same simple tubular
structure as the original, the RMS12
has a copper chassis and uses
point-to-point wiring, modelled on
RMS Audioworks
RMS12 £3399
pros
How close have this boutique company come to
recreating the sound of a vintage AKG C12?
the layout of the original
C12 and incorporating
premium-grade capacitors
and resistors.
It comes with a Gotham
eight-pin cable fitted with
custom connectors, all packaged
in an aluminium case, along with
the power supply. One end of
the cable from the review model
came hard-wired into a combined
connector and swivel stand-mount, so
if you use a conventional shockmount,
I presume this will be left dangling
beneath it. This seems an odd design
choice, as, when the mic is mounted, the
connector pins determine the orientation
of the mic relative to the swivel mount —
and, in the case of the review example,
the two were misaligned so that when the
swivel was pointing directly towards the
performer, the mic capsule was pointing
almost directly to one side.
Polar-pattern selection is via
a detented rotary control on the PSU,
offering variable pattern control covering
everything from omni, via multiple
widths of cardioid to figure-of-eight, so
it can replicate all nine patterns of the
original C12. There’s a voltage-selection
switch for US or European voltages,
and a balanced three-pin XLR carries
the output for connection to a mixer
or recording interface. There’s no level
control or filtering.
• Comes very close to the sound of
a new C12.
• Beautifully engineered.
• Hand built in the US.
cons
• Understandably expensive.
• I still haven’t figured out that cable/mount
alignment issue!
summary
Although there are several C12 clones vying
for your cash, this one will take some beating
for sound and attention to detail.
136
May 2013 / w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
I set up the RMS12 alongside my own
C12VR, and went through the usual range
of spoken word and instrument tests,
which all revealed the RMS12’s noticeably
more open high end and a few dB more
sensitivity. It also sounded adequately
quiet, although the original C12 was
nothing special in the noise department,
with a self-noise of around 20dB. Other
than on female voice, I’ve always felt that
my C12VR sounds rather too soft at the
top end (despite the official graph showing
it to have a hint more presence lift than
the RMS12), and the RMS12 came over
as better balanced, to my ears, delivering
a viable result on every sound source I tried
it with. There’s a subtle airiness to the highs,
but the mic manages to combine that with
a rich low-end and mid-range.
Hear For Yourself!
We tested the RMS12 against AKG’s
C12VR, their modern recreation of the
original C12. To listen to the audio files,
visit www.soundonsound.com/sos/may13/
articles/rms12-media.htm.
According to the frequency-response
plot, the RMS12 has two ‘presence’ bumps
— one at around 5kHz and the other at
around 12kHz — but these are fairly wide,
and only three or four dB up at their highest
points, which is about right for a C12. The
lows, which look exceptionally flat below
the start of the first presence hump, seem
better controlled than on my C12VR, which
I always end up using with a high-pass
filter. The overall impression was of
a classy-sounding mic capable of stealthy
flattery, and with a subjective character very
close to that of an original C12.
Twelfth Might
It’s clear that this mic has had a lot of
dedication poured into its design, in
a genuine quest to get as close to an
original C12 as possible, and other than
the rather puzzling stand-mount alignment
issue on the review model, the RMS12
is beautifully engineered, using the
best of everything and put together in
a reassuringly old-school way. The C12 has
many fans, which has resulted in a number
of boutique emulations, but Audioworks
Alternatives
There are other boutique companies such as
Pape, Telefunken, Peluso and Wunder Audio
building very detailed clones of the C12, but
they are all expensive.
seem to have pulled out all the stops in
trying to recreate it down to the finest
detail. That said, however, all the original
C12s have either aged or had their capsules
re-skinned by now, so there will always
be arguments as to exactly what the C12
sound should be!
Whether you can justify this kind of
money on a single microphone is another
question, of course, with many very capable
microphones on offer for around a tenth
of the price. But if you have your heart set
on a C12 and don’t want the uncertainty of
nursing an original, you’d be missing out
if you didn’t add the RMS12 to the list of
clones to audition. ££ £3399 including VAT, plus shipping.
EE [email protected]
WW http://rmsaudioworks.co.uk
w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / May 2013
137
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This article was originally published
in Sound On Sound magazine,
May 2013 edition
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