In 2016, Warm Audio introduced one of the most talked-about 87-style FET condenser microphones in the industry with the release of the WA-87.
Based on classic 60s circuitry, the WA-87’s rich sound became a favorite of countless producers, engineers, and home recordists everywhere. It was our first microphone and a verifiable hit, and in recent years we’ve followed it with many other successful and ground-breaking designs.
Since the release of the WA-87 in 2016 we’ve learned a bunch more about microphone manufacturing, and we’ve proven that we can shatter the industry’s quality expectations at affordable prices. That experience drove us to see if we could improve the WA-87 in tangible ways without having to raise the price. We’ve used everything we’ve learned about recreating vintage microphones in the last five years to bring it even closer to the sound, vibe and performance of the original 60s classic we all know and love. We’re ecstatic to bring you the result – in short, the new WA-87 bigger, bolder and just plain better!
The WA-87 is based on a classic 60s circuit that is widely considered to be one of the greatest studio microphones ever designed. We spent countless hours trying to get even closer to the sound of the vintage version than we had with the WA-87, so the new WA-87 uses top-quality components like a NOS Fairchild transistor and high-bandwidth polystyrene and film capacitors from Wima. The WA-87 uses a custom-wound Cinemag USA output transformer like the original WA-87 did, with the new version providing a slightly increased output level and improved frequency response. We also employed the same capsule the WA-87 uses, which was designed to the exact specifications of the ones found in the vintage mics. The result is an incredibly accurate sonic replica of arguably the widest-used studio microphone in popular recording history!