Luke Audio AL-Y56 Black Magic Microphone

Luke Audio AL-Y56 Black Magic 3-Head Tube Microphone System

The AL-Y56 Black Magic is a high-end, large diaphragm, tube condenser microphone with three distinctly voiced, interchangeable, hand built capsules. The extreme versatility of the Y56 with its 3, included, hot swappable capsules yields a microphone capable of your wildest dreams. It features a NOS GE JAN 6072a vacuum tube, AMI T14 12:1 output transformer, 10dB pad, and only the finest hand selected components. From light and airy, to full and warm. The Y56 will supply you with the tonal characteristics you desire!

The Y56 uses only the finest hand selected components, hand soldered in house. Its circuit consists of a polystyrene input coupling capacitor from the capsule, Elna, Wima, and Nichicon capacitors throughout, 1% resistors from PRP and Ohmite throughout, and a Sonicap output capacitor pushing AMI T14 output transformer.

The AL-Y56 was designed for use in pro studios, home studios, broadcast, and even live applications. With it’s unmatched ability to faithfully capture a vast array of sources correctly and naturally, you will find that the Y56 shines on vocals, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, piano, strings, brass, woodwinds, and ANY source it is put in front of. Having the choice of three true high end tube microphones at such a great price point is completely unrivaled in the pro-audio world and an absolute must have for a mic locker of any size.

The AL-Y56 Black Magic is supplied with three distinctly voiced large diaphragm capsules. Each capsule backplate is precision machined and hand lapped to extremely tight tolerances then sent to the Luke Audio “Clean Room” to build. In the “Clean Room” each diaphragm is made by stretching a piece of 1 Micron thin Mylar and coating it with a layer of pure Platinum via our state of the art Cressington sputter coater machine. Each capsule is meticulously assembled, tested through a vigorous and time consuming process, and fine tuned to ensure each capsule of a given type is exactly the same as every other one produced by Luke Audio. The Capsule is the most important part of the microphone. It is the head of the chain and the transducer that physically interacts and captures the movement of air from the source material. If the capsule is not the absolute best (as in most microphones which use the same mass produced imported capsules) then you must compensate for the below par capsule in the construction of the circuitry or furthermore with EQ, therefore loosing some of the life and reality that is present with a “perfect capsule”. At Luke Audio we pride ourselves on building only the “perfect capsule”

The A1 is a custom reproduction of the ck12 type capsule found in vintage greats such as the C12 and ELAM microphones. This edge terminated, dual backplate design when used in conjunction with the Y56 yields a microphone with a bright, airy, and open feel.

The A2 is a custom reproduction of the k67 type capsule found in such mics as the vintage studio workhorse, the U67. The center terminated dual backplate design in conjunction with the Y56 yields a more mid focused, punchy, and articulate capturing of the source material.

The A3 is a custom reproduction of the k47 type capsule found in the legendary U47 microphone. The center terminated single backplate design yields a full bodied, rounded, and warm capture of the source material with a true “vintage” feel.

SOUND ON SOUND REVIEW OF ORIGINAL AL-Y56