GEAR REVIEW
JZ MICROPHONES V67 AND BH2 MODELS | Kent Morris
If you ’ ve noticed , there are many more microphone brands on the market today than in the past . In 1990 , the storied makers in Western Europe and the USA commanded the lion ’ s share of mic sales for stage and studio . With the introduction of the Sony / Mitsubishi DASH and later ADAT / DA88 digital multitrack recorders , the push for mics capable of working in the digital realm compelled the big mic brands to alter their designs to accommodate a digital world . Some models succeeded and others failed , but the momentum was building toward a digital friendly microphone where reduced residual noise , high power handling and a brighter , more direct tonality ruled the day .
But then , something happened . Recording engineers , producers and vocal artists began to long for the warmer , more organic timbre of the older mics . Suddenly , used classic designs were selling for several times the cost of a comparable new mic . Western builders had moved on , but there was a solution waiting in Eastern Europe .
After the dissolution of the USSR , Eastern European manufacturers who had no choice but to stay with the “ antiquated ” technology they had never left , saw an opportunity to meet the needs of users in the West craving the build , tone and quality of classic designs . Latvia became the epicenter of this retro-revival and soon BLUE microphones was a bustling success . After an affiliation with Electro-Voice and then Bosch and a final sale to Logitech in 2018 , one of BLUE ’ s founding sons , Juris Zarins , decided to get into the mic making game himself and thus , JZ Microphones was born .
Many builders use gold sputtered diaphragms to increase transient response and withstand pressure and moisture from vocalists . However , JZ Microphones takes the process deeper by placing golden droplets onto the diaphragm with tweezers by hand . Given the delicate nature of gold , it makes sense JZ Microphones is successful in this endeavor since they began as a family of jewelers who repaired high quality microphones as a sideline in the 1980s . The result today is JZ makes a truly hand built mic with astounding clarity at a price comparable
JZ V67
to many mass market models made by the thousands in a factory .
The JZ V67 model represents their vintage approach to studio mic design with its neutral personality perfect for vocals and acoustic guitar . JZ was kind enough to send one for me to try out and it did not disappoint . In my