Recording - May 2018 - 38

Vanguard
Audio Labs

V1 Microphone System

An instrument mic with a difference-and different is good
REVIEW BY PAUL VNUK JR.

anguard Audio Labs is based in Upland, CA, and was founded by gear designers and studio
veterans Derek Bargaehr and Ken Avant, who originally founded Avant Electronics back
in 2003. Vanguard mics are manufactured overseas with final assembly in California. The
company motto is "crafting great affordable tools so you can make great music."
George Petersen took a first look at Vanguard in our October 2016 issue, with his review of the V13
large-diaphragm tube condenser microphone. This month we will be looking at Vanguard's new V1 mic system.

The V1 body

The V1 system starts with the V1 microphone body, which
measures 5.25" tall by 0.75" in diameter. It's finished in Vanguard's
signature high-gloss Pinot Noir finish with polished nickel trim and the
company's winged nickel badge logo. The metalwork is made from
a combination of brass, aircraft-grade aluminum, steel, and zinc.
It features no pads or switches, but the body does have one
cool little feature: a pair of encircling grooves on the midsection
and bottom that lock the mic firmly into an accompanying
VSSM shockmount. This is arguably one of the best-quality
third-party shockmounts on the market.
The V1 is a solid-state mic with a hand biased JFET circuit and a
transformer-balanced output. The transformer is a custom-wound
humbucking dual-bobbin design and many internal components
are cryogenically treated.

Top it off

There are four capsules available for the V1, in cardioid, wide
cardioid, hypercardioid, and omni. These capsules feature 16mm
4-micron gold-sputtered Mylar diaphragms over precision-machined,
custom-voiced backplates. Unlike many small-diaphragm capsules
Vanguard designed these to have the diaphragm as close to the
front of the capsule as possible, with minimal screening, to prevent
comb filtering. You're warned to handle the capsules only from
the sides, as putting pressure on the top can damage them.
In addition to the small-diaphragm capsules, Vanguard also offers a large-diaphragm lollipop-style capsule
called the V34C Lolli. This is a 1.4" thick and 3.15" wide
head assembly of aircraft aluminum, housing a 34mm
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RECORDING May 2018

edge-terminated 3-micron dual-diaphragm capsule. It features
a minimal loose-weaved screening behind its Art Deco-styled
grille. According to Vanguard, its dual-diaphragm design
makes it the world's first multipattern lollipop capsule, with
switchable cardioid and omni patterns.

Choices, choices

As a system you can purchase a single V1 body with the
four small-diaphragm capsules, a single mic with all five capsules,
or stereo pairs of each. Each comes in a foam and felt-lined
wood box with the bodies, capsules, and VSSM shockmounts.
Stereo kits include a simple stereo placement bar.

In use

I was sent a pair of V1 mics with eight small-diaphragm
capsules and a single V34C-they are so new, I couldn't get
a pair yet! At the time of this review, there were no published
specs for the V1, but I listen to mics, not spec sheets...
My first use of the V1 was in stereo on a Taylor acoustic
guitar with the cardioid capsules. The first thing I noticed was
a nice smoothness that gave the guitar warmth and punch.
On cajon, I preferred the wide cardioid capsule, as the sound
opened up more on the top a tad and the width was nice to
capture the hand slaps and bass thumps. I don't often use wide
cardioid SDC capsules, but I'd use them more if they all sounded
like the V1's-they had a great balance of width and smoothness.
On snare drum and toms I liked the hypercardioid capsule the best,
for its fullness and forward rounding along with its off-axis rejection
and tight pattern. This is a great snare drum condenser sound, well

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2018