A great choice for any singer, it is interesting that, unlike the original 251, the pattern switch is located on the included power supply unit and not on the mic's body. Although handy, pattern switches on condenser microphones are prone to intermittent and noisy problems. With the Warm 251's power supply within reach, you can remotely change the pickup pattern between cardioid, omnidirectional and figure-of-8 at your listening position while auditioning your singer.

An included 5-meter, 7-pin XLR GAC-7 Gotham cable connects the power supply to the microphone and we found this was of ample length for all uses. Long enough for in-control room vocals keeping the power supply close by or on the floor in the recording room. My first test was an acoustic guitar and vocal recording. I used Warm Audio's 84 for the guitar and the 251 for the vocal. I set the 251 to omni and had the singer close in--about four to six-inches away and to prevent P-popping, I used my Pete's Place Blast Filter. My Sunset Sound S1P Mic Pre-amp was at 40dB of gain most of the time plus I used no EQ. The sound was rich, present and dynamic with virtually no noise.

At another studio, I used an AEA RPQ mic pre-amp starting with about 28dB of gain. The 251 has about the same output as the vintage microphones in that studio's collection. I tried and compared all sorts of different speaking and singing volumes and the WA-251 held up well under scrutiny!

I arrived with the awareness that Warm's 251 is excellent for soft to medium loud singers who may tend toward shrillness at the top of their range. It has an overall mellow tone and takes post-processing well.

I like the nice kit that comes with it. There is an individual box for the mic itself but no carrying case for the entire kit that includes a basket shock mount, the aforementioned cable and power supply.

I didn't care for the shock mount as it proved to be fiddly to use. Nonetheless, apart from those two gripes (and you can certainly buy those items in the aftermarket), I have to recommend the WA-251 for budget-minded recordists who want the sound of a large diaphragm, tube powered vocal microphone.

The WA-251 sells for $799MSRP.