WA-47jr
microphone
$299
Used market: $235*
Specifications
5 of 7 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
A FET reworking of the '47 idea: a gold-sputtered dual-backplate K47-style capsule with three patterns, a 10 dB pad and a 70 Hz high-pass, without the tube or the external power supply.
Gain Staging Advice
10 mV/Pa, -40.0 dBV/Pa: 19 dB above an SM7B and 8 dB below an AT4040. Self-noise of 9 dB-A and 147 dB max SPL, 157 dB padded, is a wide window for the money. The manual gives one sensitivity for all three patterns, so expect a couple of dB of movement away from cardioid - and note that the pattern switch is on the capsule side, so the cardioid front is the side the switch is on.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
«Sensitivity: 10mV/Pa Or -40dB»
'-40dB' is printed with no reference, and the word 'Or' presents the two figures as interchangeable. They are interchangeable only if the reference is one volt: 10 mV/Pa is exactly -40.00 dBV/Pa, so the arithmetic confirms the intent. Against the older 1 V/microbar scale the same microphone would be -60 dB, and a reader comparing this line with a vintage datasheet has no way to tell which scale is meant from the page alone. Two further things are missing from the same line: the load the measurement was made into, and which polar pattern it applies to - the WA-47jr has a dual-backplate K47-style capsule offering cardioid, omni and figure-8, and one sensitivity is given for all three.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~79% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026