In this article and video Luke Goddard looks at the JZ Microphones BB29, a large diaphragm condenser mic that offers an expensive sound with distinctive future-retro styling in one package. If you’re ready to try something different or for when the established favourites aren’t cutting it, the BB29 could be the mic for you. 

What Is The BB29?

The JZ BB29 is a cardioid, single-diaphragm, transformer balanced studio condenser mic, and is the latest in a line of boutique handcrafted mics made in Latvia from the mind of Juris Zarins, the company’s founder. It offers a contemporary sound married with a boldly styled rounded-top and on-body shockmount lugs that give the mic a distinctive profile all of its own that I rather like.

Following on from this, there is nothing off-the-shelf about the BB29’s design under the hood either, with discrete Class A circuitry driven by the company’s Golden Drop capsule design. This innovation makes the diaphragm lighter and thus more responsive compared to a conventional capsule. JZ claims more linear performance from its capsule, and they have a stellar list of users on their website who seem to agree. There is no pad or roll-off on the mic, leaving us to condition things further downstream if needed. 

First Impressions

The first thing that grabs your attention is the long, flat form factor of this mic, along with the gloss black grille’s tastefully chamfered profile. The chromed metal shockmount lugs on the sides are a nice feature in themselves, which complement the output connector and threaded receiver on the end of the mic that lets you screw the mic straight onto a stand. Overall, the mic is quite lightweight, but this doesn’t detract from the overall handshake of this mic. This mic looks fantastic!

The review model came with JZ Microphones’ own custom shockmount which is a cost option. It must be said that the shock isn't great in use, with the pivot clamp requiring a lot of force to tighten armed with only a modestly sized wingbolt. To be fair to JZ they give us the option to choose, with less money getting you a Rycote USM...

The Sound

While using the BB29 for a song recording, I decided to compare it to the Neumann TLM103. While the latter is transformerless, it does have a fixed pattern and a top lift that makes a relevant point of reference. The mics were placed as close together as their grilles would allow. Everything went into my SPL Crimson mic amps and AD to Pro Tools. All the samples below apart from the full mix have all processing bypassed.

To hear how the mic performs on a female voice, you can watch Jess Orestano’s video where she compares her AKG Perception P220 to the BB29. 

In the end, I used all tracks recorded with the BB29 completely flat which is a first for me. Going on the specs of this mic, including the single membrane capsule, I was expecting the character of this mic to be less proximity-led with an airier top, which was indeed the case with a noticeably “tilted” character that worked well on my dull voice where others have failed! This character also worked wonders on acoustic guitar. 

The transformer coupling should lend some thickening to the sound, and the BB29 did reward me with a brilliant reamped bass that managed to be big without being flabby.

All in all, this mic lends an unapologetic airy sheen to sources that works brilliantly on acoustic instruments. Combined with its full bottom end, the BB29 flatters anything that needs some de-emphasis in the middle, and for anyone who sometimes tames the bottom and lifts the top slightly on some tracks the BB29’s mix-ready sound could be a big plus if mic and source already “agree”. 

Nouveau Niche

I think that JZ Microphones have delivered something really commendable in the BB29. It brings  a unique capsule design and electronics that resolve a larger than life sound, coupled with a memorable visual statement that is just as appealing. With these, they have created a microphone that does something that very few others achieve- that is to be itself. If you’re looking for something that isn’t one of the “default classics” there’s everything to like here.