Frequently Asked Questions

FLEA Microphones are available through a network of authorized dealers worldwide — see the Where to Buy page. If there is no dealer in your region, contact sales@flea-microphones.com directly.

The microphones are manufactured against the order, not to stock. Delivery is usually 2–4 weeks once payment has been received. For FLEA 12, 49/249, 50/250 or M49/249, M50/250 kits this time is extended to 4–5 weeks.

FLEA microphones are warranted to be free from defects in mechanical material or workmanship for five years from the date of original retail purchase. Electrical parts are warranted for five years and tubes for six months. See the Terms page for full details.

As there have started a miscellaneous discussion during the last time and people compare original vintage Neumann M49’s with our Flea49’s on various forums, we’d like to provide a bunch of information for those who are interested in Flea49 microphone.
 Information maybe not well-known.

Original Neumann M49 was made in different modifications.

The first and main thing that participates on the sound of this microphone is electronic wiring of the microphone that was provided in 4 versions.

• so called – M49 normal

• M49a

• M49b

• M49c

Another one thing that affected the sound was: two type of capsules – M7 and K47. For this microphone were used two transformers – BV11 and BV11a.

During all history of production were microphones equipped with two types of tubes:

• Hiller MSC2 – used for version M49 normal

• 2/ Telefunken AC701K

For the US market, Neumann M49 left the plant with output transformer wiring on 50Ohm (this was mostly marked by red dot on the production badge)

Otherwise, the mic had 200Ohm output transformer wiring. This was standard wiring for this microphone.

All this information leads us to considering how many sound variations we can await when meeting with Neumann M49.

We, at FLEA, decided for M49b version as a standard. This version seems to be the most universal for us. It has very pleasant huge bass and pleasant highend. Of course, it’s possible to make Flea49 in “c” wiring (Flea49c) as well. The main, essential feature of Flea49c version is more neutral frequency response than “b” wiring. It means the mic has less low ends than “b”.

By this, we would like to ask all our potential customers to mention their interest about wiring.

Leo.