The free-standing tube condenser microphone used by Blanc for decades is expected to go for US$4,000 to US$6,000 at Julien's Auctions
“The man of a thousand voices” Mel Blanc best known for his work with Warner Bros. is set to have his estate auctioned off on December 3, including his well-used Sony C-37A microphone.
What you need to know:
- Legendary Looney Tunes voice actor Mel Blanc’s estate is going to auction with his well-used Sony C-37A microphone a central focus for audio gear lovers.
- Blanc voiced the likes of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and many more!
- Bob Dylan and Bono have used the same model to record over the years with the iconic microphone being inducted into the TEC Awards’ Technology Hall of Fame in 2015.
Read all the latest product news here.
Blanc’s legendary voices filled many people’s childhood across his work in radio and television but was most known for his work voicing most of Looney Tunes’ major characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Wile E. Coyote, The Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam, Sam the Sheepdog, Taz the Tazmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé le Pew, and others.
Across his fabled career, Blanc lent his flexible voice abilities to more than five thousand cartoons and one thousand different characters, also voicing Woody Woodpecker; Barney Rubble and Dino from The Flintstones; Mr. Spacely from The Jetsons; and even Toucan Sam from Kellogg’s Fruit Loops commercials.
Sony engineers developed the C-37A in the early 1950s with early prototypes used for symphonic recordings in 1954.
The mic worked so well that the product was put into commercial production in Japan in 1955.
The tube condenser microphone was known for having a dark, smooth tone with an innovative mechanical control behind the capsule for polar pattern adjustment (omni and cardioid), and multiple EQ settings on the power supply.
The microphone itself housed a simplistic 6AU6 pentode vacuum tube and has been used to record everyone from Bob Dylan to Bono, being inducted into the TEC Awards’ Technology Hall of Fame in 2015.
The auction house expects the mic to go for US$4,000 to US$6,000, and it will come with a photograph of Blanc using the mic with his longtime friend Vincent Price.
The C-37A and the rest of the items up for auction will be on exhibit to the public from November 29 to December 3. Click here for more information.
