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Never had the real thing but, this mic is good! Owned it for about a month. I'm in the middle of recording a 60s influenced rock album and I purchased the WA-19 specifically to record my 25 watt Fender Champ II amp with onboard efx (a little slap back with much reverb). Stock '96 MIM Strat guitar. Mic goes straight into one of the preamps on my Antelope Audio Discrete 8 Snyergy Core - 96k 24bit - not using Antelope's onboard efx. I will agree this mic is not as prone to proximity effect do to the machining on the body. I put the mic on a small boom stand in front of the amp and listened to a couple of different placements. It recorded the guitar w/out any boominess. Didn't really notice or think about proximity. I recorded full frequency (did not use the mic's roll off high pass filter). Everything was recorded, processed, and mixed in mono. My guitar tracks sound surprisingly "smooth and buttery". To achieve this I inserted a Waves TG12345 mono channel strip. I used a parametric EQ plug to notch out a couple of annoying frequencies in the upper mids. Ultimately I rolled off the bottom end at 124hz. A little added EQ and compression (waves RS124) helped bring out the clear, defined attack of the guitar. It was a little work in the box but I got there - I am happy!Other reviews of this mic say the WA-19 is close to the real thing, maybe with a little "honk" where the original 19 is just smooth. I kinda agree about the honk?, but it's subtle. I am not a pro engineer but I have a well rounded, seasoned ear.Other mics I use on guitar cabs are: i5, sm57, beta57, e609, C214, KSM137, and RE-20 - each with its own sound. I am really happy with the WA-19 as I find it to be unique sounding in a pleasant way.

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