In Vintage mode, the UT Twin87 polarizes its capsule directly by phantom power voltages, taking advantage of an insulated, dual backplate capsule design — just as the earliest "87-style" microphones did. The high-Z and de-emphasis circuitry use all of the same component choices as the original. This yields a slightly warmer, softer and forgiving sound.

In Modern mode, the capsule is polarized at a higher voltage using an FET oscillator circuit as found on later revisions of the classic mic, yielding a higher capsule sensitivity and feeding a hotter signal into the amplifier circuitry. Its high-Z and de-emphasis circuitry likewise use all of the same component choices as much later “87-style” designs. This yields a louder, slightly brighter and more articulate response, with an extended top end reach and a more ‘up-front’ character.