Oktava 219

bluesfordan

Member
I've had this thing for years. I think I bought it at the local GC grand opening sale, they had a whole barrel full of them for some really low price, I want to say 79.99 or something like that. It might even have been the first non-radio Shack mic that I bought that wasn't an SM-57. I've never used it much, maybe a handful of times at most. Recently I went through the old mic briefcase and tried everything out. Unexpectedly, because I was sure I'd like my Rode NT-2 the most, I actually favored the Rode NT-1 and this mic.

I'm waiting for a good time to do some recording, preferably when the A/C isn't running, no fans are blowing, the neighbors are not mowing their lawns, no kids are screaming in their yards so early evening when it isn't too hot. Those opportunities will be coming up soon and I had better be ready to strike while the iron is hot.

Do you have one of these? What is your favorite way to use it? I've read a lot about people modding them, does anybody use theirs stock?
 
I have a 319 (I know, NOT a 219) I bought from Taylor Johnson YEARS ago. It's a real deal Rusky that I have since heavily modified. It's my "go to" vocal mic for the most part.
 
I bought a package from GC back in the 90's with 2 MC012's, 3 MK219's and 1 MK319 for some ridiculously low price. I already had a decent pair of condenser mic's(AT 4050 and AT ATM10) and some Dynamics so these helped round out my condensers at the time. The mods you probably heard about start with damping the shells and removing the barred parts from the grilles. I have done that to all my 219's and though it made a slight change I don't think I would bother if I acquired another. I use the 219's on guitar amps about 16-20 inches from the speaker in a good room and I have one on my floor tom(with the 012's with pads on the mounted toms). I really like the way it handles the SPL and the boom and pop on the tom and the low mids on the guitar amps without getting too bright on the top end(fizzy, I hate fizzy). I only tried the 219 on vocals once or twice but found I preferred the 319 or 4050, though in certain situations with specific voices it could work. The actual response of the mic is not too colored to my ears and so I would consider it a great general purpose mic for just about anything. In case you haven't already seen here's the link to bit with the response graph:Oktava MK-219 | RecordingHacks.com
 
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