A rose by any other name and ebay buys
Hi,
In the quest for fifty dollar microphones sometimes you have to research a mics lineage.
For instance Shure made the Realistic 1070b to Radio Shack specs. My guess is they exceeded the required specs. The 1070d says Radio Shack and Shure on the label but as near as I can tell the b, c, and d models are exactly the same and I have done close a/b comparisons between them. The 1070d usually goes for about twice what the b and c models go for because of the magic word Shure on the label.
The model 1070a was made in Taiwan so maybe not Shure. I don't have a 1070 with no letter so I'm not sure about that either. The 1070a sounds similar to the b, c, and d but the one I bought was wired reverse polarity so I haven't been using it.
Here's some other mics that are the same in spite of being named different.
The Peavey 520i would definitely be a bargain for fifty bucks. The Peavey 520tn is the same mic. It's kind of rare and not everyone knows it's the same mic so if you found one on ebay you would have a better chance at a bargain.
The Audio Technica Pro37 is the later model of the Pro37r. I contacted Audio Technica tech support and they confirmed that they are indeed the same microphone. I have one of each and I can't tell the difference between them. Again
the Pro37r is not as well known and may go cheaper. In fact I got my Pro37r for $55.99 while I paid $68.77 for my Pro37. Both of these are bargain prices the mic usually goes for closer to $100.
Now for my just purchased ebay bargain using the rose by any other name method. I'm still waiting on shipment so I'll have to review the mic later but this is what I did.
A very famous mic from the seventies, I believe, is the Nakamichi
cm-300. It comes with omni and cardiod capsules and a pair of minty cm-300s will often sell close to $300.
Teac also sold the cm-300s under their own brands, Teac and Tascam. My guess is they were bundled with tape recorders but I am not sure of this. The model numbers are Teac me-120 and Tascam pe-120. The Teac often goes a little bit cheaper than the Nakamichi and the Tascams go for least of all, often in the $50 area.
I don't know if you noticed but the economic downturn has affected prices on used microphones and there are often bargains to be had. I just bought a Tascam pe-120 for $42.91 shipped. I am anxiously waiting to try it out and I will fill you in on how this less than fifty dollar mic does.
I usually don't bid on two mics at once but I made an exception because within a couple of hours of the Tascam there was an AKG D120E. I really lucked out on this deal and bought it for $30.70 shipped. Now I don't know if that mic really belongs in the under $50 category. It could have been one of those lucky flukes. It is a vintage AKG dirt cheap so I'm hoping for the best with this purchase too.
If you are aware of well known mics that have identical or close siblings that might go cheaper on the used market please add them to the list. Also if you have experience with either this Nakamichi family of mics or the AKG D120E please let me know.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
