Apex 460=CM-1 mic?

[alba123]

I've been seeing the CM-1 on Ebay for $190, it looks much **** the Apex 460.Is the CM-1 tube mic the same as the Apex 460? Has anyone tried the CM-1 for drum overheads, if so how did they sound? Does it have the typical Asian hyped high end? Thanks, Don

[tarnationsauce2]

I have a set of Stellar CM-1 mics. Yes they are the exact same mic as the Apex460. THere are a lot of variants of that mic.
I bought mine from loopsterman25 on eBay. He has "best offer" auctions, so you can probably get them for less than 190 each (I did).

I have used them for overheads, as well as vocals. They did sound very good. It's really nice to have the 9 different polar patterns to choose from.

I highly reccommend the seller, as well at the microphones. I think they are the best price/performance mics made today. And they are very modifiable for a bit of extra money.

There are a lot of reviews and such about the Apex 460, search around on the net. But, no the high end isn't a hyped China-type sound. They do have a sort of scooped low-mid range that goes away with a capsule upgrade. The first thing to upgrade is the tube to a lower mu (~60 or so) quality replacement tube.

[alba123]

Thanks very much tarnationsauce2, tha's exactly what I needed to know.

[dkelley]

I must disagree a little in the opinion of the high end of the 460 (and variants). I own one, it does have quite a hyped high end compared to expensive ($2000 and up) mics, tube or not. However I also understand that there are strong variations in frequency response of the capsules used in these mics due to poor quality control and poor training in how to tune a microphone capsule, so it's very possible that I have one that sounds hyped while yours sounds better. Either way, my capsule is going to first become the center of my new experiments in capsule modification (or.... destruction since I really don't know what I'm doing), as I'm going to try filling some of the tuning holes (or at least covering them temporarilly) to see if I can lose some of that hot high end. I've read a bit about how the acoustic designing was done and how it was tuned, so it's worth a shot. If that doesn't work, and I either end up with a dead mic or the same or worse sound as what I have now, I'll get Dave Thomas to throw in a peluso capsule. Ideally I'd like one that is warmer than what I have now. I'm not certain if I want this mic to sound really midrangy like a u67 or more like a m251 with the hot high end, but I do know that I hate how hot it is right now, very unwarm, very bright, although certainly a nice sounding mic just not what I want as a lead vocal mic to add to my collection of classics.

So I'm prob an unlucky one, you sound like you got a good sounding one, although we could just be looking for different things. Right now it sounds really close to my cheapo unmodded apex 435 LDC mics but with more noise, less dynamic range, and a pain in the ass to setup. That's a good sound, 435s are good mics regardless of their cheap price, but since I already have that sound from a 435 why would I want it again but with less performance in a $260 mic? :-) So I'm going for some mods to get this baby warmed up some. I don't own a c12 or m251, but I do have a couple of neumanns that are very warm and beautiful, I want something a cross between that and what the 460 sounds like now I guess.

Sorry, bored at work, long meandering post, completely pointless. I apologize for taking your time kind reader!

Cheers,

don