Does it Need a New Ribbon?

[radzikk]

I just picked up an old RCA Varacoustic mic on e-bay. I've had it for 2 days and think it's about the best $300 I've ever spent on a mic.
Everything I've tried before sounds like a telephone after using the RCA.
My question is when recording the RCA I get slight pop's in the sound every now and then. Like the ribbon is "bottoming out" (my voice is kind of strong in the low end.) I've got my pop filter set up about 18 inches away from the mic and I've tried as far as two feet and still get that little pop now and then.
My chain is RCA--Joe Meek 3Q--M-Audio FW410--Cakewalk and I never get a reading of more than 0 db.
BTW...When I got the mic (the guy who sold it said it had a nasty buzz) it was wired up with a speaker cable and they didn't bother to connect anything to the ground connection. I've since wired it for XLR with the ground connection to the shield the 'low' side of the xfmr to pin 3 and the hot side to pin 2. With the impedance at 250 ohms. (there are different picks on this one)
I've heard (something in a quote from Mr Royer) that the pickup is outstanding on these, but the xfmr sucks...could that be the problem. Planning on upgradding but just wanted to know if that will fix it.
As Always Thanks,
-k

 

[Tonewoods]

Just on general principle, whenever I buy a used ribbon, I send it in to have it re-ribboned and checked out. (That's one reason I like to buy blown ribbon mics)....

I'd highly recommend Stephen Sank for re-ribboning your Varacoustic. He just did a Varacoustic for me, and it sounds fabulous. In fact, I'd stick the mic right up there with a 77DX or BK11--it's that good. (By the way, that was Stephen's opinion as well).

Luck!