Groove Tubes GT44 Tube Microphone

S

sdelsolray

Active member
I've never bought a mic before sight unseen and sound unheard. Now I have. The sale price at Guitar Center for this was was $199, normally $399, with street prices from other dealers in the $430 to $480 range.

As many of you know, I'm just into solo fingerstyle acoustic guitar. I've needed a mic for gigging purposes, as I've wanted to retire a Soundroom Oktava MC-012 (hypercardiod cap) that I have been using.

Anyway, I tried it out for about an hour at home. Ran it through two different pres. Blended it with my guitar's pickups, and with another mic. Very nice. Very very nice. Frankly, I'm rather shocked. It's accurate, and detailed, with just a hint of tube. Clear focused bass, non nonsense mids and unhyped and pleasant highs. Very balanced and only slightly colored. Ran it through headphones (AKG 240DF), my gigging rig (Hafler/Daedalus) sand my studio monitoring path (Hafler/Dynaudio). Definite keeper.

I haven't done extensive comparisons with my other mics yet, although I will. I did, though, run it side by side with the Oktava (same pre, same placements). Big difference. To my ears, and for my uses, the GT44 is a definite cut or two above the Oktava.

I guess all I can say is nice mic.
 
sdelsolray,

Let us know what you think after the a/b tests. What do you think about a stereo pair?

Terry
 
tkingen said:
sdelsolray,

Let us know what you think after the a/b tests. What do you think about a stereo pair?

Terry
Click to expand...

Well I couldn't get a stereo pair, even between the two stores in Portland, OR (I got the last one). The salesman said he put my name up in the computer and when one comes in I can get it for the same price, which I'll probably do in a heartbeat.
 
sdelsolray,

If I remember correctly you have some nice mics for recording acoustic guitar. How does the GT44 compare to those?

Regards,
Terry
 
tkingen said:
sdelsolray,

If I remember correctly you have some nice mics for recording acoustic guitar. How does the GT44 compare to those?

Regards,
Terry
Click to expand...

The only mic I compared it to was that Oktava, discussed above. I'll compare it to others I have next weekend when I have the time to fool with placement, preamps, etc. Since it's a mid-sized diaphragm (3/4" inch), it will be interesting to see how it compares to the LD mics, although that could be an apple and oranges thing. As far as comparing it to the other SDs I have, we'll see. I'm not expecting anything.
 
I just ordered a pair of GT-44's without a test drive, too. They had a pair in Enida, Minnesota (closest store to me). Hey, they're cheaper than a CAD M179 or SP B3 in Canada!
I can't wait to try them out after hearing all of Dot's recommendations.....and Fletcher said he liked them too, so they can't be bad. :D
 
I snagged a few on sale at Guitar Center, as well as one of the GT-33's.

These are some nice mics, and I almost feel dirty for getting them so cheap.

But one thing that should be noted is that, at least from my experience, there was an unusual amount of variation between the three that I have. I've tried them on accoustic guitar and on voice . . . I even tried swapping the capsules. And all I can say is that each one sounds almost like a completely different mic from the other.

Now obviously, I do understand that the GT-33 IS a completely different mic :D. But from other people's accounts, I have heard the differences are supposed to be subtle, which wasn't my experience at all. I've got two 44's and one 33, and none of them sounds at all like the other.

The good news, I suppose, is that the 33 sounds pretty good on accoustic guitar. Very open, not too much high end, solid midrange. And one of my 44's sounds quite stunning, actually, on everything. That one's definitely a keeper and will see a lot of use going forward. The other one sounds great only after some serious EQ (and unscrewing the grille). I think I'll be sending that one back. :D

I guess you could say my mileage varied.
 
My first thought was that they were in the same general camp. At least one of the 44's vaguely reminded me of a smaller-diaphragm version of the MD-1B. The darker-sounding one did, at least. :D Smooth and unhyped, but not as midrangy, perhaps.
 
chessrock said:
I snagged a few on sale at Guitar Center, as well as one of the GT-33's.

These are some nice mics, and I almost feel dirty for getting them so cheap.

But one thing that should be noted is that, at least from my experience, there was an unusual amount of variation between the three that I have. I've tried them on accoustic guitar and on voice . . . I even tried swapping the capsules. And all I can say is that each one sounds almost like a completely different mic from the other.

Now obviously, I do understand that the GT-33 IS a completely different mic :D. But from other people's accounts, I have heard the differences are supposed to be subtle, which wasn't my experience at all. I've got two 44's and one 33, and none of them sounds at all like the other.

The good news, I suppose, is that the 33 sounds pretty good on accoustic guitar. Very open, not too much high end, solid midrange. And one of my 44's sounds quite stunning, actually, on everything. That one's definitely a keeper and will see a lot of use going forward. The other one sounds great only after some serious EQ (and unscrewing the grille). I think I'll be sending that one back. :D

I guess you could say my mileage varied.
Click to expand...

The 44's sound like different mics? That's scary!!!!!!!!!
 
chessrock said:
I snagged a few on sale at Guitar Center, as well as one of the GT-33's.

These are some nice mics, and I almost feel dirty for getting them so cheap.

But one thing that should be noted is that, at least from my experience, there was an unusual amount of variation between the three that I have. I've tried them on accoustic guitar and on voice . . . I even tried swapping the capsules. And all I can say is that each one sounds almost like a completely different mic from the other.

Now obviously, I do understand that the GT-33 IS a completely different mic :D. But from other people's accounts, I have heard the differences are supposed to be subtle, which wasn't my experience at all. I've got two 44's and one 33, and none of them sounds at all like the other.

The good news, I suppose, is that the 33 sounds pretty good on accoustic guitar. Very open, not too much high end, solid midrange. And one of my 44's sounds quite stunning, actually, on everything. That one's definitely a keeper and will see a lot of use going forward. The other one sounds great only after some serious EQ (and unscrewing the grille). I think I'll be sending that one back. :D

I guess you could say my mileage varied.
Click to expand...

Oh Man!! :mad:
I hope that isn't the case with the two 44's I am getting shipped to me.
I was hoping to be able to use them as a pair.
What happened to the Groove Tubes "Golden Microphone" that they supposedly compare them all to? ;)
 
I guess since M-audio stopped distroing. I definitely don't remember the +1/-1 reference back when Alesis was doing distro...
 
Just got my two GT-44's home, powered them up and did a preliminary voice test. So far they sound the same to me. Maybe I got lucky. :)
I will try them out tonight on drum OH and, if I can get my bud to come over, we'll try acoustic or amp.
Both my mics came in boxes with "Distributed exclusively by Midiman Inc." on them.
 
I checked out my GT-44's on O/H tonight. XY, NOS, and Recorderman through my Sebatron. Yeah....... :D nice smooth cymbals.......big sound, not harsh at all. Compared to my C4's, B1's and M179 these seem like a real step up. I can't wait to try them on acoustic and amp and.....etc,etc.
I had another look at the packages and for what it's worth, they even have consecutive serial numbers. :cool:

A real steal of a deal for $199 ea

Thanks to Home Recording for the heads up!! :D
 
I've been raving about these mics for the last two years. The GT33's and especially the GT44's tested out as some of the top fav mics by all the TLS engineers and musicians. At these new low prices, run - don't walk - and get 'em. Very versatile mics - acoustic, amps, drum OH's, room, vox, percussion. They really take the edge off of things. They're very forgiving in less-than-perfect-sounding rooms. The 44's get my highest possible recommendation.

dudge said:
I checked out my GT-44's on O/H tonight. XY, NOS, and Recorderman through my Sebatron. Yeah....... :D nice smooth cymbals.......big sound, not harsh at all. Compared to my C4's, B1's and M179 these seem like a real step up.
Click to expand...
With the GT44's on OH's running into a Sebatron - you, my friend, have an amazing chain. Both the 44's and the Seb have a softening effect and do a great job at taming harsh/fast transients. Very "digital friendly". Congrats!
 
I'll add that they take EQ really well.

I tried cranking the high end up on one, just to see how high I'd have to go to make it sound crappy. I started with a 4 khz high shelf at +3 . . . sounds pretty good . . . moved up to +6 . . . weird; sounds rather airy, but still good. Moved up to +10 . . . damn, real trebly, but not bad. It was like I just couldn't get it to suck c*cknb^lls, no matter how much high end I added.

It's like a damn ribbon mic.
 
Based on this thread, I ran out and got the last GT44 at the local Guitar Center. I brought it home and set it up and I've recorded male vox and acoustic guitar on it. OK, I'll admit that I've been using an SM-57 recently for vocals, which requires you to sing really close to get a reasonable level out of. But when I got up really close to the GT44 (maybe 2-4 inches away at moderate singing level, not bellowing by any means) I was horrified to get a really dirty, unpleasantly distorted signal. At more reasonable distances (1-2 feet) it sounds much cleaner, but I'm wondering if I've got a broken mic. Shouldn't it be able to handle those higher SPLs close up without breaking up so horribly, or is this just a sensitive mic that needs more distance? Thanks for any insights you may have.
 
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