I picked up a ML-52 at GC today…

F

Flatpicker

...
…and wanted to thank everyone for the heads-up. They only had two left so I took my guitar and spent about a half an hour comparing them via headphones and a Focusrite Platinum VoiceMaster Pro Channel Strip. I turned everything else on the Focusrite off so I was just hearing the mic pre and the headphone amp. The one I brought home was pretty smooth and sounded great. The other one sounded kind of harsh (the sales guy even thought so).

BTW, GC is NOT discontinuing the Oktavas. The salesman who helped me was the assistant manager and assured me of this. He said they were on sale because GC had bought many, many thousands of them (forgot the amount, but it was staggering!) and that was why they could sell them so cheap. He also said that the sale would continue past the end of the month. They are also now giving a 2-year warranty with them.

But, now I have another problem: I was afraid this was going to happen… but the ML-52 didn’t sound nearly as good at home as it did at GC. I’ve concluded that the pres in my Aardvark Q10 suck compared to the pre in the Focusrite (no, I’m not surprised). I didn’t have time to mess with the Focusrite much, but as acorec said, it sounds excellent and is a great match for this mic.
 
BTW, the really neat thing about this mic is that you can EQ it just about any way you like and it sounds perfectly natural. That's probably mostly because it's natural sounding to begin with. I bet you could take this mic, a good pre with eq (like the Focusrite) and record just about anything you wanted to with great results.

Now onward to get my hands on a good pre...

:cool:
 
Flatpicker said:
I’ve concluded that the pres in my Aardvark Q10 suck compared to the pre in the Focusrite
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! Never heard a Focusrite pre, but I think the Q-10 pres are pretty good.
 
Re: Re: I picked up a ML-52 at GC today…

Ptron said:
! Never heard a Focusrite pre, but I think the Q-10 pres are pretty good.
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Well, I thought so too...until today! :(

But, I'm still not comparing apples to apples as the headphones and room were different. However, in both cases, I'm going in the mic and straight to the headphones using the same guitar, position, etc… The room could very well be part of the problem, especially since the ML-52 is figure-8 but I'm betting most of it's the pres.

Listening back to clips of my other mics, I hear that same "yuck" factor in every sample I've recorded. There's something muddy in the lower mids and some clarity’s missing. I know the mind's not supposed to remember details like that after an hour's time, but I also know I really liked it at GC and not at home.

We can speculate all we want but I'm afraid the jury's going to be out until I try a better pre. If there’s a significant difference, I’ll post clips comparing them.
 
Flatpicker said:
BTW, the really neat thing about this mic is that you can EQ it just about any way you like and it sounds perfectly natural.
Click to expand...
I completely agree, and I noticed the same thing myself.
 
on the pre thing...

i compare mics across several mic pres. the ev re 20 for example really needs a certain kind of pre to get its sound out.

sometimes, you've really got to match the mic to a certain pre.

congrats on the new mic, flatpicker.

steve
www.mojopie.com
 
The Voicemaster Pro is really a great preamp. It matches well to most of my mics and its a good thing you turned off the extras in it. Some of them are excellent features and some are dogs. The preamps alone though are excellent.
 
Well, I picked up an Ml-52 about a week ago at GC for $175. It's dark and smooth (mine at least, Oktavas can be quite variable), kind of like a cross between MK319 and an SM7. In fact, it sounds a little like an AKG Solidtube, ome of the good ones.
It is an excellent mic for backing vocals, and good as a lead vocal mike on a singer who's a little strident, with piercing highs. In short, it works on the same voices that get along with the MK319. I haven't had a chance to try it on guitar yet, but it might be good on axes that are a little bright. We'll see.-Richie
 
The TWINTRAK PRO looks nice, especially with the "air" and input impedance control. Two channels of the important stuff for ~$600! (Look out RNP!)

If I wasn't in the middle of building my own pres, I'd probably bite on this one. But I'll just use it as motivation to get off my can and get the things finished. :D

Back to the ML-52, I can’t get over how easy it is to get sounds I like by just using EQ. Seems like it’s way more difficult with the condensers because they’re so far off to begin with – scooped here, peaked there, etc… You have to flatten them out first (which I can never seem to do to my own satisfaction) and then go from there. Then you've got to keep it from sounding all 'phasey'. With the ML-52, it's mostly flat from the get-go, and when you do apply EQ, it sounds musical and is difficult to screw up.

If this thing keeps sounding like this, I may have some cheap condensers for sale. :p
 
BTW, I'm also having great luck with vocals too. I just lay them down and EQ to taste! :)

I'd better shut up, now. I'm probably starting to sound like an "Oktava plant"... The spam police will be after me now... :p
 
Flatpicker said:
BTW, I'm also having great luck with vocals too. I just lay them down and EQ to taste! :)

I'd better shut up, now. I'm probably starting to sound like an "Oktava plant"... The spam police will be after me now... :p
Click to expand...

This is great stuff. So, keep spamming. :)
 
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