is it me or them?

J

jtunney

New member
I just bought two mics from Musician's Friend -- an Oktava MK-012 and a Nady SCM 900. I'm running them through a Studio V3 pre-amp. Neither mic works. I've tried them both with and without phantom power --- nothing. The needle doesn't even flicker. My old mic, a Radio Shack, works fine.

It seems unlikely that I got two defective mics from two separate manufacturers (but I guess it's possible), so I figure I must be missing something really obvious.

Any thought?

Thanks.

John
 
Does your radio shack mic also require phantom power? If not, maybe the mixer isn't outputting enough (or any) phantom - so your RS mic would work but the other two wouldn't.

I'm assuming you also tried switching cables. I agree the chances of two completely different mics arriving DOA are pretty slim.

What I would do is go down to your nearest music store with your two mics and plug them into a demo board in the store. If they still don't work, it looks like you beat the odds and won the negative lottery.

You might as well bring the V3 with you and try one of the store's mics with your V3, just to make sure it is working correctly. If you go to a Guitar Center, they should have a couple of dozen MC012's lying around.
 
Could the cable be wired incorrectly and not be providing power to the condensors but working ok for the dynamic?
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "Is your lead XLR to XLR or XLR to Jack?" Sorry, but I'm new at this.

John
 
Listen to Littledog's good advice and turn on the phantom power switch.

If the end of your cable looks like a guitar chord (pointy thing), then you need to switch to a different chord, in which case you would need to go to your music store and ask for an XLR cable (has three prongs at the end instead of pointy thing).

The reason is because the two mics you just bought are both a different kind of mic than your Rat Shack (they are condensers and your other one is a dynamic), and thus have different requirements. They need the XLR cable, and they need the phantom power switch on (the switch will be located on your mixer or preamp). Actually, you should be using the XLR cable with your dynamic, too. Not required, but it will sound better.

I won't bore you with all the details right now.

Good luck.
 
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the cable is xlr on one end and 1/4" plug on the other. I'm using an xlr adapter to connect to the pre-amp, but I guess that ain't the same thing when comes to phantom power. Makes sense.

Thanks.
 
Yep, your cable is your problem.
You are using an unbalanced lead and phantom power won't travel along unbalanced leads.
You need to buy a balanced XLR mic lead. That is 3 core cable (3 wires inside the cable) and a 3 pin XLR connector at each end, one male and one female.

Mark
 
That did the trick. The solution seems so obvious -- after the fact.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

John
 
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