Oktava 219

Modus

Modus

Zaireeka!
I just got my Guitar Center cataloge thingy and it has the Oktava 219 listed on sale for $69.99. Is this a really good deal? (says save up to $439)

So if this is a really good deal my next question would be; what is this mic good or bad for? Good for vocals, bad for paino or whatever. I'm planning on buying a pair of 012's mainly for acoustic guitar and I don't know what kind of mic I'm going to get for vocals besides the 012's (eventually i will have many mics, but right now im just starting out buying equiptment for recording and learning on) So is this a really good deal and what do you use this mic for?

Thanks
 
Thats a lot less than the $199 I paid some time back.

It was my first 'good' recording mic and I used for just about everything. Though you're going to like the 012's a lot more, the 219 has it's uses. It doesn't have the highs of most other LD condensers, but that can be a good thing. I use mine on acoustic instruments that seem to record too crisp like the autoharp, dulcimer and banjo, and sometimes when I want to de-ess a vocal.
 
Thats a lot less than the $199 I paid some time back.

It was my first 'good' recording mic and I used for just about everything. Though you're going to like the 012's a lot more, the 219 has it's uses. It doesn't have the highs of most other LD condensers, but that can be a good thing. I use mine on acoustic instruments that seem to record too crisp like the autoharp, dulcimer and banjo, and sometimes when I want to de-ess a vocal.
 
depends

The last deal I saw on them was $99 ea or 2 for $149 at Musician's Fiend.

That could be a good deal, depending on the quality. From what I have read in this BBS, Oktava has poor Quality Control, and apparently Guitar Center doesn't spec them. You could be getting a perfectly good mic or a terrible sounding mic.

Also, there are some mods you can do to make the mic sound better. Just do a search on Oktava Mod.

I have a MK219, and it works well for me.
 
I bought one on impulse from guitr center many years ago when they first came out, because they were so cheap and I was so dumb.

Since there are apparently people who actually like this mic, I will assume that I got a lemon. Mine is absolutely useless for recording anything that could be classified as musical. I've only kept it because it is so unbelievably ugly that I thought it might come in useful someday in a video or cover shoot.

In addition, the microphone is connected to the threaded stand adapter by a piece of thin metal that is so flimsy it is frightening. But then again, I'm easily scared.

Supposedly the redesign of the enclosure in the 319 version improves the sound greatly. The new design certainly looks a lot better. While $69 is certainly cheap enough, it's still more money than most people care to just throw away, so you really will want to test it in advance if you can. Otherwise there are a lot of other mics (mostly Chinese) in the $100 range to choose from which may be worth comparing.
 
the mk219 is a good mic with a really great mic pre. with a cheaper mic pre, it's a very limited duty mic. so, if you've got a great mic pre such as a fmr rnp or above then try it out.
 
Mmmmmaybe...

I've tried a friends 219 that is awesome, and I've never found another that sounds the same. I think his is a fluke. I've also had similar results with the 319. I would spring the extra dough and buy from the SoundRoom, that way you know it has already been tested.

Tom Cram
dbx Senior Technical Support
(801) 568-7530
tcram@dbxpro.com

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
-Thomas Jefferson-
 
I think Tom nailed it. If you can do some critical auditioning of a couple of dozen of them, you might find a gem. Although Guitar Center salespeople are not always pleased to bring you out a couple of dozen to play with.

I would challenge ozraves to find ANY preamp that would make my particular 219 sound good. But then, I only have various API's, ATI's, Vintechs, Tubetechs, Dakings, DACs, and Demeters at my disposal. Maybe I just don't have the right quality pre yet! ;)
 
littledog said:

I would challenge ozraves to find ANY preamp that would make my particular 219 sound good. But then, I only have various API's, ATI's, Vintechs, Tubetechs, Dakings, DACs, and Demeters at my disposal. Maybe I just don't have the right quality pre yet! ;)
Click to expand...

Lil Dog,Yes you are useing junk!Its sad really:( ...Send them to me and I'll dispose of them for you..I really want to be helpful:D


Don
 
littledog said:
I think Tom nailed it. If you can do some critical auditioning of a couple of dozen of them, you might find a gem. Although Guitar Center salespeople are not always pleased to bring you out a couple of dozen to play with.

I would challenge ozraves to find ANY preamp that would make my particular 219 sound good. But then, I only have various API's, ATI's, Vintechs, Tubetechs, Dakings, DACs, and Demeters at my disposal. Maybe I just don't have the right quality pre yet! ;)
Click to expand...

maybe i have one of those uncommonly good ones then.

little dog, if that junk is weighing you down, then please send it to the poor and needy here in oklahoma. just ship it to me and i'll make sure that i get it.
 
Hi there -

Never tried the 219, but I did own a 319 for a few days...

First off, if you decide you want to buy one (or two) of these Octava MK-319s, plan
on spending some time at your GC store listening to a bunch of them because they
are VERY inconsistent from one unit to another. I went through 6 of them at the store; I did A/B comparisons with two at a time connected to a Mackie board, listening to a Martin D-18 acoustic guitar, a Zildjian 18" cymbal, a ring of keys, and a hand full of coins. Some of the mics were OK; some were real dogs, with very low output, no top end, crooked high pass or pad buttons, smudged silkscreen printing, bent mic clips, scratches in the paint and other odd mechanical problems (the XLR connector on two of these mics was undersized and wouldn't even accept a mic cable!).

Anyway, after finding the mic that sounded best to my ears, I could hardly wait to take it to the studio to get started. I was most interested in doing an A/B comparison with a Rode NT-1, which I already own, and am very familiar with. Both the MK-319 and NT-1 were stand-mounted, and connected to ART Tube MP mic preamps.

For source material, we started with two male (baritone and tenor) vocalists. The first thing that struck me was how bottom-heavy the MK-319 sounded compared to the NT-1. Also, the MK-319 sounded very "gritty" and veiled, with very little top end, where the NT-1 sounded much bigger, more open and clean.

Next, we tried some "egg" shakers... the MK-319 sounded closed, smeared and muddy, compared to the NT-1's open and detailed sound.

Then, we put these two mics above and in front of a MAPEX drum kit with new "pinstripe" heads. Again, the MK-319 sounded very "narrow", dark and "closed; the Zildjian cymbals lacked high end and the whole kit sounded muddy. When we cued up the Rode NT-1, it was like changing from my wife's grandmother's hand-cranked Victorola to standing in front of a real drummer... the NT-1 was open, detailed and had all the highs and none of the low end boominess of the MK-319.

As I wrote earlier, these mics are not mirror images of one another, so I might have gotten a so-so one out of a batch of bad ones…. I don't know. But I was disappointed enough in that particular mic that I wound up returning it to GC store the following Tuesday. By the way - most music stores in Oregon won't accept a returned mic because of "federal health guidelines". If you buy and decide to return one of these (or any other) microphones, make sure nobody "spits" on it during vocal testing because the GC salesman sniffed the grille of my returned MK-319 several times before I got my money back... strange but true…
 
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