Stock Oktava 319's----how would you rate them?

Sorta of in a class by themselves. Just something about them that makes them stand out in a crowd of LDC in the same price range.
 
They're dark and clear. I love dark mics so this works for me. They don't have the hyped high end a lot of cheaper LCD have. The low end is nice without being overwhelming. To me they're very even with a nice mid bump for vocals.

They're hard to describe.
 
Dark and clear is a very good discription. They seem thicker in the mids than a lot of the Chinese LDCs in the same price range. Still my go to vocal mic. I liked mine before I did some simple mods to it so I was reluctant to put it under the knife but I'm happy with the results.
 
Dark & clear...that's a good description.
Works real well for my voice. The mk 319 I have was purchased used. Got it for a good price, and it was worth every penny. Wish I had a second one.
 
I would qualify the above by saying that the sound is quite variable. Oktava used a lot of different parts over the years, including parts salvaged from obsolete Soviet military equipment. I've got one that's dark and clear, as cited above, and it's my go-to mic for female vocals. I have a buddy that has one that is brighter, and sounds a lot like a U87. They both sound good, but not the same at all. Different bleeps from different jeeps. I paid $99 for mine from GC years ago, brand new, and it was some of the best studio money I ever spent. I should have gotten two.
 
I would qualify the above by saying that the sound is quite variable. Oktava used a lot of different parts over the years, including parts salvaged from obsolete Soviet military equipment. I've got one that's dark and clear, as cited above, and it's my go-to mic for female vocals. I have a buddy that has one that is brighter, and sounds a lot like a U87. They both sound good, but not the same at all. Different bleeps from different jeeps. I paid $99 for mine from GC years ago, brand new, and it was some of the best studio money I ever spent. I should have gotten two.

I did get 2... unfortunately one stopped working a couple days ago :(

It cuts in and out and is sometimes really fuzzy and quiet other times loud and poppy. I'm going to take her apart and see if it's anything super obvious. After 10 years and more than 10 moves, and bunch of time overseas, if she's dead she was worth the cost...I just hope I can save her.
 
If not Aaron you might have to get mr Joly to throw her a life jacket or splash out for a newbie.
Geez i hope none of my mics give out on me.
I'm just starting to get some and i love having a variety (horses for courses)
I like the sound of the mk 319 . just my kinda mic by your descriptions.
 
this is the first time any mic has crapped out on me. i have taken good care of them, but they've been all over the world for almost 10 years.

i'm hoping it's a lose something or a solder joint came off or something like that. if i can't figure it out i may just holler at michael joly and see what he says, then send in the set to get modded.

I love dark mics and can't stand even a hint of brightness. maybe it's the kind of music i do or just my taste. but the 319s are definitely right up my alley.
 
There have been several references to the 319 sounding "Dark". I also see this description when talking about ribbon mics. Any similarities between 319's and ribbons?
 
There have been several references to the 319 sounding "Dark". I also see this description when talking about ribbon mics. Any similarities between 319's and ribbons?

I've used the term "almost ribbon-like" to give a subjective impression of the top end of the 219 and 319. The capsule and transformer-coupled circuit provides a smoother, non-peaked, softer sound than most LDC mics and this is slightly similar to the ribbon mic sound (but the mass of the 219 / 319 diaphragm is greater than that of a 2 micron ribbon and thus does not have the transient response of a good ribbon mic).

The capsule and flat-response circuit used in the MK-219 and MK-319 produces a fairly flat overall system response. The mic could more accurately be described as "flat with a gentle presence mound and somewhat early HF roll-off" (not dark or peaked in other words).

Because of the unique design of the capsule used in these mics (an original Russian design and not a Neumann copy) it does not have the typical Neumann K67-type capsule high frequency peak of apx. 8dB @ 8 kHz found in most of the inexpensive mics that use K67-type capsules without being followed by a high frequency de-emphasis circuit as was used in the Neumann U 67 and U 87 mics (a complimentary boost-then-cut topology that increased headroom, lowered noise and provided some degree of HF response shaping).

Fact is, most LDC mics are "bright" or "bright and airy" to varying degrees - and its a rare mic like the 219 or 319 that is "flat-ish" with a non-peaked top. During the time period I was supplying Oktava-Online in Germany with modified MK-219 and MK-319 mics I was actually pre-selecting individual mics to modify based on their individual frequency response graphs (the graphs were emailed to prior to the mics being selected for modification). I would often be able to cull out mics that were flat +/2 db out to 16kHz.
 
Hello,
I'm looking for an MK-219 or MK-319 original capsule (same capsule) to fix my MK-219 microphone.

Some people mod this mics a lot and change the original capsule and might have a spare one to sell.

If you have one of this capsules please let me know

Thank you so much
Best regards

iL
 
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