Sub For 1-AA Battery?

zooeywoof

New member
Hi all~ Years ago, I used to use the Audio Technica AT813 mics, and instead of the 1 AA, I used to put in 2 smaller batteries that would slightly increase the voltage & improve performance. Does anyone recall what battery that might have been? BTW, because if the higher voltage, I was instructed to remove them when not in use...?
Thanks & be well~
 
I am going to follow this just because it makes no sense to me how any mic could benefit from double the voltage from a battery and survive. Not to mention that I have only used one mic ever that had a battery compartment, and it was a Radio Shack excuse for a pencil condenser mic. I think I still have it actually. Maybe it was a AT from the 80's? Maybe I am just being a dick?

Either way, I could be wrong, but likely it not worth using. Sometimes 'vintage' is cool. Sometimes 'vintage' means early crap. I suppose you might find ways to use it. Not for me to judge.

If you are using a mic to have some kind of 'effect' or 'low fi' thing, then by all means throw some voltage greater than it was made to handle. It may be the best thing you ever created. :)

Jack Black has been doing that for years now. It may be the coolest thing ever. Though, he is not as popular as he was 10 years ago. So to each their own.

Always fun to experiment. Others opinions are worth only how you take them. Enjoy and create to your hearts content!
 
If the two batteries you used back then were 1.5 volt alkaline one time use and not some rechargeable type which might be 1.2 volts each, two of them in series would be 3.0 volts total. There may some alkaline batteries around that are half sized, but I couldn't readily find any. Depending on your age, you may have possibly had mercury batteries used in photo gear which were about 1/2 sized AA's, but you'll not find those any longer. There is however a Lithium battery that is full AA sized and provides 3.0 volts...
Amazon.com: AA 3V Lithium Battery aa Battery Model cr14505 Count:Pcs (2): Health & Personal Care

I have a ATM31 I bought back in 1990 ($138.60), one of the first good mics I ever owned and a descendant of your AT813. I bought it primarily to use with a Fostex X-15 4 track tape recorder which only has 1/4" inputs and a battery powered mic was a good option to allow use of a condenser mic with a recorder that had no phantom power available. Like your AT813, the ATM31 does not work when supplied with phantom power (I've forgotten this a couple times and wondered why the mic didn't work when I tried to powered with phantom).

I could be wrong, but I would think increasing the battery voltage may only increase the headroom of the mics internal amplifier which allows the mic to respond 'better' to louder sounds and maybe provide a hotter output, but not necessarily 'improve' the sound. My ATM31 is a good sounding mic I don't use often and handy to have if I need a mic with something that doesn't have phantom (works well with adapters into an 1/8" camcorder jack), but I don't think I'd risk a higher battery voltage that could conceivably damage it.
 

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