New Bargain "Pre-Modded Tube Mic" For The Soldering Skill Impaired...

[screws]

I love my CM5 and CM6.

 

[Jim Lad]

Time I put my twopence worth into this thread.
I had discussed this microphone with Kidvibes on a few occasions and have been considering buying at least one of their microphones at some point.
However: It has been pointed out to me that on post 45 of this thread, I have given this particular microphone a ringing endorsement.
I did not write that post.
I do not own the microphone.
Someone has (On behalf of Stellar, it seems) hacked my post.
So let it be known that based on this unscrupulous act I have made up my mind that I will never buy a Stellar Microphone.
I do not like being used in such a manner and quite frankly, if the microphone was any good at all, the sellers would not have to stoop to such levels in order to make a sale.
I'm calling it.
This whole Stellar promotion is nothing but a scam and the mic itself is probably no better than any other low budget piece of junk.
Why else would they hack my post?

 

[MichaelJoly]

Time I put my twopence worth into this thread.
I had discussed this microphone with Kidvibes on a few occasions and have been considering buying at least one of their microphones at some point.
However: It has been pointed out to me that on post 45 of this thread, I have given this particular microphone a ringing endorsement.
I did not write that post.
I do not own the microphone.
Someone has (On behalf of Stellar, it seems) hacked my post.
So let it be known that based on this unscrupulous act I have made up my mind that I will never buy a Stellar Microphone.
I do not like being used in such a manner and quite frankly, if the microphone was any good at all, the sellers would not have to stoop to such levels in order to make a sale.
I'm calling it.
This whole Stellar promotion is nothing but a scam and the mic itself is probably no better than any other low budget piece of junk.
Why else would they hack my post?

I've been calling attention to Kidvybes' Stellar shilling for almost a year now - got myself banned from Gearslutz in the process. The current review of the Stellar mics at RecordingHacks.com is loaded with factual errors - Stellar does not design all components and have them made to their specifications, for starters.

Stellar is not a boutique mic manufacturer. Steller is one guy - Peter Bloch in Portland, Oregon who is a full time employee of Intel. He runs an ebay based vacuum tube and Chinese mic re-branding business on the side. He relies on shills to spam here and at Gearslutz so he can preserve his anonymity and protect his day job.

But hacking a thread to attribute the content to someone else? Wow. Sounds like the trick the moderators where pulling on me over at GS. Cheers, MJ

 

[exhnozoaa]

Time I put my twopence worth into this thread.
I had discussed this microphone with Kidvibes on a few occasions and have been considering buying at least one of their microphones at some point.
However: It has been pointed out to me that on post 45 of this thread, I have given this particular microphone a ringing endorsement.
I did not write that post.
I do not own the microphone.
Someone has (On behalf of Stellar, it seems) hacked my post.
So let it be known that based on this unscrupulous act I have made up my mind that I will never buy a Stellar Microphone.
I do not like being used in such a manner and quite frankly, if the microphone was any good at all, the sellers would not have to stoop to such levels in order to make a sale.
I'm calling it.
This whole Stellar promotion is nothing but a scam and the mic itself is probably no better than any other low budget piece of junk.
Why else would they hack my post?

...i can hardly believe someone would think you actually posted that...it looks like it was basically copied straight from the first post...definitely not your posting style at all...who would do such a thing?

***I'm not affiliated with any of the forum member's mentioned in this post...just a motivated homerecording.com enthusiast with a penchant for a good deal!***

 

[screws]

I don't know about all these issues, and whether someone is hacking into their posts or not.

But I'm not a "shill", nor do I work for Stellar or anyone else. I don't own a microphone modification business or manufacturing business. I am a lifelong musician who loves recording and owns a small home studio.

I used to record a lot of bands, including 3 of my 5 son's bands, tracking and mixing everything from hardcore, metal, rock, r and b, indie, Contemporary Christian, Gaitas (South American music), Showtunes and pop.

I recorded with my own band in the early seventies at the original Hit Factory when it was owned by Jerry Ragavoy, and spent a year and a half there using and loving the sound of 67s, 87s, RCA ribbons, AKGs and Telefunkens.

I know what sounds good and what doesn't.

I've heard Chinese mics, and didn't like the sound of 90% of the ones I heard. I own a pair of MXL V67s only because I found them useful for a couple of things. I also own or have owned an AKG C4000b and C535, a CAD E300, Gefell UM70s, Oktava MK012s, Soundelux U99, Rode NTK, Alesis AM61, Audio Technica AT4051, a Steffens ribbon mic, PZMs, Sennheiser 421s, e609 and various other Beyers, Shures and more.

These days my sons are mostly recording themselves or are in commercial studios doing their work, so my home studio has boiled down to mostly recording my wife (Suzi Cruz,* An Act To Remember) and another friend (Home). So I've started trimming down my mic locker and equipment rack to focus in on better quality wherever possible, given my monetary constraints. A better vocal mic was #1 on the list.

My wife's voice (obviously) was first priority and I contacted Mr. Joly and other modders and manufacturers making inquiries and pointing them to my wife's website to ask for suggestions and assistance in choosing something (hopefully under $2000) that would be an obvious step up. Mr. Joly, Dave Thomas (Advanced Audio Microphones), Langston of JJ Audio (JJ Audio Homepage), Larry Villela (ADK Condenser Microphones, Class A Condenser Studio Mic, Live and Broadcast, Retro-Sonic Mics, Project Studio Microphone) and some pro audio dealers were nice enough to connect with me and offer some helpful advice and suggestions. Each, of course, believes in their own products and recommended them as a possible improvement to my current mic locker. Mr. Joly actually pointed me to Dave Thomas because I mentioned I was looking for a C12 or Elam251 type mic, which is not his forte.

But I'm old school - talk is cheap and hearing is believing. So I considered it extremely fortunate when I was able to connect with a couple of recording enthusiasts near my home who owned quite a few of the mics I was longing to hear.

They brought over more than a dozen mics, and I chose what I wanted to hear on my wife's voice. I made the choices based on my experience, ears, research and personal gut-feeling of what "style" of mic might work on her. They were very accomodating and stayed pretty quiet during the choosing, setup and recording of the takes. After listening to all the takes on all the mics I was shocked that of every mic I heard - ranging in price from The Soundelux U99 at $2.5K to the lowly CM6 at $375 - what I loved on her voice in my room on the particular song she sang, Were the Stellar CM5 and CM6.

I finally posted the results over on GS just to be neighborly and share my excitement over finding a couple of mics that I LOVED the sound of for a much cheaper price than I expected to have to spend.

If you buy something, it doesn't affect me one way or the other. But be careful who you listen to. If a person stands to profit from the advice he gives you - DON'T BE TAKEN!

 

[Jim Lad]

It's a scam.
Time all of the Stellar threads were pulled.

 

[kidvybes]

It has been pointed out to me that on post 45 of this thread, I have given this particular microphone a ringing endorsement.
I did not write that post.
I do not own the microphone.
Someone has (On behalf of Stellar, it seems) hacked my post.
So let it be known that based on this unscrupulous act I have made up my mind that I will never buy a Stellar Microphone.
I do not like being used in such a manner and quite frankly, if the microphone was any good at all, the sellers would not have to stoop to such levels in order to make a sale.
I'm calling it.
This whole Stellar promotion is nothing but a scam and the mic itself is probably no better than any other low budget piece of junk.
Why else would they hack my post?

Jim...as someone else has already pointed out, the post you're referring to is an exact duplicate of my initial post in this thread...I have no idea how that occured, without you copying/pasting the content, but to imply that it was a hacker's attempt to make it appear you were endorsing the CM-6 is utterly ridiculous, and simply a matter for the moderators to correct...

...have you read the many threads on Gearslutz referring to the Stellar mics?...there have been dozens upon dozens of reputable GS members singing the praise of this inexpensive tube mic over the past year...are they all in on the "scam"?...are they all "shills"?...would having your personal endorsement be so valuable as to inspire an unscrupulous hacker to do such an act?...are you really that gullible?...

...with so many GS/HR.com members buying/using the mic, if it were a scam, wouldn't have someone blown the whistle already?...the only people crying "scam" and "shill" are those who never owned or even demo'ed the mic...but hey, stop me if I'm just being too logical...

...I'm sure the moderators will correct the issue and your good reputation will be rightfully restored...

It's a scam.
Time all of the Stellar threads were pulled.

...really Jim?...

 

[moresound]

Was this thread ever shortened by the moderators due to flame wars between MSH/M. Joly/Kidvybes ?

Could have something to do with it but I had re-read this thread not to long ago and don't remember that "#45" post.

 

[mshilarious]

Was this thread ever shortened by the moderators due to flame wars between MSH/M. Joly/Kidvybes ?

Could have something to do with it but I had re-read this thread not to long ago and don't remember that "#45" post.

I believe Mr. Joly had three posts removed this week; one of them may have been in this thread, and the mods/admins may have thus accidentally hosed the thread in that attempt, although it's hard to understand how as removing a post is a fairly straightforward function. It doesn't look like a purposeful edit because not only would that be bizarre but there would be an edit tag with the mod's name at the bottom of the post. Maybe admins can do clandestine edits, but mods can't.

It's also possible that there is just a crap implementation of the vBulletin software or some other IT-oriented screw-up.

Anyway, I stand by my post #5: if I had $350, I'd go for some "sex by surprise" over a Stellar mic 10 times out of 10 Fortunately wifey doesn't charge that much

Other than that, I don't have anything to do with Stellar, I wouldn't even know the guy's name if Mr. Joly didn't keep posting it. Just another Chinese mic rebrander to me; dime a dozen stuff, the factories send me email solicitations to carry their product too and they all go straight in the spam bin.

Here's a sample:

Hello Naiant Friend,
Good afternoon from Ningbo and hope you have a happy Tuesday morning! I'd like to send my best greetings to you !

Here is wit from Ningbo Shengke Electronics Co.,Ltd, China and we are professional manufacturer of microphones,headphones, mic acessories and various kind of stands. The products we produce are high quality and we have our own brand "iSK" for mics and headphones. Please check our website NINGBO YINZHOU SHENGKE ELECTTRONIC CO.,LTD. for detail information of our company and the products.

So . . . I'll just stay out of this one . . .

 

[moresound]

I can see where Jim is coming from though, for your posts are yours alone, having them changed or falsified by accident or on purpose ..... Someone will have some explaining to do.


<EDIT>
Hi there you alien!

 

[mshilarious]

I can see where Jim is coming from though, for your posts are yours alone, having them changed or falsified by accident or on purpose ..... Someone will have some explaining to do.

Well according to the TOS . . .

The owners of Homerecording.com have the right to remove, edit, move or close any post, thread, signature, avatar, or user profile for any reason

Now whether that provision of the TOS would be legally actionable, beats me . . .

 

[miroslav]

If a post was edited by a mod after the edit "grace period"...it would still show as an edit, and by who.

I just took the liberty of editing moresound's last post to show how it would appear if a mod did the edit.

Post #45 which was made last January does not appear to be edited. It is possible it was a "Reply With Quote" SNAFU...though I can't be sure since it's been 10 months since it was done.

Anyway...while some of Mr. Joly's comments/posts about kidvybes have been edited/removed because they were becoming a personal attack...I will ask kidvybes to please pull back from the somewhat obvious "sales pitch" of the one brand of microphone as it is coming off like some sort of focused marketing plan.

Talk about mics and likes/dislikes...but if one brand is constantly being pushed by one person over and over...it does come off as SPAM....so just pull back from that please, or in an effort to end the back-n-forth...both parities will get their posts removed and the thread locked.

Let's just move on guys... OK?

 

[mshilarious]

The reality of kidvybes is I think he's just a fanboi. Before Stellar it was Karma or maybe somebody else. He's just like that. I somewhat doubt he is compensated.

Banning fanboism is a slippery slope indeed . . .

 

[miroslav]

I'm not banning it...just saying that endless props over a single brand comes off as SPAM...so in the interest of the BBS, it's best to pull back from that.

I mean...if you mention once, twice, three times that you think mic XYZ is terrific in a single thread...you've made your point already, no need to keep doing it for 4-5 pages more of a thread.

 

[kidvybes]

Talk about mics and likes/dislikes...but if one brand is constantly being pushed by one person over and over...it does come off as SPAM....so just pull back from that please, or in an effort to end the back-n-forth...both parities will get their posts removed and the thread locked.

Let's just move on guys... OK?

...no problem...I'll pull back...but a quick look at my history of posts will show a diverse range of recommendations, with a few "fanboi" fascinations...

The reality of kidvybes is I think he's just a fanboi. Before Stellar it was Karma or maybe somebody else. He's just like that. I somewhat doubt he is compensated.

...thanks for the vote of confidence...no compensation other than the "thanks" from fellow gearheads who express gratitude for the "fanboi" recommendations...that works for me...

 

[miroslav]

I'm just trying to mellow out the tread.
I can dig someone being a fanboi. I often recommend ADK mics...and have quite a few, though like I said, this particular thread was getting a bit out of hand. You and and Mr Joly were bombing us with reported posts...so in the interest of peace, let it go. His posts got deleted...'cuz he was making it too personal...yours didn't.

 

[mshilarious]

See that's the problem. How many times is too many? Three? Four? Five? Can they be in different threads and that's OK? Or is this a you'll know it when you see it kinda thing? Cause every manufacturer/service provider on this thread has or has had fanbois posting on this very board. Fortunately, all of mine are dead. But when they were alive, yeah they were fanbois and I never paid them a dime and they posted all willy-nilly and it really wasn't a big deal.

My rule was really simple: you are a manufacturer, or financially or sexually related to a manufacturer, then STFU and do PT. No, wait, that's Army Rangers. Manufacturers just have to STFU; that is, don't start a thread or enter a thread to promote your products. Fanbois = whatever floats their boat. Their rep is on the line for being a fanboi. If it comes out that a fanboi is actually a paid shill, ban 'em, but you better have some evidence they are being compensated.

 

[miroslav]

Yeah...I think it's more "you'll know it when you see it" kind of thing.

In reading through this whole thread, there is a certain amount of focused "sales pitch"...though like you said, it appears to be more of a fanboi thing.
I think where kidvybes started to blur the lines for some folks is when he became a sort of direct tester for Stellar, and then posting the eBay links and how many were left, etc..etc.

So yeah...it is a "you'll know it when you see it" thing.

I just wanted the reported posts to stop coming in and the two guys here to end the back-n-forth.

 

[mshilarious]

There is a long thread on GS largely unrelated to all of this that is nothing much more than about a dozen fanbois pimping a certain product, none of whom have any financial interest in said product.

You're swimming in murky waters here . . .

 

[guitaristic]

I did not write that post.
I do not own the microphone.
Someone has (On behalf of Stellar, it seems) hacked my post.

It's gone now. Thanks for pointing it out!