C-2 Condencer Mod - Behringer! C2

[aleaney]

Hi,

I've got a matched pair of the c-2's, like many others I made the $50 plunge now I'd like to upgrade it, mod it out if possible. I know some have changed the diaphragm with the Teac ME-120. But those are a rare find now - so just really what components should I change?

Here's some photo's any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[dastrick]

me too

I too bought these little mics and have been pretty pleased with them. I would also be interested in suggestions for these.

 

[rpriggleman]

I was blown away by the sound of this $50 set of mics through a behringer tube pre the Ultragain Pro Mic 2200..... I fell in love w/ the art form of recording AGAIN!

 

[dastrick]

I like using them for micing my acoustic guitar. I also use them as drum overheads (because I have nothing better), but they are a little harsh.

 

[tojo]

I have these mics too! my friend bought them for $40, and I eventualloy bought them off him for $30. The only problem is that they are noisy. THe sound quality is great though. I do have a noisefloor. I hear they reissued them without the noise problem though...

there are also a new updated set called the behringer c-4s which I really want to try out.

if you could mod it, what would the point be? (other than to make it sound better)... like would you want it to be warmer? or louder ? less noise? I could go for the latter.

let me know what you find out

 

[dgatwood]

I can't tell anything from those pictures. First, they're too noisy; try shooting in better lighting. Second, I can't see where either of the two leads from C11 go. I'm guessing there are traces on the top side of the board, but I can't see them from that angle because they are hidden by other components. I -think- that C11 might be a coupling cap between the FET (that black half-circle part) and the capsule contact, in which case that's the most important part to replace. If not, then I can't tell where the coupling cap is (I assume they aren't leaving the DC bias in there in the first amp stage, but they might be...).

 

[tojo]

that didn't make any sense to me. If it works for you aleaney let me know.

maybe i'll just send them in the mail to dgatwood

 

[antichef]

yeah - a better pic of the end of the circuit board that's closest to the capsule on the populated side would help. I can't tell whether the C11 indicator is for the green capacitor that's on the bottom half (horizontally speaking, from the perspective of the picture) or what looks like it could be a silver colored capacitor bridging from close the the very top of the board, right in the middle (again, horizontally speaking). I did a quick search, but didn't turn up a schematic.

I've never seen/heard/worked on one of these. Dgatwood's right that the low hanging fruit is almost always to change out the capacitor that couples the diaphragm with the rest of the board for a higher quality (polystyrene or polypropylene, usually) one, usually just sticking with the same value. The value is frequently 1000pf, and you usually want 63 volts or higher (but I've been using 50v and getting away with it so far). If experience serves, you get a big improvement (lower noise, better clarity, less graininess, etc.) from that change, and any further simple electronics changes only yield increment improvements. (*Radical* electronics mods may have more potential, but you really have to know what you're doing in profound way to make that work, because they can go the other way, too )

But again, I've never even seen a C2.