Always A Big Defender of The B-1, But It Happend To Me... Damn!

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Bobalou

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My B-1 is trippen right now! first i will say I've always defended this little gem, treated it with kid gloves (as I do my MC012's), and never dropped it or had any accidents with it.

I ruled out the mic, pre's, the cables, and my other mics. it's definetly the B-1 (I just orderd 2 more last week..of course!)

I wish i new how to post a sound clip so yall could hear what its doing as I have a recording of its intermitant problem.

here's what goin on. when I hold the mic completely still/or on a stand about 2 inches away, and I say the word "Puff" (while gently popping my "P") the mic starts ramping up with a sound "like" continueous wind passing through the diaphram long after I say the word puff!. it continues and turns into a screaching sound that then will begin to fade out until its quiet again. I'll then gently say "Puff" and it begins to ramp up and repeat the process, sometimes longer or shorter but definetly up to about 10-20 seconds at a time.

one anther note, while the wind/screatch sound is sustaining for the 10-20 seconds, I can still speak through the mic and my voice is very audible (the mic sounds fine) although the skreetch/wind sound carries on in the back ground while I "speak" .

I realize I'm setting myself up for some damn good jokes here, Maybe I've had one too many "Puffs" myself? ...but I promise thats no the case nor am going nuts. If i could post the wave file, you could hear it for yourselves.

any thoughts (dare I ask?)

thanks fellas!
 
you should email Alan Hyatt. It seems like something he would fix for you.
 
That is a strange thing indeed, and I'm no expert mic trouble shooter, but the first thing that comes to mind that may be causing the problem is a cap going out. The second thing that comes to mind is moister in the diaphragm, have you tried drying it out yet? Does it only do it with a puff?
 
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Sounds to me like there is something loose on or around the diapragm or the diapragm is touching the backplate for some reason. It is extremely close, and a good jarring could get it out of whack. Let Allen look at it.
 
sounds like you've got moisture in there. we did a gig this past summer that ended up in a deluge (and a lot of standing water). my MXL 603's got the worst of it, and that's exactly the noise that one of them put out for a while until i managed to get it completely dry.......a "wooshing" or "whirring" kind of sound.

have you had it in any places where it could get wet? or maybe even just humid?

i dried my 603's out by opening em up and setting them out for a few hours under a bright (75W) light. that did the trick. i store all my mics with silica gel packs in the case now, too.

if all else fails, contact alan. SP's support is fantastic.


wade
 
The SP mics seem a tad more susceptible to moisture than other condenser mics but it can happen to all condenser mics. Part of what you are describing seems to be moisture. So, get that mic, and zip it up in its case or in a plastic bag or in a Tupperware container with a couple packets of silica gel. If you've misplaced yours, then your local camera store probably will give you a few packets.

Here's something for future reference on the care of your condenser mics: http://www.discmakers.com/pse/condensermics.php
 
Is he talking about the Studio Projects "B1" or the Behringer "B-1"?
 
DJL said:
I've always wonder why... any idea's?
Click to expand...

It's a fairly common universal problem with all the Chinese mics, not just the Studio Projects... in some worlds it's called "quality control"... or lack thereof
 
Thanks Fletcher, I had a feeling that might be part of the problem over all, but I thought there might also be a more particular cause?
 
Justin Hyatt said:
Is he talking about the Studio Projects "B1" or the Behringer "B-1"?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure, but I think he's referring to the SP B1.
 
Fletcher said:
It's a fairly common universal problem with all the Chinese mics, not just the Studio Projects... in some worlds it's called "quality control"... or lack thereof
Click to expand...

It's a fairly common problem with many large condenser mics, not just the Chinese: Walk up to a window, stand 2" away and say "puff" or "hiiiiii" what happens? The window fogs. This is happening when you use your LD condenser the same as you would an SM-58, etc. It's not good for the mic, whether it's Chinese, Japanese, or Germakistanislanesian. I once knew a cat who made a pretty decent living repairing piles of high-end mics that suffered from the same problem. I have personally replaced hundreds, perhaps thousands of capsules while working with another mic company and the cause was the same: SM-58 syndrome. With the SP stuff, it happens, but only fractionally compared to what I used to have to deal with. Strangely enough, across the board, it happens most of the time in the U.S. Users abroad don't experience anywhere near the percentage of problems our domestic customers do.
Sometimes, I get mics back that I feel I should send to the CDC in Atlanta before I touch them. The diaphragms are totally covered with a hideous coating of skanky smelling SPLATOOEY! Completely coated. We may have some capsules with quality control issues - it's bound to happen no matter who's logo is on your business card, but 99.9% of what I see come across my bench are mics that have been abused to the point where the capsule just shorted out and stopped working. I have pictures that attest to this. I'm not implying that you, Bobalou are responsible for your mic not working, but as the owner of a modest working mic collection, I will say that I don't even allow people to get right up on the grill of my condensers unless there's a pop shield there, which is at least of minimal help. I would prefer that no one ever gets within 6" of the grill, period. And yes, I know - you see people singing straight into mics at close range all the time, But that doesn't mean it's good for the mic. Whether or not it's Chinese, a condenser element is somewhat delicate and should be treated as such. We're talking about a very thin movable membrane that is separated from the backplate by a distance of less than 50 microns - that's less than 0.00196 of an inch. Now, water will patiently wear away at nearly anything it comes into contact with and since a normal LD condenser capsule can only be sealed so well, there is a chance that at some point, given the chance, moisture could find its way into that space between those two surfaces - probably through the area around the center terminal - and when it does, those two oppositely polarized surfaces connect and kazap. Your mic begins to rumble and or the output goes way down.
Regardless of what the problem is, if symptoms persist, give me a call and I'll take care of it.
Regards,

Brent Casey
Studio Projects Microphones
877-563-6335
 
Thanks all especially for not crackin!

Yes, its the Studio Projects B-1

the mic is about 4 months old, it never has left the studio, it was my mono room mic which I just tried using on a tom (thus the reason for ordering 2 more I liked it their) I've been keeping it in its mic bag and pulled it out to scratch out a vocal idea when this began. (I went back to listen to solo'd room tracks and it wasn't presesnt)

I'm not sure of the moisture thing, unless this mic is unable to to take upclose soft singing (which would be a big shock to me)..never mishandled either.

I'll try the drying it out advice. I'm not sure I want to open it up just yet, maybe the local store I purchased it at and just orderd 2 more from might give me some support?

thanks all I'll keep you posted., but I really do appreciate the support.

Bobby
 
Brent Casey said:
It's a fairly common problem with many large condenser mics, not just the Chinese:
Click to expand...
No, I don't think so... it seems to happen far more often with the cheap Chinese budget mics than with the others. Heck it happens sometimes to the budget Chinese mics after just sitting in a controlled room environment and not even being used... you know, right next to another mic that's been sitting there also, yet it works fine. What's up with that?
 
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DJL said:
No, I don't so... it seems to happen far more often with the cheap Chinese budget mics than with the others.
Click to expand...

DJL,

You are correct.

Brent Casey
 
I'm thinking it has something more to do with the fact that maybe the more expensive mics have the diaphragm capsules bolted and glued rather than just only one or the other... or maybe a better seal or something and this helps keeps the moisture out?
 
Originally posted by DJL
No, I don't so... it seems to happen far more often with the cheap Chinese budget mics than with the others.


Just so everyone knows, I posted "You are correct" to the above DJL post. He went back and added the following text afterwards:

"No, I don't think so... it seems to happen far more often with the cheap Chinese budget mics than with the others. Heck it happens sometimes to the budget Chinese mics after just sitting in a controlled room environment and not even being used... you know, right next to another mic that's been sitting there also, yet it works fine. What's up with that?"

Cute.

Back to work I go,

Brent Casey
Studio Projects Microphones
877-563-6335
 
Brent Casey said:
Originally posted by DJL
No, I don't so... it seems to happen far more often with the cheap Chinese budget mics than with the others.


Just so everyone knows, I posted "You are correct" to the above DJL post. He went back and added the following text afterwards:

"No, I don't think so... it seems to happen far more often with the cheap Chinese budget mics than with the others. Heck it happens sometimes to the budget Chinese mics after just sitting in a controlled room environment and not even being used... you know, right next to another mic that's been sitting there also, yet it works fine. What's up with that?"

Cute.

Back to work I go,

Brent Casey
Studio Projects Microphones
877-563-6335
Click to expand...

Yes, Brent is correct... I did edit my above post. I thought I better explain what I was trying to say more clear. I wasn't trying to be cute, only make myself more clear and correct spelling. (Noted with the "Last edited by DJL on 01-20-2004 at 14:20" stamp) and I just edited this post also. Anyway, please visit again soon Brent and thanks.
 
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