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

[Bobalou]

*******UPDATE!********

The mic is currently in quarantine! isolated from the rest of the world in air tight lockdown with only his silica gel for companionship!...well see if this works first, then its off to Torrance!

OK,

Well I got my new B-1's I ordered and decided to remove my moist B-1 out of its week long quarantine. isolating it with a few silica gels seemed to dry out that finiky little bitch!....

if indeed that was the problem "moisture" than so far, after a small vocal session, the problem has not returned..

Thanks Steve (OZ) for the idea! I guess those gels indeed can come in handy, so I wont be throwing them away anymore!

still wish Studio Projects could line the inside of there mic clips with metal threads (like sure does)..I know the B-1 are cheap but those plastic mic clip threads are absolute crap! even my new ones wont tighten down without slippin back out.

Didnt anyone at SP figure that out the second they designed those things?

Well, alls well that ends well.............I hope!

 

[ausrock]

The B1 shockmounts are metal .......threads that is.

You want something to whinge about?................come to Oz and be told the clip for a Sennheiser 441 is going to cost $130.

 

[billisa]

Re: *******UPDATE!********

OK,

Well I got my new B-1's I ordered and decided to remove my moist B-1 out of its week long quarantine. isolating it with a few silica gels seemed to dry out that finiky little bitch!....

if indeed that was the problem "moisture" than so far, after a small vocal session, the problem has not returned..

Thanks Steve (OZ) for the idea! I guess those gels indeed can come in handy, so I wont be throwing them away anymore!

Before I got SP B1's I returned another manufacturer's mic because it had developed a bad moisture problem. As per someone's advise, might have been Brent at SP, when I first got my B1's I put them inside their own glass jars, packed in their plastic sleeves with silica gel. So far, so good. But the best thing is, when someone else comes over to record, and I pull out the B1's from their glass enclosures, it looks as though I'm opening up the "$50,000 Enrico Caruso" special! I wonder if that's why people seem very impressed with the B1's...

 

[malcolm123]

Bobalu,
Im curious to what your Humidity reading is.

Based on what you stated your original problem was and the simple things you did for the problem to occur, Im starting to worry about moisture. I keep a electronic thermometer with humidity on it and right now it reads between 40-60% depending on the time of year. As it gets warmer here in Ga. I will surely go ahead and get a dehumidifier for the studio to run during off-times.

Malcolm

 

[kid klash]

Re: *******UPDATE!********

still wish Studio Projects could line the inside of there mic clips with metal threads (like sure does)..I know the B-1 are cheap but those plastic mic clip threads are absolute crap! even my new ones wont tighten down without slippin back out. Well, alls well that ends well.............I hope!

If you're talking about the tension not being adjusted correctly, there's an easy tension adjustment for those clips in a thread here; PMI also posted the adjustment instructions at their site.

If it's the threaded part not fitting tightly on the stand, I discovered that the clip fits perfectly on my Atlas, AKG or other well-made stands, but fits loosely on many of my inexpensive stands. I think the cheapo stands use tubing that is actually undersized... FWIW.

 

[Bobalou]

Re: Re: *******UPDATE!********

If it's the threaded part not fitting tightly on the stand, I discovered that the clip fits perfectly on my Atlas, AKG or other well-made stands, but fits loosely on many of my inexpensive stands. I think the cheapo stands use tubing that is actually undersized... FWIW.

hey kid,

it was your advice that originally helped me to over come the sagging clip thing when I bought my first B-1. now that I have 3 mics, the thread thing has no rhymn nor reason as too when and where it works. quality stands or not! those plastic threads do not like to be removed from a mic stand too many times, which seems kinda odd for a mic clip!

but thanks, I'm living with that problem and the moisture thing, but the sagging clip was completely unecceptable. I just leave those plates off as you reccomended some time ago.

thanks

 

[Bobalou]

Bobalu,
Im curious to what your Humidity reading is.

Based on what you stated your original problem was and the simple things you did for the problem to occur, Im starting to worry about moisture. I keep a electronic thermometer with humidity on it and right now it reads between 40-60% depending on the time of year. As it gets warmer here in Ga. I will surely go ahead and get a dehumidifier for the studio to run during off-times.

Malcolm

Malcom,

I'm closer to the beach here in southern California, we rarely have humidity problems. a marine layer and moisture in the air from the ocean at times, but from what others have pointed out to me it surely must've been that small amount of time I sang a scratch vocal (false-cetto) that "breathed" moisture into the mic. which still seems absurd to me!

from now on I'll just use an sm 58 for those duties and keep my B-1 in a "glass jar" like Billisa does (I think that is absolutely hilarious BTW) maybe an empty Jam/Jelly preservative jar would be perfect! I'll just line em all up on my desktop like some mad scientist!

If I feel like quickly grabbing the mic in my hands to scratch out some vocals, I'll just make sure the big o'l windscreen is on the mic. Just be gentle with it....it sounds good, just not very durable!

 

[kid klash]

hey kid,

it was your advice that originally helped me to over come the sagging clip thing when I bought my first B-1. now that I have 3 mics, the thread thing has no rhymn nor reason as too when and where it works. quality stands or not! those plastic threads do not like to be removed from a mic stand too many times, which seems kinda odd for a mic clip!

but thanks, I'm living with that problem and the moisture thing, but the sagging clip was completely unecceptable. I just leave those plates off as you reccomended some time ago.

thanks

Cool. I don't know if I mentioned it in an earlier thread or not, but I've got shockmounts for my B1's, and they have brass threaded inserts that fit all of my stands. They're worth the investment IMHO.

 

[ozraves]

Re: *******UPDATE!********

Thanks Steve (OZ) for the idea! I guess those gels indeed can come in handy, so I wont be throwing them away anymore!

You're welcome. It's a good idea to give all your condenser mics the TLC. I've never had this problem with any mic other than the Studio Projects C1 (rather than the B1 as in your case) but it's not an excuse to not take good care of all your mics.

still wish Studio Projects could line the inside of there mic clips with metal threads (like sure does)..I know the B-1 are cheap but those plastic mic clip threads are absolute crap! even my new ones wont tighten down without slippin back out.

You're preaching to the choir. I have found that my B1 clip (even though defective like yours) will still function properly if it is 100 percent threaded onto the mic stand. Some day, I imagine I'll opt for the optional shockmount.

 

[Justin Hyatt]

Well, we know the B Series clips are not the best, but we try to put as much money into the mic rather than the accessories. We can beef up the clip, but that raises up the price of the B1.

As we have always done, anyone who has a B Series mic that needs a new clip, let us know. If you have registered, you will get a free clip. If you have not, all you have to do is send us a copy of your sales receipt and we will send you a free replacement.

 

[DJL]

Tip...

As the silica gel packs collect moisture they change color... when that happens you'll need to slowly dry the silica gel packs out in your oven... keep the oven temp low.

 

[Bobalou]

Well, we know the B Series clips are not the best, but we try to put as much money into the mic rather than the accessories. We can beef up the clip, but that raises up the price of the B1.

As we have always done, anyone who has a B Series mic that needs a new clip, let us know. If you have registered, you will get a free clip. If you have not, all you have to do is send us a copy of your sales receipt and we will send you a free replacement.

Justin,

I appreciate the offer, but I suspect the same problem with the the plastic threads becoming an issue in the replacement (I have 3 B-1's and they all do it!)...It seems if you guys are offering free replacements, you could use that extra cost to put in metal threads in the first place?

BTW, I would pay the extra 2 to 3 dollars it probably would cost per mic to have metal threads designed into the clip!..even my cheap Oktava's (mc012's/mk319's) didnt seem to effect overall cost by their "all" steel clips!