any recent Mic Parts builds? and what's Dachman?

[Blue Jinn]

I was just reading about capsules and Arienne Audio capsules for the Dachman maybe?...per DIY forums.
Pretty well spoken of per testing etc. seems used in upgrades.

Specs of the builders like to keep it quiet on capsules sometimes and are more open about internal parts Wima and Fets and caps, and transformers etc...
but the capsule mfg are kept in a secret vault at Hogsworths.

add: Seems Dachman buy capsules from 3U too ? I dont know.

been in the capsule rabbit holes lately.

AA Microphones has capsules made in the same factory as Peluso, except all the work is done in China. He also carries transformers. Not sure how tariffs will affect that if you're in the USA. I have a pair of AK47s I'm going to install in a pair of MXL V69s. The ones I got correct some of the flaws in the original design. There's no epoxied daughter board and the tube is oriented so the base is closer to the capsule.

 

[Blue Jinn]

In case anyone is interested: http://www.bluejinn.org/2020/05/6ak5-microphone-build-thread.html

 

[CoolCat]

thats ambitious, nice blogbuild.

K47 to a 6ak5 tube....looks complex to me, but Ive never built a board/ amp.

the voltage seems to be getting up there, a bit more needed than 48 or 60...
I was reading on WA47 capsule its 80v..K47 capsule....and it is very quiet. More sensitivity= higher voltage?

You've got some experience I assume, seems most replace a capacitor or all, but not many doing the whole Tube upgrade, imo.

 

[Blue Jinn]

thats ambitious, nice blogbuild.

K47 to a 6ak5 tube....looks complex to me, but Ive never built a board/ amp.

the voltage seems to be getting up there, a bit more needed than 48 or 60...
I was reading on WA47 capsule its 80v..K47 capsule....and it is very quiet. More sensitivity= higher voltage?

You've got some experience I assume, seems most replace a capacitor or all, but not many doing the whole Tube upgrade, imo.

I used 100v for the tube, as it's pretty similar to the Royer, which is pretty similar to the SELA. If you look at the schematic R2 and R3 is a voltage divider that drops the 100v to 60v

 

[CoolCat]

Where do you get the 100v from? the power supply dropped down from 120vac to 100v dc for the tube?
just curious.

of those parts the resistors and caps....tube....and capsule, how much do you think the discrete components contribute to tone? I wonder.
Seeing this drawing you made, I wonder if you change values in resistors is it a big deal in sound?

If you want me to remove the picture...I can delete it. But its faster to view this way...but your blog is a great read too.

 

[CoolCat]

47 circuit. Similar....

8 qty resistors, 3 qty capacitors.....a Capsule, tube, and transformer. ... seems kind of tempting.

 

[CoolCat]

47 FET schematic almost looks more difficult to build, but there's no power supply needed.

 

[Blue Jinn]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply! For the PSU for this one, I just got a second hand MXL PSU and swapped out the zener diodes for 50v ones and the heater regulator from a 7909 to a 7906. So I don't mix up cables, I use 5 pin XLRs instead of 7 and it follows the RoyerMod wiring. I got a sweet deal on a bunch of 5 pin male XLRs from eBay, and then a bunch of jacks from Mable Audio in China. I'm not sure how much more they would cost right now with tariffs. Same with the cables. The DMX 5 pin XLR cables work fine and they were really cheap from Thomann in Germany. For the other Royers I just used the PSU board from the BigUgly circuit and transformers I had laying around and stuck them in an old PC PSU box. I've retired those in favor of some more MXL PSUs with different zeners. Sometimes these go cheap on eBay. The circuit is really just the Royer with a similar spec tube that's miniature instead of subminiature, and also has a grid leak resistor which the Royer doesn't have. If you look at the BigUgly (I might have a thread here about that) it's the Royer with the G7 pattern scheme. I have boards for that one.

I have the schematic for the MXL V69 PSUs around here somewhere if you need it.

Where do you get the 100v from? the power supply dropped down from 120vac to 100v dc for the tube?
just curious.

of those parts the resistors and caps....tube....and capsule, how much do you think the discrete components contribute to tone? I wonder.
Seeing this drawing you made, I wonder if you change values in resistors is it a big deal in sound?

If you want me to remove the picture...I can delete it. But its faster to view this way...but your blog is a great read too.View attachment 151217

 

[Blue Jinn]

47 FET schematic almost looks more difficult to build, but there's no power supply needed.

View attachment 151344

I don't know much about the 47 or how much of that is the DC-DC converter. If you haven't already register at GroupDIY.com. There is a wealth of information there, and some really smart people that post. I have a couple of other mod posts here. the BigUgly, the G7 single sided, the "U87 Front End" mod to the MXL 2001, and the "Zapnspark direct connect mod" to the MXL 2006 (and a bunch of other MXLs that use the same circuit.) Swapping out capsules seems to help too, although I've only used cheap knockoffs. I have some decent AAMicrophone capsules that are waiting to go into some MXL V69s.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I was reading about DIY builds and then a few say its just cheaper to buy a Dachman or Warm....maybe a GoToToolz audio mic comes in at the bottom for pre-builds.

Curious what anyone's DIY experience was like in hindsight. Would you do it again or just buy a MXL to save cash?

Dachman seems to be advertising everywhere on my sites. $399 for a cardiod only U87i with some good parts, born from Mic Parts?

ok...back to surfing

The warm mics don’t get great reviews.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

4 tubes compared. U67.

I liked the Mullard the best

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I've been looking in to building some of the DIY mics for fun (and to get some different mics) and that lead me to this video.



It's an artist in Nashville doing some fun tests on various mics (store bought and home made) to try and find out what about a mic changes the tone and how. There are plenty of people taking way too much information from this trying to say that it means buying expensive mics doesn't matter which I don't agree with, but the video was actually filled with interesting information about which specific parts of a microphone contribute to which parts of the sound. I wouldn't exactly say it's solid science but still very interesting and may answer some questions about if it's worth it to DIY some of this stuff.

This guy is a clickbaiter supreme. I don’t believe a word he says.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

Yeah, capsules are impossible to clone. Only the fairy godmothers in Germany have the knowledge to assemble them perfectly. Just because you have a laser scanning machine that can map a part in 3D and a CNC machine that can mill metal parts to tenths of a micron doesn't mean you can duplicate a German masterpiece.

Rode has some video tours of their plant, and Peter Freedman shows how the machinery he has can measure the tension of the diaphragm, and they can measure the resonance frequency of their capsules to make sure everything is on target. They can machine parts to incredible accuracy and do it again and again. Their resources mean they can make very good consistent mics for very reasonable prices. But because they don't charge you $3000 or $5000 for their products, they must be crappy.

Costing a lot doesn't guarantee that something will work.

Their mics are not great. Check out ADK mics. I prefer these to the other boutique brands. Their Z67 is my favorite condenser mic.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I’m about to try and build two of these for my drum overheads.

RM-5 Ribbon Microphone Kit

Artur Fischer's RM-5 is a classic, figure-8 ribbon microphone featuring modern, custom-designed components manufactured in Latvia. The RM-5 shares the warm and rounded tonal qualities associated with its vintage counterparts. However, at it's core the RM-5 is simply an exceptional transducer...

www.diyrecordingequipment.com

 

[R D Smith]

I’m about to try and build two of these for my drum overheads.

RM-5 Ribbon Microphone Kit

Artur Fischer's RM-5 is a classic, figure-8 ribbon microphone featuring modern, custom-designed components manufactured in Latvia. The RM-5 shares the warm and rounded tonal qualities associated with its vintage counterparts. However, at it's core the RM-5 is simply an exceptional transducer...

www.diyrecordingequipment.com

I look forward to reading about your build and how you like them.

 

[RFR]

Thought this short clip was cool.