Apex 205 mic mod and a dork trying to do it. A circus ensues.

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gearz

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Well I just received my new Apex 205 today...plugged it into my mixer and recorded some test audio....just me talking basically.

I decided to check this thing for ribbon sag.....not that the sound I was getting from it led me to believe it was sagging but I wanted to make sure. So I took the screws out and took it apart and was very careful about how I was handling it.

They say it's an easy mod to remove the shields on either side of the ribbon motor...and it is technically speaking. But let me warn anyone thinking about doing it that the the little nuts on either side don;t exactly want to unscrew too well from the posts. They unscrew good for a little bit...but towards the top of the posts..they get stuck and won't turn.

This is where I ran into trouble. I was forced to get heavy handed with these nuts (man it gives me shivers saying that...haha) because otherwise I would have never been able to put it back together.

In my struggle to get this apart to take the shields off....I didn't noticed that one of the small nuts that manage to removed have slipped down into a small crack on the surface I was working on. The magnet grabbed it and sucked it right into the middle of the motor where the ribbon is.

It didn't tear the ribbon (which I'm shocked it didn't)...it just caused it to majorly sag...and it dented one of the corrugations. After I got the nut out...I had no choice but to re-tension the ribbon.

I managed to do it...but in order to get it back in the middle with no sag...I had to pull the ribbon out about 3/8 inch. This caused the ribbon to flatten out a bit and losing it's amount of corrugation. Also one of the corrugation peaks has a slight dent on it. I honestly thot I had ruined this mic I just got.

Anyways...I put it back together and plugged it in...and it still worked. I recorded some audio of me just talking gibberish to compare it to the sound of the audio I had recorded previously.

It's sounds like it's ok...but I need an expert opinion on this. So my question is....by flattening out the ribbon as I described (it's not totally flat..but the peaks and valleys in the corrugation are about half the height they were)...and with the little dent in it...am I losing sound quality? The ribbon isn't touching the magnets by the way.

I am so pissed off...lol!
 
We've all been there, homie. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If it still sounds fine to you, just live with it. If it really bothers you, save up and get a new one.
Next time, just leave it alone!

Are you losing sound quality? If the ribbon is deformed from manufacturer specs, then I'd say yes. Is the loss audible? Maybe or maybe not, that's up to you.
 
A new ribbon motor in the uk shouldnt cost more than 25 quid.i have the shop address somewhere
I'd get a new one or better still send it off to XAudia and get it done properly.
Straightening the ribbon means that it cant give anymore (or at least the same) when it gets a burst of air.
Which of course may mean it will break away more easily and snap off rather than flex back into place.
Not that i'm any expert. I have the same mic (Alctron Badge). It seems a shame if it were to stop working now, when you havent had a chance to play with it and discover its strengths and weaknesses.


I kept touching mine until i went dumb :spank::spank::facepalm::laughings:
 
Kip is right - it is now more prone to breaking than before. The other consequence of a ribbon pulled too tight is that you will raise the resonant frequency of the ribbon - you will lose some of the bottom end and it can become 'peaky'. As always, let your ears decide.

BTW, I am not a big fan of randomly removing all the baffles. You remove some of the acoustic damping from the ribbon, and also the ribbon is now exposed to dirt and air blasts.

If you look inside an STC 4033 or an Altec / Western 639, guess what you find... lots of screens & baffles! I'm sure nobody thinks that those classics are bad mics that need modding!

(I actually make quite a bit of income out of these mods. Not from doing them, but from fixing them when they go wrong!)

Cheers
Stewart
Xaudia
 
Oh, and the fact that they use standard steel screws and nuts for the ribbon assembly really pisses me off!
They should be brass or stainless, which is not (usually) magnetizable. Such an annoying way of shaving 0.01p off the manufacturing price.

I have trashed so many ribbons that way that now I just replace them all with stainless steel as I go along.

Stewart
 
Thanks guys for responding.

Below is what it looks like. You can see the dent down towards the right side end of the ribbon (about an inch from the right).

I can't believe it didn't rip...and most of all I can't believe I got it somewhat straight between the magnets!

maybe if I put a another transformer in it it will improve the sound some more? Regardless..if I get another..I won't be touching it again in this manner.

ribbon.webp
 
I just wished I could have gotten that little dent out. It still works pretty good actually for the reason I got it...which is for recording acoustic guitar. It shaves off that shrillness you get when recording with a condenser. The bottom end still seems to be there...but I bet it was even better before this.

If you lived closer xaudia...I would certainly send it to you repair. I'm over here in Canada. I really appreciate you responding and having a look. I was hoping someone with expertise in this field would have a look at it
 
I have to say i thought you'd done more damage than that. at least it still works.
I'd still buy another ribbon motor first and if your in Canada you could send it off to Joli's and get the mods done. or maybe even Jon at Niaints might be intrested in that kind of work.
 
The motor itself looks OK, so I think it would only be the ribbon (and possibly the transformer) that would benefit from changing. But to be honest I have seen new china mics with ribbons that look worse than that!

So why not use it for a bit, get to know it, and then decide if you want to spend money upgrading it, or if you prefer to spend your money on another ribbon mic. ;-)

I have quite a few Canadian customers.

Cheers
Stewart
 
You do? How much do you charge to slap a new ribbon in it? I'd have to find out what the shipping charges are.

I've been using it a little so far. I wish I had another to compare it to. I may get another one. I didn't do well with this mod...because I was stupid and should have heeded the warning more seriously about keeping the nuts and bolt clear away but i think I can do the transformer mod fairly easily. I'm good with soldering and such. This happened just as I was putting it back into the body part...I could have shit myself. You should have seen my mouth drop open...lol!
 
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