Apex DP3 drum mics

[Brendan27]

I just picked up the Apex DP3 mic pack. Being my first set of mics I wanted some opinions on these while they are still within the return policy if needed I paid 325 Can for them which seemed like a good deal. They seem to work good, I don't have the greatest drum set to begin with so there may be something I am not noticing. Opinions?

Here is a link to info on them - musiciansbuy.com//apex-apexdp3pack.html

Thanks in advance!

 

[dgatwood]

*shrugs*

The dynamic mics are probably decent. I'd expect the condensers to have a pretty harsh top end, being bog standard Chinese SDCs and all. Don't attempt to do stereo X/Y recording with them. You won't get good stereo separation with those mics unless they've significantly improved them recently. That said, if you are willing to do a little fairly easy soldering and spend about $2 in parts from Radio Shack, you can make the condensers a lot better; replace the tantalum capsule coupling cap with a film or silver mica cap. The mod takes about three minutes and improves the sound pretty noticeably.

 

[Brendan27]

If I can put modchip in consoles I am assuming I could probably handle the mod job to these? Also where could I find the info to do this mod? Thanks a lot!

 

[dgatwood]

If I can put modchip in consoles I am assuming I could probably handle the mod job to these? Also where could I find the info to do this mod? Thanks a lot!

I'd assume so. Basically, you look at the coupling cap, then buy a new one with the same rating but with either a film or silver mica dielectric.

Basic steps:

1. Unscrew the capsule, assuming it does. (Most do.)
2. Screw in the three set screws that hold the body together and slide the guts out the bottom.
3. Look up at the top end of the mic. There should be a wire from the capsule contact pin hooked up to one end of a capacitor. The other end should be hooked directly to a pin on the FET (transistor)---sometimes by way a pass-through pin that goes through the board. That capacitor is the coupling cap. It filters out the DC bias voltage, leaving just the audio signal. Because it occurs before any amplification, it has the greatest effect on the sound.
4. Check the value. It will probably say 102K. In capacitor code, this is 10 with two zeroes after it, measured in picofarads, so 1,000 pF, which is 0.001 uF.
5. Buy a better 0.001uF capacitor.

I'm told that the best choices for this are polystyrene film or silver mica. If you're trying to buy one locally, you'll probably have to settle for mylar film, assuming you can even find that in .001uF. You might still have to mail order it, in which case go with polystyrene film or silver mica. Try Newark.com, Mouser.com, or Digikey.com for these sorts of parts.

While you're at it, you might consider upgrading the other capacitors similarly, with the caveat that you may have a hard time making the two caps at the bottom fit because they're pretty large capacity and there's not much space. Get the lowest voltage caps you can find, but no lower than about 50V.

If you swap out more than one cap, I recommend that you do one mic at a tine so that if something goes wrong, you can check voltages between the case ground and various points through the circuit and by so doing, find the point where you melted a capacitor and swap that one out. Either that or test it after every substitution.

Buy extra caps.