Cheesy old mics

[Seanmorse79]

I've been collecting old, nasty garage sale mics for a bit ...I like trying to see what kind of wierd sounds I can get with some of them.

I have a few though, that I'd really like to use, but I get severe buzzing / humming whenever I touch the outside of the mic, and a small buzz if I'm not. I would guess it has something to do with grounding, but I'm not sure what to do about it (I'm electronically challenged sometimes). All but the Calrad have 1/4" plugs (appear to be original).

The 3 in question are an old Calrad, and old Ampex, and a nasty old Astatic (handheld, not a bullet). I'm guessing they're all circa mid-60's.

Any ideas?

 

[Sennheiser]

Could be a few things, but the first that comes to mind is that the ground conductor is touching the center conductor. Maybe a frayed strand inside the plug.

If they are molded plugs, and you can't find anything else obviously wrong, it doesn't cost much to cut them off and solder new plugs on.

 

[Seanmorse79]

Cool. I'll give that a try.

Graci