d12 / d112 owners. opinion?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steenamaroo
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Steenamaroo

Steenamaroo

...
hi all,

i've recently acquired an akg d12e that i was led to believe may not be perfect.

i've got it and have compared it to my d112 using bass guitar..

to my ears they have more or less the same output level, and on first impressions you would think that the d12 weaker in the bass and stronger in the low mids than the d112.


when comparing the two with a HF roll off at about 200, the two mics sound identical, so the bass (to my ears) is there.

this leads me to believe that there is nothing wrong with this mic.


does this sound like an accurate/normal comparison between a d12 and a d112 to you experienced owners??

thanks in advance.


**update. on male voice speech, the d112 sounds bassy but detailed and clear. kinda midscooped sounding.
the d12 is the exact opposite. very wooly/warm, but slightly dull sound(whilst still having high end).
 
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no one own's both these mics?

i know for a fact that moresound owns every mic ever made!!! :D:D
 
hmm...the chicken master has spoken! thanks.


i reamped the kick from gregs mix contest. fired it out to a sub and miced up with d12, then d112 then shure sm7b.

clip is at



sounds fine to me, but any user reviews i read suggest that the d12 should stand out as having bucket loads of deep bass?
 
Hi,

Yes I own both, while I have never compared both on bass guitar cabs, I have used both at different times on kick drum. The Bottom end to me is very similar, the main difference is that the d112 has a bit more top end and the click of the kick drum is easier to bring out, more modern kick sound.

So if I record kick and I need old school or jazz it's the D12 if its normal rock metal it's the d112.

Having read this I must try the D12 on bass cabs again, I tend to forget to use it as I usually mic up the bass cab with an AKG C4000b or a Bayer M200.

Cheers
Alan.
 
The D112 (the bullet) has a peak boost around 4 Khz for the click response of the beater hitting the kick drum as witzendoz spoke of for a -modern kick sound... and he hit it right on the head to the feel of the D12 being reserved for that jazz sound out of a kick with it.
I've never really liked either in the position of capturing the sound of a kick drum ...I prefer other microphones...I've always found it difficult to position them "in" the kick with just the standard (if there is such a thing) 4" hole cut in the head they both are good if the front head is removed from the kick.

Now Paul did you mean that the D12 that you just got may be old and weak?
Or close to broken?

Did you try the wiggle test while plugged in to assure that there was nothing wrong with the inside mount? Or you didn't witness any faint but sudden cut out while recording the bass?
If you didn't experience that then everything should be fine.

If you can audition a Sennhieser e902 or e602 the next time you record bass give it a shot and let me know what you think. I tend to like that --a long with a Sennhieser e904 or e604. It's a great combination for bass guitar amp micing.


There are a FEW novelty and rare microphones that I'm still in search of!

Help keep an eye out for me on the strange and unusual. ;)






:cool:
 
thanks for the replies guys.

i guess the thing that concerns me most is the extreme low end.

i'm really starting to think nothing's wrong though, but if someone would be prepared to record a sine for me through a d12? that would put this to bed.

i just ran a sine wave out of one of the studio monitors,, going from 56hz to 114hz over few seconds, and held each mic up in turn.
not very scientific, but it does the job.

d12 showed an increase in volume as frequency increased. 56 was there, but just a good bit quieter than i expected.

d112 is closer to having consistent volume right the way through. 56 hz is solid sounding.

sm7b gives exactly the same result as d12.

the above makes me think the d112 just has super strong bass, and maybe that's not what a d12s really for?
i read about a guy who runs DI with his d12, claiming that the DI is purely for the very very lows, so that would back up my thoughts.



Yeh,henry, the mic was billed as having no low end, and a weak output.

it certainly doesn't have a weak output, the levels are comparable to d112,


i've done all the usual hoking and poking, wiggling and jiggling.lol...but everything's perfect. i'll have to post pics today. it's worth seeing.
 
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some pics for y'all.

www.webforni.com/steen/d12.jpg
www.webforni.com/steen/d121.jpg
www.webforni.com/steen/d122.jpg

my plan was to take this 'faulty' mic, and disassemble it.
i was gona clean off all the oxide and crap and what not, but the other day i took off the capsule cover, and two of the paper shims to reveal the membrane.
it's soooo clean that i didn't bother going any further.



the only thing worth noting is that there was a broken earth at the bottom left of the third pic. you can see the loose silver strands running in line with, and above the blue wire.
this earth wire was meant to bridge the shockmount and capsule to the base.
The visible red wire is one that i've put in as a repair, but it has no audible effect on the mic.
i didn't really expect it to though, as there was no hum or buzz.
 
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Steenamaroo said:
some pics for y'all.

www.webforni.com/steen/d12.jpg
www.webforni.com/steen/d121.jpg
www.webforni.com/steen/d122.jpg

my plan was to take this 'faulty' mic, and disassemble it.
i was gona clean off all the oxide and crap and what not, but the other day i took off the capsule cover, and two of the paper shims to reveal the membrane.
it's soooo clean that i didn't bother going any further.



the only thing worth noting is that there was a broken earth at the bottom left of the third pic. you can see the loose silver strands running in line with, and above the blue wire.
this earth wire was meant to bridge the shockmount and capsule to the base.
The visible red wire is one that i've put in as a repair, but it has no audible effect on the mic.
i didn't really expect it to though, as there was no hum or buzz.
Click to expand...

Great pictures Paul ! ...everyone should post pictures this good.
Does the ground wire look like it fell off or was taken off by someone in the past?






:cool:
 
thanks!

it's very hard to see from the pictures, but you can if you know what you're looking for.

there are two metal eyelets, between which a bare ground wire was soldered.(looks original)

that bare wire had worn away in the middle. my guess is it was work hardened due to the movement of the shockmount.

there were a few strands still connected i think, but i added my red wire just to be safe.


*edit* here's a close up. it wont let me write text for some reason, but the two circles are the eyelets, and the arrow is the broken wire. you can just see my replacement wire disappearing round the back, cos it was easier to position that way.

wire.jpg





i contacted the seller today. he says that the mic was loaned to someone 6 years ago. on return it sounded thin and weak. he claims to have boxed it ever since and forgotten about it. he also claims that he didn't even check it before the sale,,,,so i'm guessin he's been the victim of a dodgy cable or something daft.


do you currently own a d12 henry? it's cool if you're busy, but it would put this to bed if you'd have time to record a sine wave for me? just sweeping from 50 to 100hz or so?
 
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Steenamaroo said:
thanks!

it's very hard to see from the pictures, but you can if you know what you're looking for.

there are two metal eyelets, between which a bare ground wire was soldered.(looks original)

that bare wire had worn away in the middle. my guess is it was work hardened due to the movement of the shockmount.

there were a few strands still connected i think, but i added my red wire just to be safe.


*edit* here's a close up. it wont let me write text for some reason, but the two circles are the eyelets, and the arrow is the broken wire. you can just see my replacement wire disappearing round the back, cos it was easier to position that way.

wire.jpg





i contacted the seller today. he says that the mic was loaned to someone 6 years ago. on return it sounded thin and weak. he claims to have boxed it ever since and forgotten about it. he also claims that he didn't even check it before the sale,,,,so i'm guessin he's been the victim of a dodgy cable or something daft.


do you currently own a d12 henry? it's cool if you're busy, but it would put this to bed if you'd have time to record a sine wave for me? just sweeping from 50 to 100hz or so?
Click to expand...

I'm on the road doing *live* gigs till Monday of next week. To day is a hotel room day :( .
But my guess is if you replaced the wire and it sounds good to your ear than you have saved the day. ;)






:cool:
 
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