I...I...I...just don't know how to feel right now.

  • Thread starter Thread starter PhilGood
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PhilGood

PhilGood

Juice box hero
Just logged on to eBay.

Looking for my usual deals for capsules and found this:

link

How do you suppose this will change the industry? For those of us who know what this means, tell me if you are as flabbergasted as me. If John has seriously pulled this off, are the scales now tipped? I mean, they are no M7's but still it offers the most modest of us the chance at coming close to that sound if done right. I mean, with the right circuit, PS and transformer.

What do you think?:confused:
 
i couldn't get the link to work, but are you talking about the p-k47 and p-k67?
i think i might need to ask you to make me another microphone very soon. :)
 
do you think there's actual differences in the capsule design (drilled differently, diaphragmed differently, etc.) than the cek-367/347, or are these just designed differently (holes positioned differently) so that the will fit into neumanns as a drop in replacement without needing much adaptation, which might have been required if you wanted to use the 367 and 347 in neumanns? there isn't a dramatic difference in price between these and the other capsules. the white ring bands look cool though!
 
I'll tel ya how to feel....busy! get going, I'd like to be the first on my block to order a Philgood wanna be Neumann ( or maybe with a Seinfeld bent of NEUMAN!)
 
Big Kenny said:
I'll tel ya how to feel....busy! get going, I'd like to be the first on my block to order a Philgood wanna be Neumann ( or maybe with a Seinfeld bent of NEUMAN!)
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you won't be sorry big k-- philgood does excellent work!
 
...hey Phil...just think about how good you would feel knowing that all your HR buddies are getting better sounding tracks thanks to your new "low-cost" Neumann style PHIL-47 mics!...

...I know I'm feeling pretty damn good about it...;)
 
Well, from what I see in the picture, here's what I can gather.

It's a single backplate design, just like the M7 and K47. The drill pattern looks to be the same as the M7 and K47 as well, although I cannot comment about drill depth. Most likely if they've gone as far as drilling the same hole pattern one could assume that they went the whole distance, but who can really say. The diaphragm would probably be more akin to the 6 mil polyester K47 diaphragm as PVC is too expensive to get and/or manufacture. I have no idea if the tension of the diaphragms is the same.

If it's close then building a mic similar to a U47 is achievable, although it would never sound exactly like a real U47. There are just too many variables. VF14 tubes are virtually extinct and EF14's are very hard to come by, plus about 1 in 20 is suitable for microphone usage. However, there are other tubes that are out there that would be close to the impedance of the VF14 and EF14 that would work with a BV8 style transformer, which is what is found in the U47. Mark Lewilson (who makes excellent mics, btw) has been talking to me about a modified version of the U47 circuit which would operate about the same with either 5840 or 6205 tubes. There's only slight modifications. Cinemag makes a transformer that is meant to be a replacement for the U47.

Finding mic mechanics with similar construction to the U47 would be difficult as well. The Nady TCM1050 has somewhat similar grill construction, but these mics are scarce now too. I'm planning on gutting mine to try the circuit.

In order to make a run of affordable "U47 styled" mics I would have to have a decent source for mic bodies and tubes. The 5840 and 6205 tubes are ideal, but supplies are also getting thin. The EF86 is readily available but the circuit would also have to be altered for this tube and most likely the transformer would have to be different as well.

I guess what I'm saying is it would be possible to make a few, and they would be in the ballpark of a U47, but it would be difficult to make a bunch unless I find suppliers for all the parts. I'm willing to work with anyone who wants to source their own parts, but I'm afraid I'd also have to make money at it, seeing as how I have a really good paying job and doing a bunch of mics would take time away from job and family.
 
good luck with noise and 5840s. The cinemag sounds just like the sound samples at the cinemag site.
 
Gus, while I have followed your work for a long time now and have a great deal of respect for you, your post would certainly be more useful if you included some detail instead of just blanket statements that can be construed as either positive or negative. If you have alternative ideas, I'm all ears.

I have made over a dozen mics with 5840 tubes and noise was only ever an issue in one that I can recall. If you have a better tube in mind that is readily available, please comment.

As for the Cinemag, if quality is an issue or sound, we're talking $100 for the Cinemag vs. $300 for an AMI transformer. If someone wants to shell out for that, then by all means do. Oliver uses laminations that are equal to the original lams and the turns are the same as the original BV8.
 
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Have to Make a correction. I just received a package from Mark, and it's Mark Wilson of LeWilson microphones.:)

My bad.
 
I got my circuit board all laid out! Just gotta etch the prototype.

Only back draw is that Cinemag is back ordered!:(

It may be a while.
 
PhilGood said:
I got my circuit board all laid out! Just gotta etch the prototype.

Only back draw is that Cinemag is back ordered!:(

It may be a while.
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Gonna be a while before I move to Willis, VA, too, but perseverance ALWAYS pays off in the end!
 
PhilGood said:
I got my circuit board all laid out! Just gotta etch the prototype.

Only back draw is that Cinemag is back ordered!:(

It may be a while.
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...we're very patient...but just so you know...when we're sleepin', visions of the PHIL-47 dance in our heads...;)
 
kidvybes said:
...we're very patient...but just so you know...when we're sleepin', visions of the PHIL-47 dance in our heads...;)
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Hey, I ain't doing this solo!:mad:

You want a mic, you gotta talk to me! I ain't gonna go build a bunch a mics and then try and convince you bums to buy 'em!:D

Also, keep in mind my prototype will have a real M7!;)
 
PhilGood said:
Hey, I ain't doing this solo!:mad:

You want a mic, you gotta talk to me! I ain't gonna go build a bunch a mics and then try and convince you bums to buy 'em!:D

Also, keep in mind my prototype will have a real M7!;)
Click to expand...

I want a mic. Bring it out when you stop by to tune my drums and learn me a couple 'o chops.
 
Phil

I have had 5840 go noisy in microphone same JAN batch same company some start out low noise and stay there, others start out low noise and then get noisy. Being a soldered in tube people might have a hard time changing it.
I will give you an idea make a burn in unit for a batch of tubes. A many amp power supply at 6.3VDC. And about 1ma per tube B+ supply(10 tube 10ma B+, 150ma x 10 of 1.5amp, I would maybe make it regulated 2amp fil) use something like flea clips and solder the 5840s for each tube use a plate of say 100K and a cathode resistor and a 100k or what ever grid to ground run the tubes for hours. Then try them in a microphone circuit for noise


What is the output Z of the u47?(I am not looking for an answer from you I am trying to make a point about the web) What one reads on the web might not be true I have measured other tubes and found different output Z than what I read (I built a tester just for microphone tubes). I have not had the chance to test a vf14.

FWIW I have bought over $1,500 of transformers to try in microphones so I will not say what I like(this changes with the circuit and use and...) but if one is going to build a microphone with a real M7, why is transformer cost an issue? The transformer is a taste issue IMO.
 
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