Michael Jolie MXL R40 Ribbon Mic Mod

G

Guitar Hack

New member
OK so I did it. I finally bought a modded mic from Michael Joly. I have an MXL R141 ribbon mic that I like but you cant turn it up all the way because of hiss (sibilance) and noise. It does a decent job. So I bought the modded R40 thinking it was already done and I wouldn't have to wait for it to get there and then returned. Wrong Mr. Rock Star Wannabe! He doesn't do the mod until he has the order. OK well I waited for the Modded mic and finally got it. I can say it is clear. My voice is very present. I noticed that my whistle "s" is almost non-existent with this mic. I can turn the mic up to full power and there is nothing. No hiss, no noise nothing but pure sound. My voice sounds good on this mic. I recorded my guitar as well and it sounds great also. Very clear and natural sounding.

I can say I would recommend Mr.Joly's mics. They are very good. The only drawback is that once you get one you have to make sure you have all the parts working well together to get everything perfect. I am posting a song as an example. I still need to do some work on the song as well. I have the guitar too loud right now but you can at least get a sense of what is going on. I have the vocal on the new mic on a couple other songs as well. Unfortunately the song "Can't give up on love" is a work in progress so be gentle. It will get better. I'm still working on it.

The vocal has had no production done to it. It is straight from the mic.

Music page of Bob Scrivner - MP3 music page on SoundClick
 
He replaced the thicker ribbon with a thinner one and took out the slack. Replaced the cheap chinese electronic components with high quality ones. If you are asking for more specifics I can't really say other than to quote his web site:

"This OktavaMod upgrade to the MXL R40 converts the headbasket to a more open-sounding single layer grille and adds damping to the body to tame acoustical resonances. These modifications produce a great-sounding mic for drum overhead, guitar cabinet, piano or vocal use.

Award-winning microphone engineering from Michael Joly

About 30%-50% of the 300 hundred or so low cost ribbon mics I've seen have come from the overseas manufacturer with ribbon sag - often 80% of the ribbon is sagging out of the magnetic gap.

This can cause mechanical "banging" noises when the mic is moved - the ribbon is so slack it scrapes the magnet pole pieces. A slack ribbon also creates a resonant frequency in the single Hz range thus making the mic very sensitive to footfall vibration and can also reduce output if the ribbon is bowed out of the magnetic field.

You can check any ribbon mic for sag very easily. Listen to the mic in headphones, gently tip the mic back and forth so first the front face, then the back face comes to rest parallel to the floor. If you hear a sudden "clang" or "clunk" this indicates a severely under tensioned ribbon flopping about in the magnet gap. Not good - should be retensioned. So the next step in my modification and QC process is to upgrade the ribbon to a more sensitive 1.8 micron aluminum and set for proper tension."
 
Bonnell

I was so impressed with this Mod I decided to send two MXL 603S' to John Bonnell and get a feel for how good his modifications are. If they are good I will send him an LDC. Or rather than mod an LDC I might buy a KEL from Canada as they appear to be a bit cheaper than Mr. Joly's mod and I don't have to buy a mic.

Anyone had an opportunity to compare a Joly mod to a Kel Mic?
 
He does do some excellant work.
When i get some spare cash which could be a while i'm going to get Xaudia. Stewart to mod my ribbon.
I'd love to own an octava i've always heard good reports on them and i saw a you tube revoew of the modded mxl 603s on acoustic guitar and they sounded amazing.
Just as good as Steenos mic which i think is a shure k81 or somesuch i cant remember exactly but he makes a wonderful recording with it.
Thanks for the info Hack.
Its probably got a cinemag transformer in it then and modded silicon damping on the inside of the mic shell and the inner basket removed as well as upgrading the componants and ribbon itself.
No small task for the likes of us.
Good choice I hope you enjoy and make the most of it. Have fun
Ribbons aint dead theyre just lounging in the bottom of a box in an estate sale bin waiting for us to make the most of them.
Long live ribbon mics. Hoorah
and Hooray Henry too.:laughings:
 
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