microphone-parts.com

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I suppose, the "batch" effect is what happens in Mfg. Batch ID's and all kinds of things happen in the factory supply chains, so it all depends on QC. and spec tolerances of +/- 1% or maybe +/- no-one-cares %....lol

the "clone-copy-design" thing interests me, and parts used to build a KM84, or a U87, or U47, etc..and schematics.
the companys like Mic-Parts, GAP and WARM, AA, 3U, that are sold under a BrandName badge business model is filling some popular market. Demand for making the U87 ...not the U87ai.... the U47 tube not the FET 47... obsolete KM 84...not the 184.

WA84 is $399
Mic-Parts MP84 is $379
savings is $20?
Are the parts different? WARM uses a lot of good parts, WIMA, Capsules copied to the holes and size and microns..., etc..and for $20 WARM assemble it for you.
I still think the Mic-Parts "84" would be more attractive if sold for $150 or less.
For $20 difference? and the risk of me screwing up something DIY ..El Pass-o...as they say in Texas.
 
I know a machinist here - he's my age but has a proper workshop with all manner of lathes and metalworking equipment. I mentioned this topic to him and asked about how hard it would be to make the original Neumann design. He said the only variable would be the metal - what material, exactly. Not all brass is quite the same, and as for alloys, they too vary. He looked at the photos of Neumann capsules and the videos of them being assembled. He told me what you need was one to copy, or the original engineering drawings - his preference would be an old capsule. You use this to make a jig, and the jig makes your capsules all identical. He thought it very likely this was exactly what the Chinese had done. So the backplate holes, the holes in the ring will all be to the original design - why would you change it. all you need is the jig. That's not a hard thing to actually produce. He reckoned that he could produce a jig to the original tolerances in a day. Then putting the solid rod in the lathe and pairing off the individual backplates is easy for people who know what they're doing. Boring the holes is dull and repetitive. I wonder if you just buy them in bulk from china and if they're all the same, and identical to the originals - then the only differences might be how the connection wire has been tightened up - over tightening could warp the mylar, under tightening would produce noise?

What exactly do they do to the Chinese capsules to 'europeanise' them in terms of tone? The cynic in me says very little. Order in piles of bits and sell them out for premium prices. People buy them. They come in one door, get put into individual piles of bits and go out the other. Any customer issues will of course be down to their construction - the parts are fine, you messed up soldering the bits together?

I really don't see where the price is coming from - I really don't.
 
rob aylestone said:
. You use this to make a jig, and the jig makes your capsules all identical. He thought it very likely this was exactly what the Chinese had done.
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A jig is not down to the micron. The Chinese are using modern methods Im sure. They scan the object into ACAD and make it on the CnC machine.

My lathe is a low end for my auto hobbies. I make rings and spacers with jigs. You want something better for microphone components.
 
Why? They're really not difficult. If you have a lathe to make rings and spacers - it would be a poor lathe that couldn't turn to the tolerances required. We may well be able to measure microns - but could the Germans pre/post WW2? The backplates are supposed to be the same as they were then, and what would that be? A thousandth of an inch? I don't know, but I reckon if you can measure it, you could make it. The difficulty would be the mylar - getting that the same type as the original would be interesting - but you could get the modern stuff?
 
rob aylestone said:
Why?
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Greater accuracy, unit to unit. Less material cost. Less time. You put the item on the Hanger. It scans it into ACAD. A person calibrates and mounts the raw material. Press start.

Yes, Germans could go at least to the half ten thousandth... 0.0005" in WWII.

Here is my hobby machine shop.
20210911_161728.webp
 
I bet your lathe could make a perfectly functional mic capsule! Or you could buy the Chinese ones and pretend you made it!
 
hahahha. Nahh. just spacers and plates . Things with threads.
 
rob aylestone said:
What exactly do they do to the Chinese capsules to 'europeanise' them in terms of tone?
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they copy euro desigsn!! thats how they europeanise them.. lol

i got two empty soup cans and some string, start my own mic company.

like hundreds of thousands of others I watched, and at times sent recipes and drawings overseas to make the IC chips as TI did the foundry thing. It didnt even take 2 yrs and the foundry plant was rolling and had no need for us, to answer questions or anything.
They sent the actual tools from the factory over and shut down the US plants that werent needed or too expensive.

why would mics be any different? copying something is a million times easier than inventing and doing research.
reverse engineering etc...

my MXL V67G is one of the best mics Ive had, and reading about it, states theres some U87 circuit with a hi freq demphazsize something, and thats what I like about it,,,,, it hangs with $1000 mics easily, and sometimes better ....is it because of the U87 circuit? yes, imo.
That SSS desser thing is great in it.

so my guess is copy shit and it sounds similar. lol
 
Yeah, there's a lot of value in those MXL products. I was going to check out that MXL Revelation microphone. A friend got one a couple years back. He was supposed to bring it over.. have you tried it?

In my bag, there is a MXL 991 SDC. It has the mod kit they sell on ebay installed. This one. It was $9 bucks. It had 4-5 components.
P1010247.jpg

It does effect how it sounds.
 
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If you are going to reverse engineer a microphone, get a sample. You need an OE version of that mic. I know it can be expensive, but that's the way it works.

It's not really necessary to make things at the component level such as a capsule. I'm sure there are a lot of companies in CN making microphones or their components and they can do it better we can. You just get samples (don't be surprised if one of them is the same part as the OE sample you are copying. I had that happen more than once) and decide which one you like the best. If you are going to build more than a few units, buy specially components from the same batch for the entire production run. Tolerances change or manufacturers change suppliers and that can cause problems.

Easier and better to just use the one you bought.
 
rob aylestone said:
So does EQ!
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In the instructions, it said that the 2x side capacitors extend the bass response.

That top capacitor affects the input voltage the circuit uses to polarize the capsule.

There was a diffuser piece with more holes in it, that went in front.

Hey man, it was 9 bucks.
 
More useless shit I built for no reason whatsoever. I took a MXL 990 LDC that was dead. From eBay I grabbed a dynamic capsule SM57/58 replacement, a LDC china capsule, and a 1 micron Ribbon conversion kit for the MXL. So I could swap capsule heads, in the same microphone body. With a defeatable transformer circuit. I used 9 volt connectors. It turned out interestingly.

20210912_143429.webp
 
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CoolCat said:
my MXL V67G is one of the best mics Ive had, and reading about it, states theres some U87 circuit with a hi freq demphazsize something, and thats what I like about it,,,,, it hangs with $1000 mics easily, and sometimes better ....is it because of the U87 circuit? yes, imo.
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Because you have a U87 to compare it with? I'm not going to get into the reality of a U87ai and the clone copies - mostly because if you can't hear it - then it doesn't matter
does it?
 
LazerBeakShiek said:
More useless shit I built for no reason whatsoever. I took a MXL 990 LDC that was dead. From eBay I grabbed a dynamic capsule SM57/58 replacement, a LDC china capsule, and a 2 micron Ribbon conversion kit for the MXL. So I could swap capsule heads, in the same microphone body. With a defeatable transformer circuit. I used 9 volt connectors. It turned out interestingly.

View attachment 111736
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Clips?
 
Is a capacitor swap in the mic to give different bass not just EQ. You make a low noise preamp with values to give a response you like, somebody else prefers something with a slightly different starting point. Surely it’s just EQ we’re talking about?
 
If you open the door to get more of the object's dynamics at the source, it is different from adding some artificial emphasis post with electricity. If it wasn't recording the lows to begin with, where are they coming from now EQ'd? Its just a magnifying glass. The source needs to be there first.

Like the sound is the amplitude x sensitivity ( "that moment" / 3.1415) = 'X' . Adding EQ is just adding amplitude.

The '5 Great Sounds from' guy on youtube Todd Leon, tells that it is different to add a LPF HPF filter set before or after recording. LPF HPF is just extreme EQing. Right?

You think a Lavaliere mic can be EQ'd to sound like a U87, surely its just EQ we're talking about?
 
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Papanate said:
Clips?
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diyribbonmic.com

Austin Ribbon Microphones | DIY

Make Something! Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kits, tools, and workshops for musicians, recording studios, and schools.
diyribbonmic.com diyribbonmic.com

This is a whole page of samples , its that Austin OA-1 with a less than 1 micron thick ribbon. Mine was from back when it was RicksRecords or something. I paid $89 I think. The SM57/58 capsule is 2 fer $2. The LDC head ...$3 a piece.
 
A lav mic sounds different to a large diaphragm condenser because they don't have the same capsules - I'm just unconvinced that changing the preamp design does anything other than tweak available dynamic range, noise, gain and EQ that's all.
 
I see your point.

One of the things they had as a kit was a transformer box. A pedal casing and you'd put 3 transformers on a chicken head. The different transformer would detail the capsule differently. A noticeable one was the Lundahl transformer. It had great bass for a DEEP radio voice. The Lundahl had +2db more under 30Hz than the Cinemag or Edcor.
 
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