MK012's color coded?

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crazydoc

crazydoc

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I notice the inside of the cardioid capsules have small colored dots or symbols painted on the clear plastic with nail polish or similar. Does anyone know what these represent. The four I have are all different.
 
DJL swears that Alan Hyatt painted the dots on so you can tell which ones make up perfectly matched pairs.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
And now everyone know's that he doesn't sell matched pairs. :D So crazydoc, how are all your dots different... different symbols, colors, or what?
 
haha. i wish. the two i bought were both the same color... mine seem pretty darn close. i mean, i cant hear any difference.
 
I think Alan was in Russia recently, giving a seminar on color coding. Doesn't appear the Russians learned very well - the usual sloppy appearance.
 

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Humm, and I have two that are even different than the one's in your picture... so, I'm guessing that it means nothing important.
 
My guess would be that they are the codes for the people that assembled or inspected them. Two white dots is Boris, the white x is Yevtushenko, the clear/yellow dot is Vassily, and the two red dots are Olga Bolshoi-tits.

Does anybody have any that are similar to the ones in the picture?
 
Humm, that may be so, because on the Sound Room website it states "Matched pairs are selected from the test areas of different manufacturing labs and tested in the anechoic chamber (and ancillary facilities) at a famous Moscow-based Microphone Lab." Note: "different manufacturing labs"... so I'm guessing that all their mic's are made in different manufacturing labs too... so you very well could be correct. Oh, and I have two more of the MC-012's at home... I'll look to see if they're similar to the ones in your picture when I get home later today.

PS... I wonder what "famous Moscow-based Microphone Lab"?


Well, I just got Samplitude "Master" 6.0... so I most likely won't be going home for until tomorrow morning or so. :D
 
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I didn't want to start a new thread for such a silly question,but I don't know the answer and it's been kinda bothering me....

On the Oktava MK012 cardiod capsule, does it make a difference where the cardiod icon is in relation to the source I am trying to record? Is there an accepted place for the icon to be (i.e. towards the ceiling) or does it not matter, the tone will be regardless of it's position?
 
Doesn't matter - the capsule is pointing out the end of the mic.
 
I was wondering about those symbols too. I have two (not a matched pair) and they both have the small silvery white "+" on them, similar to the one in the posted picture.

I rolled the dice on the 2/$99 deal without testing them at the store and at least with my equipment, they're pretty damn close for not being an official matched pair.

Also, does everyone get the Russian manual with them, or did I just luck out there?
 
I didn't get a manual at all with either of the 2/$99 I bought
 
Chip Hitchens said:
I rolled the dice on the 2/$99 deal without testing them at the store and at least with my equipment, they're pretty damn close for not being an official matched pair.
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I “rolled the dice” too, but mine sound different - one’s darker than the other. I took them apart to have a look, and one has consistent looking parts and the other one looks like they stuffed it with odds and ends. Funny, the “odds and ends” one sounds better. In some ways, it’s even better than the one I did the Scott Dorsey mods to. Oh well, goes to show you can’t tell by looking at them. I’ll investigate the differences when I get a chance. Heck, it might even be in the capsules. Who knows?
 
With GC's liberal return policy, one thing you can do to ensure as close to a matched pair as possible is to buy 6-10 of them on a credit card, find the two that most closely match in frequency response and output, and return the rest.

I'm surprised not more people are advocating this. It seems much better than the "try to match them in the store" method.
 
From the Guitar Center website:

"If you're not satisfied, neither are we. If for any reason you're not completely satisfied with your purchase, simply return it in its original condition within 30 days, and we'll give you a full refund. Just bring it back to any Guitar Center location, along with your receipt, manual, blank warranty card, and all original packaging for exchange or refund.

Restrictions:

Due to certain legal and health restrictions, computer software (copyright legislation mandates no returns on opened software), books, videos, CDs, harmonicas, internal earphones, earplugs, and microphones are exempt from this policy. "
 
randyfromde said:
Due to certain legal and health restrictions, computer software (copyright legislation mandates no returns on opened software), books, videos, CDs, harmonicas, internal earphones, earplugs, and microphones are exempt from this policy. "
Click to expand...
They'll let you return MC012s, since they're not vocal mics. Believe me, I've done it. (It wouldn't hurt to check with your local GC before you do this, though.)
 
funny story about GC...
ive always been good at convincing stores on things instead of them trying to convince me...
anyway i didnt know if my boogie 50/50 needed new power tubes or pre tubes...and i was going on tour the next day...
i wished it was the pre tubes, but i came home and they didnt help (i didnt know what to look for or really anything about tubes at that point)
so i brought them back...having been opened and installed, and talked the guy into a full refund :)
 
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