My Super-Cool New, Hand-Built with Industry Standard Components Microphone

  • Thread starter Thread starter kojdogg
  • Start date Start date
kojdogg

kojdogg

bollocks redux!
This is awesome. It totally blows away my cherished BLUE Kiwi and Oktavamodded MK-219PE for sounding like an old rotary phone.

The dude who made it wanted $20 for it and I talked him down to $15 (plus shipping).

That's real electrical tape holding the 9V battery on and there's even some odd crustiness over the mouth piece that I'm pretty sure is stock.

(Apparently there was an article or something on building carbon mics out of old phone handsets becauses I've started to see lots of people building them and selling them at various prices)
 

Attachments

  • phonemictop.webp
    phonemictop.webp
    15.7 KB · Views: 141
  • phonemic2.webp
    phonemic2.webp
    20.1 KB · Views: 133
....hmmm...I have an old Bakelite rotary phone, from the 40s or so.... :cool:
 
mshilarious said:
Wow. I found this guy:

http://www.myspace.com/CARBONMICROPHONE

For $120 though, why not just buy a Green Bullet :confused:
Click to expand...

yeah i saw that guy's things too. if you search ebay for "carbon microphone" there's a bunch of people selling them right now which is why i think there was some diy article or something. besides the one i got (from an ebay seller strangepursuit ), there was another dude building them into beer cans and selling them for $35
the strangepursuit dude has a bunch of neat circuit bent things too.
 
kojdogg said:
yeah i saw that guy's things too. if you search ebay for "carbon microphone" there's a bunch of people selling them right now which is why i think there was some diy article or something. besides the one i got (from an ebay seller strangepursuit ), there was another dude building them into beer cans and selling them for $35
the strangepursuit dude has a bunch of neat circuit bent things too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, $15 is a deal, I dunno about a beer can, thin aluminum ain't too robust. At $120 I would start thinking about the Copperphone at $250 instead.
 
strangepursuit has like 5 headsets for sale cheap in case you want to offer a limited edition naiant carbon mic :)
 
mshilarious said:
Yeah, $15 is a deal, I dunno about a beer can, thin aluminum ain't too robust. At $120 I would start thinking about the Copperphone at $250 instead.
Click to expand...

yeah i want a copperphone, but $15 will get you an egg-static mic too :)
 
kojdogg said:
strangepursuit has like 5 headsets for sale cheap in case you want to offer a limited edition naiant carbon mic :)
Click to expand...

Tempting . . . tempting . . . nah ;)

I had the MSH-5 which had a similar tone but not the panache, I guess. I got tired of harp players asking me what phantom power was, so I discontinued it. :rolleyes:
 
mshilarious said:
Tempting . . . tempting . . . nah ;)

I had the MSH-5 which had a similar tone but not the panache, I guess. I got tired of harp players asking me what phantom power was, so I discontinued it. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

ah well-- it could have been awesome-- a stereo (take the carbon element from one mic and stick it into the earpiece side of another), tube (no need for subminiature here) naiant msh-8675309 carbon mic :D
 
kojdogg said:
ah well-- it could have been awesome-- a stereo (take the carbon element from one mic and stick it into the earpiece side of another), tube (no need for subminiature here) naiant msh-8675309 carbon mic :D
Click to expand...

Beyond the copyright problem ;) a normal-sized tube means a power supply, which means UL testing and lawsuits when Joe Idiot opens the box/mic and electrocutes himself. No thank you!

I don't do two things: digital circuits (FCC), power supplies (UL). It keeps life simple.

Edit: OK, I could use a wall wart and 6GM8. But I don't like wall warts.
 
mshilarious said:
Beyond the copyright problem ;) a normal-sized tube means a power supply, which means UL testing and lawsuits when Joe Idiot opens the box/mic and electrocutes himself. No thank you!

I don't do two things: digital circuits (FCC), power supplies (UL). It keeps life simple.

Edit: OK, I could use a wall wart and 6GM8. But I don't like wall warts.
Click to expand...

sure-- let petty stuff like science and facts dash my dreams :rolleyes:. couldn't you just like, electrical tape a car battery to it or something?
 
kojdogg said:
sure-- let petty stuff like science and facts dash my dreams :rolleyes:. couldn't you just like, electrical tape a car battery to it or something?
Click to expand...

Lead acid batteries are hazardous materials :p

6GM8 would be happy with a lantern battery though.
 
danny.guitar said:
I'd be really interested in hearing some clips. :D
Click to expand...

i still don't know about clips any time really soon (maybe tomorrow, maybe never), but having played with it a little bit i will volunteer this observation: it has a great deal of midrange presence-- kind of like i'd imagine an old rca ribbon to sound if you ran over the rca ribbon with your car while out to do some errands and then it kind of dragged along with your car over a gravel road and then you discovered it was impaled/wedged into/onto the undercarriage of your car when you got home. then you took it inside and plugged it into a behringer metal zone knock off and belched into it.

i can't wait to record some acoustic guitar with it! :D
 
mshilarious said:
Yeah, $15 is a deal, I dunno about a beer can, thin aluminum ain't too robust. At $120 I would start thinking about the Copperphone at $250 instead.
Click to expand...

Samples of the Copperphone actually sound somewhat realistic, with a very interesting coloration - versus that thing with the youtube link, which (shockingly) sounds like a telephone diaphragm :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top