No love for the ACM 3?

R

redddog

New member
I have hardly seen anyone put these up as a suggestion when talking about ribbons.

The design is generally cited as the problem but the arguably best, most heralded ribbon mics ever has almost the exact design. So is it the execution of this particular mic that is it's downfall or are the other ribbons in this GB just that much better?

The ACM 3 sold a crapload in this last GB. Is it just the cosmetic similarity?
 
I had no experience with any other ribbon mic before my ACM-3, but I'd read enough from other folks who talked about the value & sound a ribbon can add to a mic locker. For me, the use was going to be on cabs, and we all know about the legendary ribbon mics for guitar cabs (or in my case--we've read about 'em).

So with nothing else to compare it to, I can only say whether or not it met the expectation I had formed from my research--and it did! And then some. I love it.

I bought other ribbons in the first group buy too, so I've got others more suited to vox--thus I've never used the ACM-3 on anything but cabs. Don't know if the design complaints might be coming from folks using it elsewhere, but I love mine on my cab.
 
There's a general reluctance to recommend the GB mics in discussion here -- I think it's because you can't just run out and get one retail-style.

My ACM-3 has a couple of stretched-out pleats in the ribbon (although it sounds a lot better after retensioning), so I can't wait to replace it when the replacements arrive. Maybe because of this, my ACM-2 seems to sound a little better -- its ribbon is nicely corrugated (and retensioned also). I don't want to overstate the issue -- my ACM-3 (with a lundahl tranny) sounds fantastic and I use it all the time, mostly for clean electric guitar. And no complaints about the design of the mic - not in the least.
 
antichef said:
There's a general reluctance to recommend the GB mics in discussion here -- I think it's because you can't just run out and get one retail-style.

My ACM-3 has a couple of stretched-out pleats in the ribbon (although it sounds a lot better after retensioning), so I can't wait to replace it when the replacements arrive. Maybe because of this, my ACM-2 seems to sound a little better -- its ribbon is nicely corrugated (and retensioned also). I don't want to overstate the issue -- my ACM-3 (with a lundahl tranny) sounds fantastic and I use it all the time, mostly for clean electric guitar. And no complaints about the design of the mic - not in the least.
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Which one was the 2--the lollipop design? I think that's the one ribbon I didn't get the first time around. I've got a 1, 3 & 4. Happy with 'em all in fact.
 
WhiteStrat said:
Which one was the 2--the lollipop design? I think that's the one ribbon I didn't get the first time around. I've got a 1, 3 & 4. Happy with 'em all in fact.
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2 is the lollipop. Funny - I was impatient during the last GB waiting time, and I got a N*dy RSM-4 lollipop on a stupid buy. Very similar (read: identical), *except* that the ribbon in the RSM-4 is 6 microns instead of 2 or 1.8 or whatever the GB ones are. Makes a big negative difference. I'll always insist on 2 or thinner. After I swap out the ribbon in my ACM-3, I might try putting the old ACM-3 ribbon in the RSM-4 to see what happens.
 
Okay, next question. I know there's lots of talk of mic mods all over the place, but I've got you right here--how hard was the tranny swap in the ACM-3? And did you mod any other GB mics?
 
I have 1 through 4, and I've swapped the trannys in all 4. I retensioned the ribbons in 2 and 3.

The swap was:

easiest for the ACM-2 (probably the easiest mod I've ever performed),

second easiest with the ACM-3 (but I may have made it harder than it needed to be by soldering the tranny onto the magnet prior to inserting it into the body),

third easiest with the ACM-4, because neither the Lundahl nor the Edcor would fit in the mu-metal chamber, and so I sort of suspended the Lundahl with some cotton balls, and

hardest with the ACM-1, because the internal circuit board increased the number of solder joints and required some retries/restarts -- it would be easier to do it a second time and/or with better tools. The mu-metal chamber in the ACM-1 had plenty of room for either tranny (the Edcor is bigger) and I'm aware that someone here (dgatwood?) modded an ACM-1 or similar mic to use multiple trannys, and chooses the active one with a switch -- slick. I don't think the chamber is big enough for two trannys, but there's plenty of room in the mic body outside the chamber.
 
i'd love to make recommendations for the ACM-3, but mine came with a severely stretched ribbon element. i tried it once on acoustic guitar, and it was completely unusable.

then i was going to try re-tensioning the ribbon, but the corrugations are pretty well stretched, so i said f*ck it, i'll wait for the replacements to come in. then i'll stick an edcor x-former in it for about $25, and we'll see what i get with it then...hopefully it'll sound great on cabs and drums, but we'll see
 
I put a Lundahl in my ACM-3 and I've been very happy with it. I use it on its own or with a 57 on guitar cabs all the time. For some reason the ribbon sag was much worse in my ACM-2 than my ACM-3, which is the opposite of most peoples' experience.
 
PhiloBeddoe said:
I put a Lundahl in my ACM-3 and I've been very happy with it. I use it on its own or with a 57 on guitar cabs all the time. For some reason the ribbon sag was much worse in my ACM-2 than my ACM-3, which is the opposite of most peoples' experience.
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I'm using mine the same way--with a 57 (or an i5). I love the combination.
 
Tensioning Methods?

What are your guys methods for replacing or re-tensioning the Ribbon?

My ACM-3 had slack and sounded somewhat muffled so I re-tensioned it. It wasn't that hard to do but it's so delicate I felt "Lucky" that it didn't tear. I can't imagine actually "Tuning" it to a certain frequency like I've read others doing.

Mine was stuck to the plate... I lifted it off w/ a razor blade and I think I used a Q-tip to try and reposition it. But it took a while to get it to stay in place while I put the top plate on and screw it down.

I don't see how they plan on sending the replacements and Chance individually taking one by one and sending them out... all the while having them keep the corrugations and shape in tact. After that last installment of "Soap"... Even though 797 isn't the one making the Mics it sounds like another smoke screen to me.

Or Does it sound like I'm just not handling the Ribbon correctly?

Thanks,
B.
 
Booda said:
What are your guys methods for replacing or re-tensioning the Ribbon?

My ACM-3 had slack and sounded somewhat muffled so I re-tensioned it. It wasn't that hard to do but it's so delicate I felt "Lucky" that it didn't tear. I can't imagine actually "Tuning" it to a certain frequency like I've read others doing.

Mine was stuck to the plate... I lifted it off w/ a razor blade and I think I used a Q-tip to try and reposition it. But it took a while to get it to stay in place while I put the top plate on and screw it down.

I don't see how they plan on sending the replacements and Chance individually taking one by one and sending them out... all the while having them keep the corrugations and shape in tact. After that last installment of "Soap"... Even though 797 isn't the one making the Mics it sounds like another smoke screen to me.

Or Does it sound like I'm just not handling the Ribbon correctly?

Thanks,
B.
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I have the same questions you do--because I had the same experience you did. I couldn't tell by the sound that it was slack, but after reading complaints and descriptions of the issue, I opened mine up. Sure enough, it was nice & droopy. Lifted it gingerly with the tip of an Xacto blade and pull it enought to remove the "droop" but not enough to pull to pull out the "crinkles."

Guess I got lucky considering some of the stories...
 
same for me -- my acm-2 ribbon was not stuck, but my acm-3 ribbon was - lifted it with an xacto knife. I pulled each of them out with a moist q-tip and re-clamped - no attempt to tune, just visual confirmation that they were basically pulled out enough
 
Booda said:
I don't see how they plan on sending the replacements and Chance individually taking one by one and sending them out... all the while having them keep the corrugations and shape in tact.
Click to expand...

I think they're gonna be sending us motors, subassemblies with the ribbon installed.
 
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