Octava MK/MC 319 Mods

  • Thread starter Thread starter omtayslick
  • Start date Start date
Bringing back this old thread.


Could someone point me to a source to buy silica, and where do you spray to dampen the body. Thanks.

Also, could someone explain why inserting felt would help ?
 
MichaelJoly said:
duh, all that and I didn't answer the question. Typical.

Just take a '219 or '319 apart, tear off the back diaphragm and put some 5 minute epoxy into the labyrinth. Eliminates the cardioid cancellation pattern normally produced by the delayed back wave reaching the front diaphragm.
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I don't exactly understand what was done here .

Michael, if you are reading, could you please let me know where you bought the neck that you use for the bottle mod. Thanks.
 
Oktava bottle mods

My MK-319 bottle mod uses a short copper pipe nipple painted black then surrounded by foam rubber. I soldered the nipple to a copper plate that fits on the top of the mic body. The other end is soldered to the bottom of the lollipop grille. The round lollipop grille was made from the top of the stock MK-319 - the back side is flat ;)

My other bottle mod ('219 capsule in a flat lollipop sitting on a conical neck above an MXL body) uses a common tin kitchen funnel. Easy to solder to.

oh, the quote above re: epoxy. I turned an Oktava large diaphragm capsule into an omni-directional pattern. When the mic is disasembled and the capsule removed, the back side diaphragm of the capsule can be removed and epoxy flowed into the circular chambers.
 
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Thanks Micheal, so far I have removed the HF discs and the inner mesh screen, and the half-spherical top, and it turned into something very wonderful. Will worked on it some more.
 
The links works fine for me. Anyway, it's the June '05 issue. You can order a back-issue from Recording mag.
 
Could someone show me how to open up the inner of the body to access the electronics inside ?

Do you just pry the flat lid open or is there a screw somewhere ? Thanks
 
You're asking about the MK-319 right? Can you say Pandora's Box?

To access the electronics of the '319 you have to remove the screws holdng the low cut and roll off switch panel, unsolder all the wires, keep track of them, unscrew the bottom collar then remove the body.

In the mod's I offer for the '319 on eBay I totally remove the wiring from the these switches to the mother board and run the mic with out them. This makes it a whole lot easier to take this mic apart and put back together. This also actually improves the sound a bit in the flat and full-gain modes by removing stray capacitances from the circuit.

Of course if you're convinced you need the 10dB cut and roll off switch you're in for a fun time ;)
 
MichaelJoly said:
You're asking about the MK-319 right? Can you say Pandora's Box?

To access the electronics of the '319 you have to remove the screws holdng the low cut and roll off switch panel, unsolder all the wires, keep track of them, unscrew the bottom collar then remove the body.
Click to expand...

Not true! If you unscrew the plate that holds the switches, pull it out a bit and turn it sideways, you can feed it into the body and then slide the body off. I did it to 2 of them.
 
That's good news. On the first ones I did I couldn't get enough slack to turn the switch plate and feed it back down into the body - so I un-soldered the wires.
 
PhilGood said:
Not true! If you unscrew the plate that holds the switches, pull it out a bit and turn it sideways, you can feed it into the body and then slide the body off. I did it to 2 of them.
Click to expand...

I don't remember having to desolder the switch PCB either. Then again these are more or less hand assembled so it could very well be luck of the draw.
 
MichaelJoly said:
That's good news. On the first ones I did I couldn't get enough slack to turn the switch plate and feed it back down into the body - so I un-soldered the wires.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize that some had shorter wires. Guess I got lucky.
 
I took off and put back on the 4 screws so many times (10 times roughly) that they are worn to the point not being able to hold in place any more. These things are more delicate than I thought. Anyway, I also managed to lose 2 of them. Anywhere I could go to find replacement for these ?
 
Oktava Screws (no pun intended)

www.smallparts.com is DIYers heaven. You can find small screws there. Also stuff like stainless steel screen for grilles etc.
 
Octava 319 Switch Mod

Does anyone know the proceedure for bypassing the rolloff and pad switch on a 319?
Thanx
 
Octava switch mod

Dah
nevermind i saw MichaelJoly's post on pg 3. very generous of him
 
Take the four screws out of the switch plate. Cut all the wires off the PC board attached to the switch plate. Disassemble the mic. Remove all the wires from the main PC board that were attached to the switch plate PC board. Solder the capsule center conductor to ground. Solder the capsule signal wire to the input coupling cap on the side of the cap that is not connected to the FET. Re-assemble, rock on.
 
Octava switch mod

Thanx! did it, works like a charm.
I first discovered these mics when recording drums and I threw up a friend's 219 about 8 feet away as a room mic just for laughs. I didn't expect much. But after listening this was the best sounding mic of them all. Therefore I was surprized when I bought a pair of 319's and they didn't quite do it. This mod does it and more.
 
Great, glad that recipe worked for you. I forgot to mention shortening the capsule wires but that was probably obvious to you.
 
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