Oktava MK012 From G.C.

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Flatpicker

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I’m posting this since there are several small diaphragm mic threads active right now about the 603s, NT5’s, etc… I know this isn’t going to be news for those of you who have the MK012, but for those who don’t, here’s my virtual $0.02…

In my never ending quest for a great sounding affordable small condenser mic, I bought an Oktava MK-012 at Guitar Center today where they’re on sale this month for $74.99. Why am I just now trying it? I don’t really know. :confused: I tried one about a year ago at Guitar Center through a Mackie mixer with headphones, but for some reason I wasn’t that impressed. This time I brought one home and gave it a full workout. I guess my ears have improved since then, because it sounds great to me now, even through headphones. It’s going to be my new acoustic guitar mic - at least for the time being, anyways (I know… never say never!;) )

I compared it to a MXL 603s (which I also own) and quite frankly, I think it leaves the 603s in the dirt. It’s definitely less dull than the 603s, as in more open and accurate – not hyped or harsh.

A friend of mine who works there in pro audio (and has a 4 yr Audio engineering degree plus lots of studio experience) helped me audition 4 of them using Harvey’s “Guitar Center test” method. As far as either one of us could tell, they were all identical (I couldn’t really get the “keys” to distort at all – sounded just like when I jingled them in my ear!). My friend said he has tried several and all are very consistent. He said there was one out of a hundred or so that turn’s up defective, but then they usually didn’t work at all. Makes me wonder about all that poor quality control stuff I keep hearing.

Anyways, just though I’d post this for those who might like another opinion. :cool:
 
An X/Y approach with two of these will yield a very rich sounding acoustic track. These are my goto for killer guitar tracks, non electric. Also Mandolin and the occasional banjo work well too.
 
What are you going to use it for, overheads? If so, tell me how they turn out. I had looked at them also.
 
Middleman said:
These are my goto for killer guitar tracks, non electric. Also Mandolin and the occasional banjo work well too.
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I can see why, now. I can't wait to try them on mandolin, fiddle and banjo.
 
Jblount said:
What are you going to use it for, overheads? If so, tell me how they turn out. I had looked at them also.
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I got them for close-micing acoustic instruments, but they should be great for overheads. I'm sure others here are using them for that.
 
Flatpicker said:
I’m posting this since there are several small diaphragm mic threads active right now about the 603s, NT5’s, etc… I know this isn’t going to be news for those of you who have the MK012, but for those who don’t, here’s my virtual $0.02…

In my never ending quest for a great sounding affordable small condenser mic, I bought an Oktava MK-012 at Guitar Center today where they’re on sale this month for $74.99. Why am I just now trying it? I don’t really know. :confused: I tried one about a year ago at Guitar Center through a Mackie mixer with headphones, but for some reason I wasn’t that impressed. This time I brought one home and gave it a full workout. I guess my ears have improved since then, because it sounds great to me now, even through headphones. It’s going to be my new acoustic guitar mic - at least for the time being, anyways (I know… never say never!;) )

I compared it to a MXL 603s (which I also own) and quite frankly, I think it leaves the 603s in the dirt. It’s definitely less dull than the 603s, as in more open and accurate – not hyped or harsh.

A friend of mine who works there in pro audio (and has a 4 yr Audio engineering degree plus lots of studio experience) helped me audition 4 of them using Harvey’s “Guitar Center test” method. As far as either one of us could tell, they were all identical (I couldn’t really get the “keys” to distort at all – sounded just like when I jingled them in my ear!). My friend said he has tried several and all are very consistent. He said there was one out of a hundred or so that turn’s up defective, but then they usually didn’t work at all. Makes me wonder about all that poor quality control stuff I keep hearing.

Anyways, just though I’d post this for those who might like another opinion. :cool:
Click to expand...

Yes. My GC has seen 2 out of many hundreds of Oktava mics sold that were bad. All of mine work excellent and my 319s sound so matched it is rediculous.
 
Hey Flatpicker, glad you like the MC012. They are very nice, and don't forget you can get an omni cap later--and a LOMO head (which Harvey likes a lot)! My brief experience is that mine sounds very similar to my 603s (through a DMP3)--but perhaps with more experience I'll be able to tell more of a difference. Like Middleman, I like XY (only I pair the 603 and MC012) for a vey rich and ambient acoustic sound.

When I bought mine I brought two home to test, and indeed they sounded identical. However, the machining on the threads of the preamp body and cap on one of them was less than perfect, and although it sounded fine, the cap would not screw onto either of the two preamp bodies all the way. Also, the the good cap did not screw onto the other preamp body smoothly.

So, for me, it was 50-50, and I learned that QC applies to all aspects of the microphone, not just the sound.
 
Re: Re: Oktava MK012 From G.C.

acorec said:
Yes. My GC has seen 2 out of many hundreds of Oktava mics sold that were bad. All of mine work excellent and my 319s sound so matched it is rediculous.
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Yeah, if I knew someone close by with a matched set from "The Sound Room", I'd compare them to a random set from G.C. and see how much the extra $ REALLY buys you. ;) I'm betting not a lot...

Speaking of the 319s, how do you like them and what do you use them for?
 
tdukex said:
Hey Flatpicker, glad you like the MC012. They are very nice, and don't forget you can get an omni cap later--and a LOMO head (which Harvey likes a lot)! My brief experience is that mine sounds very similar to my 603s (through a DMP3)--but perhaps with more experience I'll be able to tell more of a difference.
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Hey, thanks for the info. Where can I buy just an omni cap or a LOMO head? I haven't seen those advertised anywhere.

It's kind of tricky trying to compare the two. In the same position (12" out from the 12th fret) the MC012 is noticeably thinner in the lows and brighter than the 603s. Here, I think the 603s sounds better, although not exactly like the guitar. When the positions are optimized, however, the MK012 ends up about 16-18" straight out from the sound hole and sounds just like the guitar! The 603s is a little muddy and "undefined" in this position.

I'm using the pres in my Aardvark Q10 which probably aren't much if any better than the DMP3. It could be that your 603s sounds better than mine.

I could post some mp3s, if I can figure out how to access my web site.:rolleyes:
 
You can get the goods at the Sound Room:

http://www.sound-room.com/prices.txt

Browse the site for a description of the LOMO M1 and M3 heads.

Caps are $64 each
LOMO heads are $389, and I hear they are well worth the price. Harvey owns one, and I think he would be a good source of information regarding the quality of sound and potential applications.

I don't know if Taylor Johnson's prices are 100% firm, but I've heard he is extremely nice and knowledgeable and easy to talk to.
 
I bought a bunch of these from my local GC, and not one of these were matched in output by closer than 2 db. Also, the transient response was different on many of them. I don't know if I'm expecting too much, but I can definitely see why people buy from the sound room. In my experience, you can't just buy two MK012s from GC and expect a stereo pair. Not even close.

I did, however, settle on two that I will use as a stereo pair. They're matched within 2 db in output and the transient response is similar.
 
Re: Re: Re: Oktava MK012 From G.C.

Flatpicker said:
Yeah, if I knew someone close by with a matched set from "The Sound Room", I'd compare them to a random set from G.C. and see how much the extra $ REALLY buys you. ;) I'm betting not a lot...

Speaking of the 319s, how do you like them and what do you use them for?
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They are used for elec guitar cabs, background vocals and 12 string guitars. They are excellent for brite sounding instruments and tame thin vocalists. I love them with the VM pro. Great mics that sound alittle dark. For $79, they cannot be beat.
 
It appears that GC is actually selling matched MK(MC)-012s at last, and at a hefty premium.

They have sold MK-012s for as little as two for $99.99, and people seemed to think these were "matched." They weren't.

The "factory matched pairs" of MK-012s are $249.99 - as opposed to 2/$99.99 during GC's periodic one-day sales.

So...are they as "matched" as Sound Room's? Who knows?

As for defects, I think most Guitar Center/ASM Oktavas are defective, depending on how you classify the term. One GC complained that the whole box of MK-012s had stripped threads on the capsules. I've seen loose screens, stripped threads, stripped screwheads, flaking paint, jammed switches and other mechanical faults aside from actual circuit problems on various Oktavas. When I have bought Oktavas, I have usually tried out a half-dozen and I usually find at least one that has serious problems.

The pro-audio manager at my GC simply describes Oktavas as "trash."

I can see his point - but on the other hand, when some Oktavas are good, they are very nice microphones. The MK-012 is possibly the best inexpensive acoustic guitar microphone anywhere, and a good MK-319 often does a pretty decent job for male vocals.

Additionally, they can be improved by upgrading some components in the Hi-Z part of the circuit and some remedial defluxing and conformal coating where needed - a frequent source of faults, according to Scott Dorsey. On the whole, the components are better now than they used to be, though far from audiophile quality.
 
I just got my 319, and did some test with our lead singer, a male. I was actually really impressed with the sound with no reverb or compression or eqing. It really amazed me, of course that could be because I have only recorded him with a 57 before!
So GC has sales with 2 for 99.00 on the 012's? I need to find out when.
 
I don't own the Oktava 012's but I've used them quite a lot and I like them. My friend had a matched pair from the Sound Room with different capsules and tey were great. They were used as overheads on my drums and they are very well suited. He sold thee two and purchased SP C4's which are also wonderful, but he missed the sound of the 012's so he purchased another unmatched pair from GC for $140 and damn if they aren't pretty well matched (he lucked out). On his recommendation and he also purchased a pair of the MXL SDC's I got mine from a friend that needed money for $50 and they are also good mics. People always ask which is better? I find that I change mics depending on what I'm recording, they all have their good points.
I have noticed that in my experience all of the Oktava mics seem to be just a bit darker than the others. I use them when I want that quality. My MK219's are much darker than my SP B1 and a bit darker than my V67. Don't get me wrong, the MK 012's are not really dark mics, but they are in comparison to SP C4's. I like them for bringing out the character in my dry rides and crashes. I will get a pair when I can afford it. I won't need a matched stereo pair, I like playing with knobs and faders :)
 
bongolation said:
...Additionally, they can be improved by upgrading some components in the Hi-Z part of the circuit and some remedial defluxing and conformal coating where needed - a frequent source of faults, according to Scott Dorsey. On the whole, the components are better now than they used to be, though far from audiophile quality.
Click to expand...
Scott supposedly has an article coming out in Recording magazine about upgrading these things. I took my 603s apart and it had similar problems – cheap caps and flux everywhere! It already had the same FET that Scott used in his first article on the LDC mod. The conformal coating and defluxing might lower the noise a bit. Depends on how much humidity you have and how conductive the flux is. I could clean the flux and upgrade the caps to WIMAs, but that’s about it. Haven’t looked inside the MK012 yet.
 
MC012

Hi all!

I just want to inform you that there is a new source for matched Oktavas in Europe now.

Our web page: www.studiosolutions.se

We sell matched pairs at very low prices. With the same source in Russia as the soundroom (US), we guarantee carefully tested and perfectly matched microphones.

We also sell Nevaton Microphones. The Nevaton CMC series perform very consistently and measures very accurately, well in the level of TLM 103 and TLM170. In our opinion Nevaton are among the best large diaphragms on the market today.
RTT microphones are also in our product line, as well as Grace and Line-Audio micpres and Ino-Audio Studio Monitors.

Welcome!

Regards,

Erik at studiosolutions.se
 
Flatpicker said:
Scott supposedly has an article coming out in Recording magazine about upgrading these things. I took my 603s apart and it had similar problems – cheap caps and flux everywhere! It already had the same FET that Scott used in his first article on the LDC mod. The conformal coating and defluxing might lower the noise a bit. Depends on how much humidity you have and how conductive the flux is. I could clean the flux and upgrade the caps to WIMAs, but that’s about it. Haven’t looked inside the MK012 yet.
Click to expand...
I had a long correspondence with Scott about Oktavas a year or two ago (when does the guy have time to do his real work, I wonder!) concerning all the catalogue of problems, fixes and upgrades for the basic Oktava models.

The flux and poor conformal coating is a problem (when it's defective) in the ultra-Hi-Z part of the circuit, where the two 680M resistors come off from the capsule. These are in themselves often defective and he sugggests replacement with 3G Victoreen resistors, when available. 1Gs are available from DigiKey.

Yes, that's 3,000,000,000 Ohms!

Almost any contamination will cause a lower-resistance short across a resistor of that astronomical of a value, so not only does it and everything it comes into contact with be scrupulously free from flux, grease, filth, dandruff and evil thoughts, it has to be absolutely bone dry and then conformal coated before it can accumulate more minute grunge and condensation.

The capacitor located between these two resistors can be replaced by a better mica cap of a slightly higher value.

Older Oktavas had an astonishing variety of Soviet military surplus components that caused problems, particularly some old wet-slug tantalum capacitors in the MC-012s which had a tendency to fail and leak green ooze. Though most of these oddball parts have now been replaced with the cheapest possible Chinese modern production, Scott regards this as an improvement, and aside from the replacements mentioned above, told me that not much improvement would be gained from replacing them.

The other hotrod fixes were mainly cures for the poor body design of the MK-219 and a couple of minor tweaks for the enclosures.

Oktavas are real microphones and can be made to do real duty.

For bargains on the McKay/GC variety, hit Guitar Center on Labor Day. Almost certainly they will have a big one-day deal on one or more basic Oktava models.

Great old shot of Scott!
 
Jblount said:
I just got my 319, and did some test with our lead singer, a male. I was actually really impressed with the sound with no reverb or compression or eqing. It really amazed me, of course that could be because I have only recorded him with a 57 before!
So GC has sales with 2 for 99.00 on the 012's? I need to find out when.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's a real shock when you hear your first large-diaphragm condenser, isn't it?:)

The first time I hooked one up in my converted-bedroom studio with my headphones on, I couldn't figure out where that leaf-blower was -- then it hit me that that was my computer. Man, I couldn't believe how that thing picked up sound.

The 2/$99.99 GC on MK(MC)-012 Oktavas was last Memorial Day, if I remember correctly. Labor Day is coming up and I'd be extremely surprised if there weren't comparable deals on Oktavas of some model.
 
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