R
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
Omigod! For those of you who don't know the story, I found this puppy at a flea market buried under a pile of dead cheap guitars. It had a dent in the grill, was wicked long (almost 12"), labeled Shure SM82 unidirectional microphone, and had a serial #. "How much?" I asked. "how much will you give me for it?" was the answer. $10?- SOLD! I figured what the hell, it's some kind of specialty mic, and they don't put serial #'s on the cheap ones, well worth a $10 gamble.
Well I got it home and figured I'd try it out (like an idiot). I hooked it up to a preamp and...nothing. Oh well, I figured it's probably a $10 dead mic. Well, I suppose, even though it's got a heavy grill like a stage mic, it could be a condenser. I guess I'll (like an idiot) turn on the phantom power. I nearly blew up a set of cans and a Joemeek twinQ! Dropping the cans to the floor, I rushed to power down the pre before I smelled smoke.
Ah, wisdom, I think I'll look it up, I said. The last one rolled off the assembly line in 1989, and listed for about $700 at the time.
It is a wired, hand held, line level broadcast mic. This sucker was designed to transmit on a cable up to 1.5 km long with no preamp! It uses a mercury battery that can no longer be legally made, or phantom power. Unfortunately, my line level ins don't produce phantom power, so I put the mic aside for a while, and it collected more dust.
Recently, while buying some high end mics, I said, what the hell, I'll buy a remote phantom power unit and find out if that old mic is good for anything. The results have been stunning. Although the pickup pattern and sensitivity are way different, the sound is very compareable to my B.L.U.E. KIWI. It rejects almost all off axis sound, and has the shortest reach of any condenser I've ever used. It has fairly pronounced proximity effect. The only way I can describe it is to say that it sounds like what an SM7 would sound like if it was a condenser. It is flat out the best cab mic I've ever heard. If you see one of these babies on a used equipment list somewhere, GRAB IT!-Richie
Well I got it home and figured I'd try it out (like an idiot). I hooked it up to a preamp and...nothing. Oh well, I figured it's probably a $10 dead mic. Well, I suppose, even though it's got a heavy grill like a stage mic, it could be a condenser. I guess I'll (like an idiot) turn on the phantom power. I nearly blew up a set of cans and a Joemeek twinQ! Dropping the cans to the floor, I rushed to power down the pre before I smelled smoke.
Ah, wisdom, I think I'll look it up, I said. The last one rolled off the assembly line in 1989, and listed for about $700 at the time.
It is a wired, hand held, line level broadcast mic. This sucker was designed to transmit on a cable up to 1.5 km long with no preamp! It uses a mercury battery that can no longer be legally made, or phantom power. Unfortunately, my line level ins don't produce phantom power, so I put the mic aside for a while, and it collected more dust.
Recently, while buying some high end mics, I said, what the hell, I'll buy a remote phantom power unit and find out if that old mic is good for anything. The results have been stunning. Although the pickup pattern and sensitivity are way different, the sound is very compareable to my B.L.U.E. KIWI. It rejects almost all off axis sound, and has the shortest reach of any condenser I've ever used. It has fairly pronounced proximity effect. The only way I can describe it is to say that it sounds like what an SM7 would sound like if it was a condenser. It is flat out the best cab mic I've ever heard. If you see one of these babies on a used equipment list somewhere, GRAB IT!-Richie
