Tube mics B1, MXL990 and Cad GLX

H

Han

New member
Today an older guy visited my place in order to demonstrate the mics he's making.

What's he doing? He buys a couple of SP B1's, or MXL 990, or the CAD GLX, takes out all the electronics and replace it by tube electronics and a minimal of components.

There's only one or two small tubes inside the mic and he makes a neat power supply.

We tried the mics and compared them to the big Neumann and to the original untweaked MXL and SP B1, there was no original CAD mic available.

The tweaked B1 sounds a lot better than the stock B1, a lot more detail and air. The tweaked MXL 990 sounds unbelievable, nothing wrong with that capsule.

The tweaked CAD mic ditto, almost as nice and good as the Neumann on vocals and acoustic guitar.

So the question occurs: why can some small noname guy make a mic sound a whole lot better than the manufacturer.

These mics are now used in a couple of big Dutch studios and some big names have used them with great success for their CD production.

I've never heard a cheap mic sound so nice.
 
junplugged said:
how does one quantify, 'twice as good?'
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(good)2=t.a.g.. :D Sorry, I couldn't resist. Good question though.
I would like to know how the modded SP B1 compares to the SP TB1, and a price comparison, and specs for that matter.
 
He can make them better because hde doesn't make them as cheaply as the mass manufacturers do.

Pretend they not only used the components he did, but paid a gu y like him to put them together. The extra price would pay his salary, bonuses, pay for his office and tools, any dental, medical benefits he gets, vision and hearing benefits, retirement plan, as well as the additional administrative needs for that additional employee.

Now hire en ough of him to produce a lot of mics, and your mic price goes up substantially over low cost labor and cost cutting corner cutting.

That's why he can make it sound better than the manufacturers at a smaller additional price point.


I've gotta do some modding on some of my stuff.

Ripped apart my ecm8000 so it needs to at least have something done to it to warrant my effort.

My 990's pretty nice looking inside there, not sloppy work at all, cant wait to do some modding on that.
 
I did this too. If been farting around with various ones. Now that I've got the OK from him, I can finally tell you Simon Phillips is using 2 that I made him. They'll be used on the new Toto record and probably other projects as well. He loves them.
 
mattamatta said:
He can make them better because hde doesn't make them as cheaply as the mass manufacturers do.
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That's right, there really is no surprize there, ANYBODY can buy the very best components. So why don't they all buy the very best components? Because the component costs get multiplied a couple of times in the final cost (manufacturer's and dealer's markups) and there are a LOT of price sensitive shoppers.

Actually by modding mics he is also taking advantage of the big manufacturer's economies of scale too in items like casings and grilles. Could you imagine how much he would have to charge if he had to have the casings and grills hand-machined in small lots?
 
I see this thread is somewhat older now, but I'm still interested in that mod for my 990?
Anyone knows what I can do to improve the sound on male vox?
 
here is an idea!

stanjanssen said:
I see this thread is somewhat older now, but I'm still interested in that mod for my 990?
Anyone knows what I can do to improve the sound on male vox?
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Castration! used in the middle ages to great aclaim. EQ, we don't need no stinkin' EQ (snip)

OHHH, you meant to the MICROPHONE!


all kidding aside, there should be a market for a drop in replacement, with tube, board and power supply, or maybe you buy your own tube (depending on money and taste) and buy the upgraded board and power supply.

I think royer was doing this with the mojave audio, now they are going to prebuilt, and canning the kits (nice alliteration, eh?)

If you find out anymore on this, I would like to know also, in spite of my smart lip.
 
We have done this to our B1. We have many different mods we have done from tube to solid state. When you decide to use very expensive components, you get a quieter, nicer sounding, smoother mic. The cost of the parts in one of the B1 mods we have here is about $85.00 for just the parts. Then the labor process begins.

There are tons of things you can do to any mic to make them better. It all in the dollars....
 
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