CoolCat
Well-known member
some surfing story's and Aspen Pittmans Groove Tubes stories all very good, leading to the Sterling Audio "Aspen" Tube mics design , back a decade or two ago.
Then zipped through the used-discontinued bins of these microphones, tube designs, resonator disc-capsule, wima and custom transformer, built to be High End copy-designed and mfg in China,
when GC bought the design, added with its buying power, the prices were cheaper, but still nice materials, basically the same mics other than nomenclature.
The military spec GT6205M tube, minitube, soldered in, not for replacement the manual says. ST69 was a full multipattern tube version. of the GT66/ST66 cardiod only.
Upon receiving the $149 mic, the fun of reading about it came to an end and time to plug it in.
What I heard was -18db of noise. Yes, its super sensitive mic, but so is the KSM44 Shure and its quiet.
The noise was so bad the first thought was there is no tube swapping with this mic, its soldered in. hmm?
The second thought was maybe its the power supply.
Then the third thought was does Guitar Center take REFUNDS of Musician Friend stuff? Google AI says "yes they do!" So I felt better.
The mic reads per spec pretty awesome. Stainless Steel body has weight and quality feel. The shock mount worked fine (but is the # 1 review complaint of plastic cheap mount knob). the inside is cool and well done in looks anyway. Reminded me of other tube mics Ive had or tried, WA47, RODE NTV, a few more. The WA47 had a huge noise issue but swapped a tube and it was silence and really decent. With this ST69 soldered in minitube, manual says to NOT swap a tube.
Old and discontinued + cheap tube mic is maybe worth $10, imo, this could be a DIY rescue fun project. Solder in a new tube. If its not that spend $40 on a new 7 pin cable, if not that spend more on a power supply. (sarcasm) Cheap tube stuff has often shown me to be common with issues, in the used old gear cheap bin. This was probably a great mic when brand new. Someone took care of it, the parts and mount like new, but the electronics, the tube is shot, whatever, its unusable.. Tapping on the body was pretty loud too. microphonics?
Apparently Musicians Friends didn't test this before selling it to me.
For sanity check, plugged in my Antelope Audio Solo mic, very nice, very quiet, low noise LDC, same price and is my main mic these days. $129.
Review- Sterling ST69....from 2009.
Negative points for the "soldered in" tube design.
Negative points on Musicians Friends for selling defective used stuff.
Positive points for an interesting journey of Groove Tubes and Aspen Pittman, the end was Fender Inc. bought the brand.
Then zipped through the used-discontinued bins of these microphones, tube designs, resonator disc-capsule, wima and custom transformer, built to be High End copy-designed and mfg in China,
when GC bought the design, added with its buying power, the prices were cheaper, but still nice materials, basically the same mics other than nomenclature.
The military spec GT6205M tube, minitube, soldered in, not for replacement the manual says. ST69 was a full multipattern tube version. of the GT66/ST66 cardiod only.
Upon receiving the $149 mic, the fun of reading about it came to an end and time to plug it in.
What I heard was -18db of noise. Yes, its super sensitive mic, but so is the KSM44 Shure and its quiet.
The noise was so bad the first thought was there is no tube swapping with this mic, its soldered in. hmm?
The second thought was maybe its the power supply.
Then the third thought was does Guitar Center take REFUNDS of Musician Friend stuff? Google AI says "yes they do!" So I felt better.
The mic reads per spec pretty awesome. Stainless Steel body has weight and quality feel. The shock mount worked fine (but is the # 1 review complaint of plastic cheap mount knob). the inside is cool and well done in looks anyway. Reminded me of other tube mics Ive had or tried, WA47, RODE NTV, a few more. The WA47 had a huge noise issue but swapped a tube and it was silence and really decent. With this ST69 soldered in minitube, manual says to NOT swap a tube.
Old and discontinued + cheap tube mic is maybe worth $10, imo, this could be a DIY rescue fun project. Solder in a new tube. If its not that spend $40 on a new 7 pin cable, if not that spend more on a power supply. (sarcasm) Cheap tube stuff has often shown me to be common with issues, in the used old gear cheap bin. This was probably a great mic when brand new. Someone took care of it, the parts and mount like new, but the electronics, the tube is shot, whatever, its unusable.. Tapping on the body was pretty loud too. microphonics?
Apparently Musicians Friends didn't test this before selling it to me.
For sanity check, plugged in my Antelope Audio Solo mic, very nice, very quiet, low noise LDC, same price and is my main mic these days. $129.
Review- Sterling ST69....from 2009.
Negative points for the "soldered in" tube design.
Negative points on Musicians Friends for selling defective used stuff.
Positive points for an interesting journey of Groove Tubes and Aspen Pittman, the end was Fender Inc. bought the brand.
