What are the pros and cons of a Tube Mic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phoenix5891
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The cons are not that significant. There is a power supply, and you need to change the tube every once in a while, other than that it is just like any other mic. It will sound great on some things and terrible on others.
 
Ok....Thanks for the reply

How much will changing the tube cost and how often would I have to do so?What will it sound terrible on?
 
If that mic is using a 12ax7 it will cost about $10. I had to change mine after about 2 years of heavy use. I did forget to mention that you need to let them warm up for about 20 minutes. It will work fine when you firts turn it on but the sound will keep changing until it warms up and stablizes. It's nothing all that noticable until you try to punch something in later.
The mic will sound bad on what ever it sounds bad on, I was just trying to say that it was like any mic.
 
I just bought a K2 two weeks ago and have been very happy with it so far. Good bang for the buck
 
I had a tube replaced in my Neumann M149 that has cost me more than $400.

The tube is a JAN6111 and is the best out of 100, the list price of a 6111 is $6.75 though. :D

Expensive mics innit?

Tubes hate to warm up and cool down, so if you want your tube to have a long life, don't switch the mic on and off more than neccesary.
 
Yeah, it depends on which 12AX7 you buy... they can cost anywhere from about $5 to over $400 like Han said.
 
There really is no reason to put a $400 tube in a $300 mic.
 
DJL said:
Yeah, it depends on which 12AX7 you buy... they can cost anywhere from about $5 to over $400 like Han said.
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Yeah you ain't kiding....a true Telefunken replacement is bucks!

As for the "warm" up time: I do the old lava lamp timer...power up the mic and lava lamp; when the lava is flowing nicely, the mic is ready. :cool:

BTW - IMO the blue with the white goo works the best. :rolleyes:
 
Hi there

I was planning on Buying 2 Rode NTKs for drum over heads and also for vocals and maybe even linking them up with an SM57 for guitars if they sound cool.

The reason I am going for a tube Mic is..

I will be going right into a digital muiltitrack, so i asumed the tube would make it sound a little warmer ...i guess the alternative is to send everything through a nice tube amp before entering the Multitrack??? which i guess is another pile of cash

What is the NTK like compared with the K2 ?...are there any other cool mics i should consider?....most people have said go for Rode...unless you got 2000-3000 and then get a Nueman..
 
Farview said:
There really is no reason to put a $400 tube in a $300 mic.
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Maybe not... however, sometimes relacing a cheap bottle with a good one can make a big difference... for example I replaced the tube in my VTB-1 and the difference was night and day IMHO.
 
right this is really getting to me now....what does "IMHO" mean!!!!! ?? :)
 
Flight 16:

I have a Rode NTK, which I like a lot. I use it on everything, but I would say I like it most on acoustic guitar, some vocals, egg shaker, and tambourine.

As far as acoustic guitar goes, I get the best results out of it when recording a high quality, neutral sounding guitar.

Vocals, it sounds great on some and really bad on others. It just depends. If a singer's voice as a certain frequency that causes problems, the NTK is probably not the mic for that person, especially if that frequency lies anywher in the mids.

I really love it on shaker, tambourine and anything of the like. For some reason it just picks those sources up so that I hardly have to do anything to get them to sit right in the mix.

This is a mic that you really need to audition if you're thinking about getting it, especially if it will be used mainly on one specific person's voice.
 
DJL said:
Maybe not... however, sometimes relacing a cheap bottle with a good one can make a big difference... for example I replaced the tube in my VTB-1 and the difference was night and day IMHO.
Click to expand...
Yes. But I think in the case of the Rode, the tube is not the big quality issue. A Nuemann M150 with a run of the mill tube will still out do a Rode with an NOS military spec tube made from the finest old world artisens. At any price.
 
Farview said:
There really is no reason to put a $400 tube in a $300 mic.
Click to expand...

How right you are, but the M149 is a $4k mic and Neumann tests all tubes, out of 100 tubes the use only the best. The 6111 is a very small militairy tube that can be bought for $6.75. But when Neumann replaces the tube it'll cost $400+

Maybe you'll be in the position to buy a vintage U47 some day and some other day you have to replace the VF14 tube that's in there. I'm afraid you'll need much more than $400 then. ($1400 perhaps)
 
Yeah ..I know what you mean..

I have used a AKG 1000S and my vocals sounded fine with it..no EQ needed

I recorded with a producer that tried all sorts of mics with me and in the end opted for a Valve I think it was....

I have heard the more powerful your vice is the better the NTK would suit it...and my voice is quite loud so that's why I assumed it would work nice

I did think if I was to buy 2 of them I should hear it :)..but there name is so good!

the 2 main things I would want to use them on would be Drum over heads and Vocals....I could use them on an Acoustic guitar...but its not vital as again the 1000S sounds great for that too...


Do you think a Valve Mic would add a more analog feel to the Drums and so on..??
 
Let me be clear, I'm not saying that the tube makes no difference. I own and have owned several tube mics. Putting different tubes in them did make a difference, but no matter what tubes I put in what mic, you would never mistake one mic for another. There are many other factors that determine what the mic sounds like. (capsule size, preamp loading, the quality of the circuitin the mic, etc)
 
Han said:
How right you are, but the M149 is a $4k mic and Neumann tests all tubes, out of 100 tubes the use only the best.
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I believe this is also ture with their diaphragms and etc also... and "I think" that is one of the reasons why the cheap budget mics are so cheap... because they don't do this.
 
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