The house is paid for Aaron, I'm older than dirt. Why i'm a gear slut. Cuz I like toyz.

I watched a buddy scrap along and save, he got sick and rode it out and still worked. The end of last March he went home and took disability, he died like a dog within a month. He was also 10 years younger than me. He never did the things he dreamed about. My wife will have one hell of a garage sale when they put me in the big tool box.


I was born in Britain and immigrated to canada so i know what a sod is. I always thought it funny. It actually is an affectionate term.

Haha Bryan! Older than dirt is damned old ;)

Yup it's a shame too many people never even think they can do the things they dream about so don't bother.

Ahh so that's what a Hoser it? I used to listen to an old Canadian punk band that had a song called "Kill the Hosers" Never knew what one was but it was a funny song ;)

Oops, anyway I've gone OT. Oktava distributor away on holiday til Monday so I have to wait for a price list til then.

Aaron

About the Behringer B-5, is it a cardioid, or a cardioid that's stretches forward a bit more like a semi-supercardioid? Is there a product website anywhere?

www.behringer.com: http://www.behringer.com/B-5/index.cfm?lang=eng

The B-5 is a short capsule preamp with 2 capsules. one cardoid and one omni. The pickup of an omni is like a circle, 360 degrees. The cardoid (heart shaped pattern) has about a 140-160 degree -pattern, almost a semi circle.

A hyper cardoid is tighter and listens to an area like a big pie wedge, usually to 120 degrees. A hyper has a bit of a tail , in that it picks up sound directly behind it.

There is no inexpensive mic that will zoom and change patterns properly. The little Apex cardoid seems to hold the most promise. i'll pack my recorder and try to find one

Thanks for the explaination; and I already go the link from Jan, but missed it.

http://www.behringer.com/02_products/prodindex.cfm?id=B-5&lang=eng

"One cardoid and one omni," eh? That's no good. That's not what I'm looking for. I'll be looking forward to more info on that Apex, Bryan. Thanks, again.

I had an APEX 190 that was part of a bundle. The mic had good sound for it's very low cost (worked out to about $10 as I figured it). Unfortunately, after it warmed up (like 5 minutes) it seemed to have a thermal problem that sounded like phantom leakage.
It started out very small as problems with phantom power go, I could just barely distinguish it at first. But it seemed to be getting worse and worse and became intolerable. At that point I decided to examine the guts and see how it was built. All surface mount circuitry, so hot-rodding it like the Oktava was not possible, even if I could have found a schematic. I was amazed that the mic could have such good sound with how ultra-cheap the actual capsule and its mount appeared to be. Also don't expect to put your mic back together if you try this at home, removing the innards was pretty destructive.
It's now my official "Matte Black Secret Agent Micro-Shotgun That Can Hear A Whisper At 50 yards Movie Prop". It really is a great looking mic body, but unfortunately that's not high on the list of attributes for mics...
If you try one out, be sure to power it for at least 10 minutes and listen very closely with sensitive headphones for a tiny crunchy rumble.

Found this will looking for Oktava mc012 sellers.

http://testing.holmerup.biz/mic_pretest/index_en.html

Contains guitar, and vocals (Singing, unfortunately not dialogue)

I've downloaded some stuff but listening at work all the mics sound almost the same - i.e. My speakers suck dogs bollocks.

The singing is a little off but might be at least something for you.


Aaron

Thanks for the link, Aaron.

Can I assume that the high end clipping is just from not having their levels set correctly, and not from something inherently bad with the mics?

Also, anyone know what the Octave MC 012 Lomo M3 is? Sounds like a special edition BMW :).

The LOMO 3 head is a 33mm lollipop cardoid capsule, that will scew onto an oktava preamp. $380 at the sound room.

http://www.oktava.com/

"Incredible-sounding additions to your MC012! Both heads use the 33mm diaphragm, LOMO-designed capsule now being re-manufactured for RTT. Yes, these are the Russian-made replacement diaphragms made for the famous Neumann U87 cardioid. and they have that famous 'warm yet bright' ambient field with a classic cardioid (Uni) head design. You don't have to buy a complete "high-end" large diaphragm unit, because this operates off your MC012 preamp! With these, there is NOTHING you can't do with a complete MC012 assembly - and do it well. "

My set of matched hypercardoid THE's are on the way. Whoooo Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! they weren't sure if they wouldget a match withwhat they had left. The next shipment from the factory would be a month out.

When I get them i will record a test and compare them to the oktava hypercardoid and the ME66 (simply as a comparison because so many people have that mic)

Thanks, Beaser.

I'll be awaiting your report on the THE's.

Joe, I'm not sure about that. I haven't listened to them all and like I said only at work on my crap speakers so I didn't notice any clipping.

Bryan, some tests of your fancy new mics would be great! How come you got a matched pair? For stereo work or something?

Aaron

The THE mics use a modular approach with a preamp and separate capsule that screws on. THE will match any number of capsules free , so why not. The preamps can support 7 different capsules from 1/2" to 33mm (1.29") diaphrams.

I'll test them when I get them. They have to get from Conneticut (east coast USA) to Vancouver Island (as far as you can go west in Canada) and then back to Ontario which is north of NY State. They'll be well travelled.