Dana Larsen wrote:
Ok, now that you have all stopped laughing , I have a pair of these
things.
They are late 70's early 80's and are pencil type mics that sort of look a
bit like Sony ECM series (I'm guessing here) of the same period.
They take a 1.5v AA battery and are unbalanced 1/4 inch connection.

They are made with inexpensive back-electret capsules that may even have
been Sony ones.

Any mods?
Sleeper mics? (Like the Pro77 monitors?, Crown PZM's)
Complete Junk?

I think they are complete junk, but you could probably make the capsules
work with Phil Rastoczny's PZM circuit if you want to try and get a
balanced output with remote powering.

I remember using them as overheads on drums and close miked piano way, way
back when and at the time (Otari 8 track) I thought they sounded decent.

So what's the skinny?
Bigger battery?
Mods to balanced?

One of the problems with the cheap electret capsules is that many of them
lose their charge as they age. A Shure SM-81 purchased in 1975 should be
down less than 1 dB in sensitivity due to electret leakage, but a Sony
mike purchased at the same time will probably be unusable.

Hey, I'm bored and who would have thought a 1979 Marantz (actually
Superscope) receiver would fetch $700.00 on ebay?

It's a weird world.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

OK, my curiosity got me.

What do you plan to record with them?

malachi

"Dana Larsen" wrote in message
...
Ok, now that you have all stopped laughing , I have a pair of these
things.
They are late 70's early 80's and are pencil type mics that sort of look a
bit like Sony ECM series (I'm guessing here) of the same period.
They take a 1.5v AA battery and are unbalanced 1/4 inch connection.

I have one of these mics I think, except mine has an xlr connector. It
actually works really well on high hat.

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:30:37 -0400, Scott Dorsey wrote:

One of the problems with the cheap electret capsules is that many of them
lose their charge as they age. A Shure SM-81 purchased in 1975 should be
down less than 1 dB in sensitivity due to electret leakage, but a Sony
mike purchased at the same time will probably be unusable.

Is that why new SM81s sound harsh?

"blackout420" wrote in news:1118874311.860944.123490
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I have one of these mics I think, except mine has an xlr connector. It
actually works really well on high hat.


I may have the same microphone. Mine is Realistic catalog 33-1080, says so
both on the box and on the microphone. While the microphone itself has a
male XLR connection, the supplied cable converts this to 1/4 inch TR (could
this resolve the reported discprepancy). I used it regularly (and wished I
had two--it was a parent gift, and parents saw no need for stereo to record
me playing piano. When I went back, it was no longer carried) until I got
a pair of AKG C1000S about ten years ago. The C1000S pair was quite a bit
better--and you know how bad folks here say those are!

Agent 86 wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:30:37 -0400, Scott Dorsey wrote:

One of the problems with the cheap electret capsules is that many of them
lose their charge as they age. A Shure SM-81 purchased in 1975 should be
down less than 1 dB in sensitivity due to electret leakage, but a Sony
mike purchased at the same time will probably be unusable.

Is that why new SM81s sound harsh?

No, the old SM81s sound harsh too. That's part of a deliberate design
decision to make the mikes more rugged, partly.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Dana Larsen" wrote in message

Sleeper mics? (Like the Pro77 monitors?, Crown PZM's)
Complete Junk?


Hey... I have a half dozen of the Radio Shack (metamorphed Crown)
PZMs. There are a few sites with mods for those. I still use them on
closed lid piano every now and then. They aren't _complete_ junk. g

DM

I had a pair that I sent off to that great eBay auction in the sky.

I never did find a use for them that I liked. They sure looked pretty,
though.

malachi

"Peter A. Stoll" wrote in message
. 97.138...
The C1000S pair was quite a bit
better--and you know how bad folks here say those are!