Sony F-99B Stereo Mic

[Shy Picker[_3_]]

Howdy folks. Since this is my first post to this group maybe I should
give a short introduction.

My name is David Hibbard and I live in Michigan. I played in bands
through the mid 1970's through most of the 80's. Starting out playing
drums, then bass and eventually lead guitar. I quit playing for about
15 years and recently started playing again but just at home and
mostly acoustic guitar. I also have a Mandolin and just acquired a
banjo. And I still have my electric guitars and amp I used back when I
played in those bands.

I also started putting together a small recording studio in a spare
bedroom. So far I have a couple of Excel EXM90 Mics that I run through
an Alesis Mujltimix 8 USB Mixer. I run that into a Compaq computer
that has a dual core processor, 4 GB ram and 500 GB HD. I am still
using/learning Cubase LE that came with the mixer.

I was helping my sister-in-law go through her dad's estate and found
this mic. Looks like it has never been out of the case. Wondering if
this would be a good mic to add to my home recording studio. Have any
of you folks had any experience with this model of mic?

David

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

>I was helping my sister-in-law go through her dad's estate and found
>this mic. Looks like it has never been out of the case. Wondering if
>this would be a good mic to add to my home recording studio. Have any
>of you folks had any experience with this model of mic?

Normally I'd say "plug it in and try it". In this case you'd have to
go to the trouble of changing the mini jack plugs for XLRs and
(probably) sorting out a couple of h->low impedence transformers. My
gut tells me it wouldn't be worth it.

[Scott Dorsey]

Shy Picker > wrote:
>
>I was helping my sister-in-law go through her dad's estate and found
>this mic. Looks like it has never been out of the case. Wondering if
>this would be a good mic to add to my home recording studio. Have any
>of you folks had any experience with this model of mic?

The short part: this is a junk mike. It's got two dynamic cardioid
elements in a single package, with a high-Z unbalanced output. You
will probably want to run it into a direct box or into some other high-Z
instrument input. You _might_ be able to run it unbalanced into a
low-Z input, but depending on the preamp it may load the mike down too
much and kill some of the top end.

But the thing is... sometimes you want a junk mike. Sometimes it's
just the sort of low-fi sound you need. So never turn down a free
microphone, ever. No matter how junky it is, it will still someday
be useful. Give it a listen, get a sense of how it sounds, and try
and remember that sound for the day when it's just what you need.
--scott

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

[Shy Picker[_3_]]

On Aug 29, 12:57*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> Shy Picker > wrote:
>
>
>
> >I was helping my sister-in-law go through her dad's estate and found
> >this mic. Looks like it has never been out of the case. Wondering if
> >this would be a good mic to add to my home recording studio. Have any
> >of you folks had any experience with this model of mic?
>
> The short part: this is a junk mike. *It's got two dynamic cardioid
> elements in a single package, with a high-Z unbalanced output. *You
> will probably want to run it into a direct box or into some other high-Z
> instrument input. *You _might_ be able to run it unbalanced into a
> low-Z input, but depending on the preamp it may load the mike down too
> much and kill some of the top end.
>
> But the thing is... sometimes you want a junk mike. *Sometimes it's
> just the sort of low-fi sound you need. *So never turn down a free
> microphone, ever. *No matter how junky it is, it will still someday
> be useful. *Give it a listen, get a sense of how it sounds, and try
> and remember that sound for the day when it's just what you need.
> --scott
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. *C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Thanks to Bob, Laurence and Scott for your comments on this mic. I
still might get it if it goes cheap enough in the estate sale.

I am also curious about what you think about the Excel EXM90 Mics I am
already using. I got them at a flea market in London, Ky for about $30
each. They had, and still have, a bunch of them.

I went for the unidirectional mics because I hoped they would not pick
up other household noises as much. But they seem to pick up every
little noise in and outside the house so I am having to work harder to
sound proof the room better.

David

[Scott Dorsey]

Shy Picker > wrote:
>
>Thanks to Bob, Laurence and Scott for your comments on this mic. I
>still might get it if it goes cheap enough in the estate sale.

I wouldn't pay money for it, but if it's left over, grab it. You can
get US Army M-47 microphones right now from Fair Radio Sales for $8.95
and they have a balanced output and sound as bad as you'll need.

>I am also curious about what you think about the Excel EXM90 Mics I am
>already using. I got them at a flea market in London, Ky for about $30
>each. They had, and still have, a bunch of them.

I think those are from the same folks who are making the Shure copies.
They are about five dollars FOB Ningbo. They aren't so clean either.

>I went for the unidirectional mics because I hoped they would not pick
>up other household noises as much. But they seem to pick up every
>little noise in and outside the house so I am having to work harder to
>sound proof the room better.

All of the datasheet specifications on MI store gear should be taken with
a huge grain of salt. These mikes aren't really very directional except
at high frequencies.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Tony Clay]

This is NOT such a junk mike as you may think ... I got one off Ebay because I was looking for a cheap stereo mike to record live practise sessions easily ...quality wasn't a real issue.
Yesterday I was doing some test of mikes suitable for recording acoustic guitar .. I have a Tacoma DR14 that sounds very 'bell' like and it is hard to get a flat sound with any mike in my box .... so probably because I'd run out of options I plugged in the Sony 99B and it worked a treat with the Tacoma better than the condensor mikes even.
I shall do some more experiments with it on other instruments ....it's always worth trying to record something with several mikes.
Recently I sold all my Shure SM58 mikes because I did a comparison recording against a Beyer TG-X58 and 48 ...the Shures were out classed and so out they went. I now have half a dozen Beyer mikes and I don't miss the SM58's.