Bob Urz wrote:


soundhaspriority wrote:

Have cheap mikes advanced much since I got my AT-31's ?

I'd like to have some phantom electret cardiodes that are a little
better than these.

How about the AT M4K, has a blue handle, around $95 U.S. ?

Purpose: general instrumental. No need for drums; I already have a
good drum mic.

Whats "general instrumental": acoustic or miking amps?

A Shure PG57 is hard to beat for the money for amplified music
on the cheap.

I've been noticing a lot of broken 57's on ebay and other venues. Most
I've seen--and the one I bought--have been in mint condition
appearance-wise.

In my case, one wire on the inside had become detached from the voice
coil, at the terminal strip. Access to these things is easy, as many
already know. It was 'just' possible to resolder the wire back to the
TS, but there was enough tension on it that it broke again while
reassembling the mic. After about five trys, I got it right. I
succeeded by peeling the tape which carries the wire down side of the
cartridge, splicing a strand of wire to the old (using forceps and
magnifying lamp, fine-tip, temp controlled iron), retaping and soldering
to the TS. Each time I botched it, the wire got shorter and I had to
peel back more tape....

(I've a method for re-installing the plastic pop filter as well.)

Anyway, the question is: have new 57's--specifically--been suffering a
quality issue of late...or are they just inherantly fragile? At any
given time, I'll see newer broken ones for sale. From examination, it
didn't appear to be any worse than the older ones...it's been a long
time (20+ years) since I last serviced one. Now that it's fixe, mine
sounds great. Shure will completely refurb one--no matter what the
problem is--for around $50, IIRC...making it usually uneconomical,
although still not 'cheap', to DIY.

However, if the problem I encountered is the most common, I could come
out ahead by buying a few broken ones and fixing. I've seen 'em for as
cheap as $15 locally (missed that one). I paid way too much for the one
I got, but it's working now for much less than $50...and now I know how
to fix.

jak

Bob


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