My first advice is to screw what other people say, and just find a
preamp and listen to them yourself to decide. If you don't own a preamp or
mixer, than what is the point in buying mics in the first place???
If that answer is not acceptable, and you are just doing research as you
say, than this is the theoretical answer.
It depends on the what these specific MC012a units sound like. There
has been hundreds of posts on this and other sites about how many of the
Oktavas bought at Musician'sFriend and Guitar Center are crappy sounding,
whereas the ones from The Sound Room sound much better due to quality
controls. One thing about AT is that in general, all mics of the same model
number tend to sound the same.This is not always the case (Due to poor
quality control) with most Chinese and Russian mics, as is the case with
some Oktavas.
I personally would take a good sounding MC012a over a AT3031 any day of
the week. Another very good aspect is that the Octavas can be made to sound
amazingly good by later buying the LOMO large diapragm capsule which screws
right in and sounds like a much more expensive mic, this is something you
cannot do with the AT mic.
Trust you ears first, and compare the 2 side by side and that is the
answer you should go with.
RON CHARLES



"IS" wrote in message
.com...
I just got two sets of Octava MK012 . Not the ones with the three
capsules.
I haven't heard them yet but would like to ask if I should keep them.
They seem a bit cheap when I hold them and look at how they are
constructed.

I was thinking about the AT 3031 instead.

I don't have a mic preamp to test and record with the Octava's so I'm
relying on research work alone.

Does anyone have an advice?

Has anyone recorded an acoustic guitar (or better yet a classical) with
the
Octava MK012 or the AT 3031?

Thanks.

IS.

The mic is one of the green and gold MXL V67's. A good friend modded it and
when I heard it, I bought it from him. It is indeed very nice. I think I can
dig up some samples of vocals for you but my studio is in disarray right now
due to adding new gear and recabling so it will be a few days. I don't know
why he chose the V67, but I know that instead of buying the Mojave Audio kit
with the prefab circuit board, he just bought the parts through 3rd party
suppliers and point to point wired it through perf board.

Regards,

DJ

Nick B wrote in message
newsan.2003.07.09.01.16.49.241284.2417@NOSPAMxwi ng.org...
On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 23:04:52 -0400, DJ wrote:

Your private e-mail bounced. I've got a bluegrass project here that I'm
mixing. I'm using Oktava M012's with the hypercardioid capsules on the
mandolin and banjo, KM184's on guitar and dobro. and a Marshall V67 that
was retrofitted with David Royer's tube mod on the upright bass. I don't
have a website but before you ge rid of them, if you would like to hear
an MP3, I'll e-you. It's 2.8 MB. The M012's are running through an old
Demeter VTMP2-b and it's a nice combination on these instruments. Looks
aren't everything. My 012's look like they've been in a war, but they're
plugging along fine.

You sparked my interest with your comment about using "a Marshall V67
that was retrofitted with David Royer's tube mod". Is that the tube
mod in his Tape Op article that he did with the MXL 2001 mic? If so,
any reason why you chose to mod the V67 instead of the 2001? Did you
change any part values in the design to accomodate the V67 or does it
use the same capsule as the 2001?

If you have the inclination, would you email me some samples of vocals
you've recorded using your modified mic?

Thanks in advance,

Nick

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
http://www.songbirdofswing.com
Nick Busigin
Visit Our Indie Jazz CD Construction Project!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

in article , Ron Charles at
wrote on 7/8/03 7:31 PM:

It depends on the what these specific MC012a units sound like. There
has been hundreds of posts on this and other sites about how many of the
Oktavas bought at Musician'sFriend and Guitar Center are crappy sounding,
whereas the ones from The Sound Room sound much better due to quality
controls. One thing about AT is that in general, all mics of the same model
number tend to sound the same.This is not always the case (Due to poor
quality control) with most Chinese and Russian mics, as is the case with
some Oktavas.

I have to say, I'm beginning to get sick and tired of posters who
reiterate the line that Octava mics have poor quality control, particularly
when the poster says there are 100s of posts regarding this "fact." Careful
research will reveal that there are a few (very few) posts, all of some
vintage (meaning years old) wherein the poster actually attests to this from
personal experience. All the rest of the "hundreds of posts" (including the
one above, merely state the QC issue as fact without any personal
experience. Indeed, most of the first-hand posts regarding this issue
(those containing personal actual experience) state that the GC Octavas are
just fine.
--
Stephen T. Boyke

I got a pair of 012s from GC, and you know what? They sound fabulous.

I had a pair of AT 3031 and sold them. A little tizzy on the highs and didn't
sound good with the cymbals going to digital. Bought a pair of MCO12s form the
Sound Room and use them for overheads and acoustic guitar with rich satisfying
results. Only a KM84 or Josephson C42 would be a little better but double the
price.

Mr. Boyke,

I fully disagree with you on all your points.

First off, as I own about 2 dozen Oktavas, I can personally say that the
units I and many others have purchased from Musician'sFriend and Guitar
Center do indeed have a much higher rate of return than those I and many
others have bought from The Sound Room. This is due strictly to either QC
issues or returned mics being resold by Musician'sFriend and Guitar Center.

Additionally I have read well over 150 postings on this subject over the
past 12 months on this forum and several others, and I would hardly call 12
months a vintage time period.
Ron Charles
"Stephen Boyke" wrote in message
...
in article , Ron Charles at
wrote on 7/8/03 7:31 PM:

It depends on the what these specific MC012a units sound like. There
has been hundreds of posts on this and other sites about how many of the
Oktavas bought at Musician'sFriend and Guitar Center are crappy
sounding,
whereas the ones from The Sound Room sound much better due to quality
controls. One thing about AT is that in general, all mics of the same
model
number tend to sound the same.This is not always the case (Due to poor
quality control) with most Chinese and Russian mics, as is the case with
some Oktavas.

I have to say, I'm beginning to get sick and tired of posters who
reiterate the line that Octava mics have poor quality control,
particularly
when the poster says there are 100s of posts regarding this "fact."
Careful
research will reveal that there are a few (very few) posts, all of some
vintage (meaning years old) wherein the poster actually attests to this
from
personal experience. All the rest of the "hundreds of posts" (including
the
one above, merely state the QC issue as fact without any personal
experience. Indeed, most of the first-hand posts regarding this issue
(those containing personal actual experience) state that the GC Octavas
are
just fine.
--
Stephen T. Boyke

In Article ,
(ESL555) wrote:
I had a pair of AT 3031 and sold them. A little tizzy on the highs and didn't
sound good with the cymbals going to digital. Bought a pair of MCO12s form the
Sound Room and use them for overheads and acoustic guitar with rich satisfying
results. Only a KM84 or Josephson C42 would be a little better but double the
price.

If you spent some time with a Schoeps MK4 or MK41 capsule, you'd have to add
them to the "better" list as well. If you spent more time with them, you'd
lose the "little" from little better.

Regards,

Ty Ford

For Ty Ford V/O demos, audio services and equipment reviews,
click on http://www.jagunet.com/~tford

"BLCKOUT420" wrote ...
I got a pair of 012s from GC, and you know what?
They sound fabulous.

And I once put a nickel in a slot at the Las Vegas airport
and hit the "jackpot". We were both just lucky.

Stephen Boyke wrote:

I have to say, I'm beginning to get sick and tired of posters who
reiterate the line that Octava mics have poor quality control, particularly
when the poster says there are 100s of posts regarding this "fact." Careful
research will reveal that there are a few (very few) posts, all of some
vintage (meaning years old) wherein the poster actually attests to this from
personal experience. All the rest of the "hundreds of posts" (including the
one above, merely state the QC issue as fact without any personal
experience. Indeed, most of the first-hand posts regarding this issue
(those containing personal actual experience) state that the GC Octavas are
just fine.

Well, I may be biased in that I mostly see broken microphones, but boy some
of the GC Oktavas I have seen (and the Harris/Allied ones too) were really
nasty inside.

If only ONE microphone passed quality control with flux gunked up all over
or the wrong value leak resistors, that would be unacceptable. I've seen
dozens.
--scott

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

In article writes:

I have to say, I'm beginning to get sick and tired of posters who
reiterate the line that Octava mics have poor quality control, particularly
when the poster says there are 100s of posts regarding this "fact." Careful
research will reveal that there are a few (very few) posts, all of some
vintage (meaning years old) wherein the poster actually attests to this from
personal experience.

Most of the posts come from one person who has taken apart enough of
those mics to gain an understanding of the problems. Perhaps "quality
control" isn't the best description. It's inconsistent manufacturing -
poor soldering, incompletely cleaned circuit boards in places where
leakage (because of surface contamination) affects the sound,
arbitrary values of resistor used to bias the capsule - that sort of
thing. At least when you get an Oktava mic from The Sound Room, you
get one that's been inspected by real audio-conscious human hands and
eyes before it's shipped. Others are apparently only inspected to the
extent that some sound comes out and the mic is in the box when it
leaves the factory.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

The Oktava mk012 is very good microphone. The Audio Technica 4051 is
probally an even better mic.

Marko.


"IS" wrote in message
.com...
I just got two sets of Octava MK012 . Not the ones with the three
capsules.
I haven't heard them yet but would like to ask if I should keep them.
They seem a bit cheap when I hold them and look at how they are
constructed.

I was thinking about the AT 3031 instead.

I don't have a mic preamp to test and record with the Octava's so I'm
relying on research work alone.

Does anyone have an advice?

Has anyone recorded an acoustic guitar (or better yet a classical) with
the
Octava MK012 or the AT 3031?

Thanks.

IS.

Stephen Boyke wrote in message ...

I have to say, I'm beginning to get sick and tired of posters who
reiterate the line that Octava mics have poor quality control, particularly
when the poster says there are 100s of posts regarding this "fact." Careful
research will reveal that there are a few (very few) posts, all of some
vintage (meaning years old) wherein the poster actually attests to this from
personal experience. All the rest of the "hundreds of posts" (including the
one above, merely state the QC issue as fact without any personal
experience. Indeed, most of the first-hand posts regarding this issue
(those containing personal actual experience) state that the GC Octavas are
just fine.


The first condenser mics that I ever bought were a pair of MC012's
from Guitar Center. I still use them all the time, but they can hardly
be called even a closely related pair. One has an output at least 3 to
5% lower than the second and also has a high frequency response that
is darker ( cloudier might be more accurate ) than the second
microphone. They both are useful mics, well worth the GC blowout
price, but if I really needed a matched pair that passed true QC, I
wouldn't have it.

"Tom Deflumere" wrote ...
The first condenser mics that I ever bought were a pair of MC012's
from Guitar Center. I still use them all the time, but they can hardly
be called even a closely related pair. One has an output at least 3 to
5% lower than the second and also has a high frequency response that
is darker ( cloudier might be more accurate ) than the second
microphone. They both are useful mics, well worth the GC blowout
price, but if I really needed a matched pair that passed true QC, I
wouldn't have it.

Another data point demonstrating the decreased QC
on Octava products from GC.

OTOH, stereo matched pairs from Soundroom.