bob
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Posts: 32 
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Post by bob on Jan 25, 2022 13:34:49 GMT -6
I've built a bunch of 19" gear and amps and pedals and stuff, but I've always spent the painful money on mics.
For years now I've found my outboard to often be interchangeable with the originals, or easily close enough for me not to care, but I've always for some reason been sceptical of the mic side of DIY.
What's the deal? Could I expect to build myself a pair of u87 clones that would do away with the need to add a pair of older 87i to my mic locker? They're pushing up towards going for the money I paid for a 67 sometime in the 00's...
I also need another 4 or 6 schoeps/dpa sdc's... do properly built, well spec'd DIY mics hold up in a busy high-end professional environment? I've never had luck with cheap condensers..
What do you reckon? Thanks,
Bob
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Post by craigmorris74 on Jan 25, 2022 20:43:23 GMT -6
I've built several pieces of 19" rack gear and four mics (including a couple of 87i copies, and a KM84 style mic). I find that mics can be tricky little devils to build, but if you have a steady hand and thoroughly double check you soldering work, it can be done.
Making 87 style mics will be easier, since several small manufacturers are making great capsules and transformers for the mics. Decent bodies are pretty easy to find too.
Small diaphragm condensers are a bit tricky because there aren't many (any?) great capsules for DIY. You might be able to buy a capsule from a mic manufacturer, or source a NOS version, but they wouldn't fit with any currently available mic bodies.
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Post by anders on Jan 26, 2022 0:47:55 GMT -6
I've built a pair of U67s, a U87, and a U47fet, all based around PCBs from vintagemicrophonepcbkit.com/ It is more complicated than your typical 500 kit, and scary around the capsule, and with poly caps that will die if you give them two seconds too much with your soldering iron. But the end result is very pleasing. |
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Post by Blackdawg on Jan 26, 2022 1:38:34 GMT -6
I've built a pair of U67s, a U87, and a U47fet, all based around PCBs from vintagemicrophonepcbkit.com/ It is more complicated than your typical 500 kit, and scary around the capsule, and with poly caps that will die if you give them two seconds too much with your soldering iron. But the end result is very pleasing. Thats a great site. Only other one I know of is microphone-part and micandmod |
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Post by svart on Jan 26, 2022 8:24:51 GMT -6
Mics have been historically harder to do since you typically have to source parts from different places. A lot of kits use questionable capsules for the sake of price. Other kits are better, but are much more complicated or assume that you have a lot of experience.
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Post by anders on Jan 26, 2022 10:54:28 GMT -6
True about capsules.
For my U67 pair (where I really went all in), I bought a pair of capsules from Beesneez. For the u87 and the u47fet I had some 2nd hand damaged Neumann capsules reskinned to the correct spec by Drefahl Audio. (Or the u47fet correct-ish, as it was a TLM102 capsule he did his best with – sounds great, though!)
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,956
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Post by ericn on Jan 27, 2022 18:07:43 GMT -6
At the end of the day it’s all about the capsule, great LDC capsules are out there, but SDC are rare.
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Post by srb on Feb 1, 2022 14:37:48 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with the Dachman 87i kit?
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Post by svart on Feb 1, 2022 15:24:16 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with the Dachman 87i kit? I don't, but I took a look at their website. Seems straight forward. The U87i wasn't a terribly complex mic. They don't specify what the origin of the capsule they use is, but I'd simply assume it's a chinese K87 clone, perhaps selected, perhaps not. The capsule would be the most suspect item on the BOM anyway, so if you didn't quite like the mic, changing the capsule to something more esoteric would be easy. |
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Post by srb on Feb 1, 2022 17:38:44 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with the Dachman 87i kit? I don't, but I took a look at their website. Seems straight forward. The U87i wasn't a terribly complex mic. They don't specify what the origin of the capsule they use is, but I'd simply assume it's a chinese K87 clone, perhaps selected, perhaps not. The capsule would be the most suspect item on the BOM anyway, so if you didn't quite like the mic, changing the capsule to something more esoteric would be easy. Thanks, svart! |
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bob
Full Member
Posts: 32
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Post by bob on Feb 4, 2022 11:30:18 GMT -6
So based on what seems to be available, could I assume that a u87, u67, u47 fet, c12 and perhaps early 414's are all achievable to clone with top results? Tubes, transformers and capsules seem to be available for all of these (?)
Are there any super brass AKG CK12 capsules available or are only Neumann the real champion clones?
As I said earlier, I've always stuck to the bigger names when it comes to mics and as a result I have a limited sized locker that I need to beef up in the near future. I've had very little luck with cheap condensers to be honest. I'd rather a locker full of dynamics any day..
A 47fet to live on kick, one for bass amp, a pair of 87's and a pair of c12's would be incredibly useful on most sessions and could probably be achieved for less money than one (old) 87 or 47fet... something just tells me I'd be disappointed... I'm a bit spoiled with the mics I work with every day..
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Post by gevermil on Feb 4, 2022 19:25:39 GMT -6
my question is who is making a capsule on par with neumann ? I have tried a bunch of k47 style capsules from different manufactures and they just dont sound the same . A few are decent but not quite cutting it for me
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bob
Full Member
Posts: 32
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Post by bob on Feb 5, 2022 4:17:18 GMT -6
Ok I spent a while yesterday listening to the micandmod samples on their page and I am quite a bit more interested in this than I was when starting this thread.
I need to have a few more listens but stuff sounded notably less "cheap condenser" than i was expecting!
Interest has been piqued..
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Post by craigmorris74 on Feb 5, 2022 9:07:51 GMT -6
All the micandmod capsules are cheap Chinese models. if you wanted to source all those parts yourself, which isn't difficult, you'll pay half as much. My advice is to source the parts yourself. All of the sites selling full kits use cheap capsules, and that's the most important part of the mic.
If you need help sourcing parts and pcbs, I can post links.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Feb 5, 2022 9:25:20 GMT -6
Specifically, you can't buy a cheap CK12. All the cheapies use k67 style backplates, and lack the complex chambered structure of a CK12.
Properly constructed cK12s are made by Tim Campbell, Dany Bouchard, Beesneez and Open Plan Recording.
More affordable but high quality capsules in the other styles are produced by 3u audio. I believe Dachman audio used these.
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bob
Full Member
Posts: 32
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Post by bob on Feb 6, 2022 11:06:10 GMT -6
Specifically, you can't buy a cheap CK12. All the cheapies use k67 style backplates, and lack the complex chambered structure of a CK12. Properly constructed cK12s are made by Tim Campbell, Dany Bouchard, Beesneez and Open Plan Recording. More affordable but high quality capsules in the other styles are produced by 3u audio. I believe Dachman audio used these. super useful post! thanks Craig |
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Post by recordingengineer on Feb 6, 2022 12:43:06 GMT -6
I’ve never seen or heard of Dany making a CK12-type. His is the D7, an M7-type with Mylar.
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Post by recordingengineer on Feb 6, 2022 13:17:30 GMT -6
my question is who is making a capsule on par with neumann ? I have tried a bunch of k47 style capsules from different manufactures and they just dont sound the same . A few are decent but not quite cutting it for me -Beesneez makes a K47-type, M7-type, and their own hybrid of the two. I love the sound. They can take a long time to get, but they always eventually arrive. I have a pair of their hybrid K7 capsule and love them. -Heiserman makes their own hybrid of the K47 and K67 -types. I’ve never used, but I’ll probably eventually pick one up for a 47FET -type mic. -Lawson makes a K47-type. I’ve never used, but wouldn’t hesitant at all. Well, that’s not true… I’ve used the early Lawson L47 mic a few times. Great! -Luke Audio makes a modded K47-type. I have a couple of these, but haven’t used them yet. -Maiku makes a K47-type. To me, they’re the most consistent, but not my favorite sound. |
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Post by craigmorris74 on Feb 6, 2022 15:24:09 GMT -6
I’ve never seen or heard of Dany making a CK12-type. His is the D7, an M7-type with Mylar. Yep, got confused, I was thinking of Heiserman. |
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Post by cyrano on Feb 16, 2022 17:32:07 GMT -6
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