Wanna do a DIY Mic, maybe two

Hi Jeome, I cant imagine you'd pull it off for $600, just off the top of my head my c12 and mk47 were around a G$
$160 donor
$100 good tube
$100 tranny
$ 80  parts c12
$ 2-400 for a good capsule

and I know I'm forgetting some stuff? Both are killer mics though, and really with the price.
Brian fox knows what he's doing also, I'm sure ud be happy with his mic.

About a year ago, I did a C12 with the Studio 939 body/power supply/pcb/ami tranny/parts kit, then I got a 12ax7 NOS mullard tube for about $50 from proaudiotubes, and an Rk-12 capsule from microphone-parts for $110. The total was about $650.

It sounds fantastic as it is, but out of curiosity I'm planning on getting a Tim Campbell capsule(whenever he becomes available again) and putting the Rk-12 in an extra mic that I don't use much.

So you're saying svart to for-go the PCB set and do the mod listed on the Fox site? Then just get a capsule from Shannon and be in business? Seems like it would be much easier as there isn't much at all to that mod and I think I've got all the caps to do it with. 

Is $200 a good deal for a 460 brand new shipped? 

Hey guys back from the JUNKYARD. Got my Honda CBR900RR on the road. Truck scrapped used $200 got new rear tire for my bike ( just threads on mine ) took every penny well $198.00 but 2.

Took my bike out to blow the carbon out of it, with nipples still on the tire, when i noticed a Harley trying to catch up, with ugly blue lights OOOHHHHHH SHIT speedo cant be right 65 in 35 HOLY shit used those nice big Rotors and dropped it to a stand still in a few feet. So i pulled over with a smile and shrinkage thinking OMG ill show him my head and my other ticket and the nipples on tire.... I got this

lolololo hahahah forgot to put it on the insurance also >>>> well what little pride left i told him a few things about the history of his Harley.. blah HE looked at me and and spoke of my hereitage.with Harley

drum roll , throw the dice started with all then showed nim me head , then tickets then nipples, not mine the tire.........

Well i started bargain plea well hell i got a ticket for plates out of date wow!!!!!

So the moral is im behind, but i spoke to some people including Chung, Dan, Eric, Telefunken, and very close to getting solid and affordable good quality capsule that i can use as a canvas

Percocet's a hell of a drug…… haha  

Shannon hilarious man, i'm glad your doing well bro.

for what it's worth, i shot out my C12 with Tim's capsule against Jim Williams personal apex 460 mod with the RK12 in it, my mic was a hands down blind test winner, 2 of us partaking, me and my buddy John, i also left my mic with JW, and he said my mic had more air on the top. I personally thought it has more of a record ready sound to it as well, but i'm not really sure how to articulate those qualities in order to quantify that claim?
 That said, i bet if JW's 460 had a Tim C's, Shannon's or Eric's capsule in it, it may have been different? who knows? What i do know, is the Matachung mic with a great tube and capsule is a C12 circuit clone and a beast of a mic imo.

So the basis of the minimod is to (cut and paste from the site with my notes in orange):

1. Remove C9 and C10 to remove the 25Khz peak resonance in the high end.

2. Change the caps in the signal path: 1uF Polystyrene input (C1) and 1uF polypropylene output (C8)

3. Change the tube to a 6072 or a very good 12AT7

4. Add a tiny EQ cap like that found in the ELA m251 design, between the Anode (plate, pin 1) pin of the 1st stage tube and ground. ( I like 200pF myself but it depends on your capsule, sometimes 330pF is a better sound, to counter some of the peakiness of the capsule)


Optional:


5. Change the cathode bypass cap (C6) from 100uF to 22uF to reduce low frequency rumble and distortion.

6. Change the cathode bias resistor (R7) to 1.8K to increase plate current in both tubes and improve biasing on the 2nd stage.

7. Remove the two inner layers of mesh from the headbasket

8. Optional : Add a *220K damping resistor to the output circuit across the transformer primary coil. (after the capacitor) This resistor makes a cleaner low end by damping the remaining transformer/capacitor resonance. (across the places where C9/C10 used to be would be easiest place to put this)

* We had published this as 47K which is correct for the BV11P transformer. For the APEX transformer it should be 220K.



And here is the schematic of the original Apex 460:
www.deeringamps.com/workbench/images/apex460_mic_lg.jpg

OR... here is closer to how you would rewire it to become a true C12..
www.mark-o-matic.com/media/apex460-c12-mod.jpg

Well here's where I'm at, I decided to go ahead and do the Matachung because I've heard that design and I trust some people that I've been talking to about how great it does. That being said I've heard the Mod mentioned above and it sounds good as well, so, I ordered the parts to do the mini mod, and my plan is to next month buy another apex and have one that is hot rodded and one that is just the simple mod that I can use as well 8P

So, I'm going with a NOS GE-6072a supposed to be graded as well for mics. And I'm kind of in flux ATM on what my capsule options are, but I'll surely be updating to let folks know where I go with it. Then when I get done we can have sound samples and promotions for people that contributed and all the fun stuff. I'm stoked though, I have no doubt this mic will be ass kicking.

Just got the Apex in, going to start doing clips of it stock, then with just the tube, then with the mini mod, and after Shannon and I change the world I'll do the final clip. The final clip will include the entire mic rebuild with the Matachung internals kit from Studio939 and a capsule from Shannon. 

I'll probably make a new thread for the clips, so this should be a lot of fun and I'm really excited about this.