Michael Joly mics and mods ?

not taking anything away from Joly, he's capable, and i think Jim at jj audio is great also, but with your skill set, i would go over to groupdiy and scan that place, you can build a clone, or mod to just about anywhere you'd like to go, and generally, the only person you need to rely on is yourself. i love it over there!

MJ's mods seem pretty well priced though. He is starting to actually stock the mics so you don't have to buy them and send them to him. Despite the quality, I don't see modded stuff holding value very well. DIY is the way if you can spare the time.

I have often listened to M Jolys shoot outs... and I know in some ways its good value for money, I remember back when he started modding oktava mk microphones.

But, every time I listen to the shoot outs, I just dont like the sound. There is something inherent in it, that doesnt please me.

Now, I am not saying that the mods he does, doesnt improve the sound of the mic, or the fact that its good value or great service.

Its that the finished product, is not to my liking.

cheers

Wiz

I own three of his mics that get regular use all the time. a matched pair of MK012-03 and one MC12 (just the cardioid capsule). I use them all the time in the studio, on location & in the field. I like using the hyper-cardioid pattern for indoor boom work (more indie stuff as I don't usually work professionally on set). It just needs a good shockmount and a simple wind foam or you pick up a ton of handling noise and air movement from moving the mic on the end of a boom pole. I also use that capsule for ADR. I'll usually have it up next to something like a Blue KIWI. The KIWI might sound better but a lot of the time the MK012 more naturally match whatever was recorded by the pros on set.

I use them a lot for grabbing sound effects. I made a little make shift double M/S rig out of them. I have one more capsule (not modded) I use for this, the MK102. Usually use the 102 for the front mid, then two of the cardioid caps inside an Oktava figure of eight adapter for the side and then I use the remaining MK012 cardioid cap for the rear mid. Works great on the cheap. Shoeps's free DMS decoding plugin works great with this setup. It'd be nice to afford a full blown Shoeps DMS rig but that ain't happening any time soon. Here's a link to a flicker photo of it: www.flickr.com/photos/aamacri/8285879661/in/set-72157632279770711

I also made a blimp for it out of some little dollar store wire garbage cans some hair elastics and fake fur. It's a bit of a pain to put together but yields very favourable results.

I plan to get one of MJ's MJE-K47H capsules to use with my MK012 bodies. I've hear great things about it. Although I don't find any of the samples on his website all that appealing, the use I get out of his mics I own are very appealing. Some of the most used mics in my collection. Top that with his AMAZING customer service and it's a no brainer for me.

As far as him disappearing, he has most certainly from GearSluts, but mostly because (like a handful of others on here) he was booted off. BUt he's been very busy. He's added some great new products to his line up lately, and been offering good deals as they come to him. I follow him on Facebook and get the odd promotional email from him. He hasn't disappeared at all. Right now I need a proper shotgun more than anything or I'd already have ordered that MJE-K47H capsule already. I will get one at some point down the road though.

Yes welcome and thanks for the insight ! I like the mic I got from him... I actually was thinking about another or getting an Apex 460 and modding it myself to have a pair of tube mics.

microphone-parts.com has a great elam mod for the apex 460 aka alctron 11a, the Chunger/matador c12 clone uses that mic as a donor, and is an awesome circuit, you can find all that stuff in the diy section of this forum

good luck with it

JMO, in my experience so far, 1 thing matters MORE than anything else in these condenser projects(it all matters)...the capsule. for me, the 2 clear winners are, Tim Campbell CT12 for the elam or c12 type circuit and the Thiersch M7 for U47 types, there is something amazing about both of these, when mouth noises sound sweet, you know you've got something! Of course the neumann capsules are great, if you have the $ and can get them. Others to check out would be TSKguy at groupdiy.com white market thread, microphoneparts.com, cathedral pipes, beesneez to name a few off the top of my head.

capsules i own Theirsch M7 blueline's, Tim Campbell CT12's, tskguy k67's, beezness k67, k7 and M7

hope this helps

Just picked up my Shannon Rhoades modded CV4...About to go fire it up...

Well, this might not be the final incarnation...

I use a few Michael jolly mics. modified nt2a, ntk, mk012, rsm4 and I agree he does have a sound to his mics. but I like his sound very much. still, I am alwaysl ooking at those c12 kits which are begging me to try them...... lol....

hey, I wonder if MJ would come over here. he got booted from GS also.

Reviving this old thread to say I bought a matched pair of the MJ K47H heads that are used with MJ modded 0112 bodies. And well, holy crap i say!! These are gorgeous! Now, they are definitely not of the C12 or ELAM family of sound. These are warmer U67 type sound (which is what MJ explains them to be). Not the bite of those other classics and their kin but truly a gorgeous mic.
Highly recommend.

i don't know how i missed this back in july lol, this mic was modded by someone who is very well respected in that regard, it sounded nice, it just wasn't as good to us as the Matachung C12. YMMV