Mojave Mic

Looking at It…

I’ve got mics that I’ve never used for tracking yet…
Do I need mics ????
NO…




I’ve been eyeballing this MA-200 Mic…


Lately, anything I’ve looked at costs a $1,000.00 loonies… It still takes my attention… :)
It might be nice to do some tracks with it and see what it can do…





Bill…

Bet it is great. Way beyond my price range! :)

I have heard nothing but good things about these.

Quote:

a Mojave microphone’s journey begins and ends in Burbank, CA. US made Jensen transformers, NOS (new old stock) tubes, and quality FETS’s are shipped offshore and mated to capsules. At Mojave it is a given that no sacrifices are made in the critical signal path electronics. This hybrid of domestic and overseas manufacturing allows us to make superb microphones that are affordable without compromise.


If memory serves me correct that guy (David Royer) was well known for his work with Royer Labs ribbon mics.

Tom you mix that mic with your 610 and you are going to have one SWEEEEEET chain bro!



keep shinin

jerm :cool:

iI KkNnOoWw…


:)
:p
:laugh:

If I were busy tracking, I’d have me one of them…
However, I do have a Shure 330 Ribbon mic… I got way back in the '60’s…
Maybe, '63 - '64…
I used it back then to record acoustic guitar with it…
I’d really like to have a ribbon mic preamp for it…
The preamp I used with it back then didn’t quite do it justice…
Royer makes a Stereo Ribbon, that I’d love to try out…
I’d trade my best pair of holy
:)
:p

socks for one of them…



Bill…

Quote: (woxnerw @ Oct. 23 2010, 11:06 AM)

iI KkNnOoWw...




If I were busy tracking, I'd have me one of them..
However, I do have a Shure 330 Ribbon mic.. I got way back in the '60's..
Maybe, '63 - '64..
I used it back then to record acoustic guitar with it..
I'd really like to have a ribbon mic preamp for it..
The preamp I used with it back then didn't quite do it justice..
Royer makes a Stereo Ribbon, that I'd love to try out..
I'd trade my best pair of holy
:)
:p

socks for one of them..



Bill..

I would be surprised if that ribbon was not sagging.

You could get it upgraded/fixed for a reasonable price.

I'm sure you know you need a whole lot-a-gain for ribbons.

Believe it or not there are many affordable ($100-$200) pre's on the market right now with crazy amounts of clean gain, used prices are even better.

LOt's of cheap ribbons out there too (many of them need some sort of adjusting tho) the market is just flooded with imports, most of them all have the same manufacture (shinny ribbon mics) but they just have different names (Nady,Stellar, Apex, etc etc)
If you are handy with a soldier gun with a few minor changes you can really make a good stereo pair or single mic that will be pretty close to the higher/midrange name brands.
There are specs all over the web Bill for the Mods using really inexpensive simple parts and stuffing to transform these imports into something worth using.

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

I got one of the Nady cheap ribbons, and it is no RCA 77. :)

Quote: (TomS @ Oct. 23 2010, 6:01 PM)

I got one of the Nady cheap ribbons, and it is no RCA 77.
:)

Did you have the Mod done to it?

I hear they are pretty tinty and noisy without it.

Of course it's no RCA 77, even an RCA77 isn't one from time to time if you know what I mean. :whistle:

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Nah, no mod.

It’s been so long sense I did any tracking with that Shure 330 ribbon mic…
I remember one session way back when I used it on a Leslie 147 cabinet…
Thinking back, that abuse to it, should never have happened…
I used an E/V 655C on the Hi-end of the cabinet (a fore-runner to an E/V RE 20) and the Shure 300 on the bottom end…
Before I discovered what the bottom ended was doing it sounded great till I heard the ribbon flexing from the rotor air as the bottom-end rotor spun up…
Did the bottom end ever have a nice “EDGE” to it, though…





I don’t think there’s ever be a mic built to replace an RCA 77 Mic…
????


It would be so nice to have/find a pair of them things at the end of some one’s driveway, in the trash… Hehehehe…
Hey, TomS ?




Bill…


[edit]
what do you spose it would cost to have that Shure 330 mic re-built by Shure ???? jeremysdemo…

Quote: (woxnerw @ Oct. 25 2010, 8:33 AM)


[edit]
what do you spose it would cost to have that Shure 330 mic re-built by Shure ???? jeremysdemo..

what is it the Unitron Deck model or the Concert series?

I would love to rock that with vocal on a stage! pretty....yummmmm

I think the price of repair is going to be determined by it's condition, is the cork dried out, the silking torn, that type of stuff, and then of course there is the ribbon....

all that air pressure of close miking amps concerns me...that thing could be torn...or just sagging...most likely tho at that age regardless it would need replacing.

IF I'd have to guess without actually seeing it you are looking at a $200-$300 repair job, not because the materials are all that expensive but because of the meticulousness of labor and the specialty of vintage gear repair is expensive.

If you knew a little bit about it you could replace the ribbon yourself, put a readily available 0.6 micron in it, man is that tricky tho. :whistle:

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Back Again:
I’ll get a couple of photos of it this afternoon… I keep it in the original sleeve that it came with/in… I should have saved the container/box/shoebox that Shure mics come in… sigh…

Anyway, you’d think it was brand new… It’s surprising how heavy it is… When you see it, it’s the chrome version… The broadcast version had a a dark gray unpolished coating on it… It was called the 300…

Bill…

Yet Again:

I took a series of photos of that 330 mic…


Shure 330 Ribbon Mic


Anytime I used the mic for tracking, I used the Northern Electric Tube Preamps that I built back then…
However, I found that the preamps never really did the mic any favors… I believe that the mic would benefit from a dedicated Ribbon tube preamp… I’d like to get one(whatever brand name and check it behaviour(s)) just to hear what it sounds like, before I do anything with it’s re-build…




Bill…

[edit] I thought I could post a photo of it and provide a link so it could “open” on the thread… However, the Photos are /jpegs… The Board doesn’t allow that extension… If they(the photos were .gif’s or some extension that would allow that … I’d be able to post a link to the photo series…

She is a buit! got some salivating lust goin on here!
:O

I’ll give you $300 on the spot in present condition, AS IS all sales final Bill! (you do know they are worth 3 or 4 times that…tee hee)

I would love to use this in my New Glam rock video!
:laugh:
I could then post it on Youtube and get 2000 hits and think I’m famous…
then go around spamming forums desperate for my hit count to rise to that of Tila Tequila…yes how grand I would be then…the next Youtube slut pedaling my ass for infamousy.


You could a get a really cheap high gain low noise preamp, like the Studio Project VTB-1, can be had for next to nothing

SPec:
Mic In to Bal Out: 72dB (60dB preamp gain, 12dB output gain)

plenty oh head room there…ribbons can be quite noisy I can’t believe you were even able to use it with a home made tube pre…I know those are variable impedance and you were getting one hot signal off the amp so you didn’t have to use toooo much gain eh?

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Neat.

Hi jeremysdemo:

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that mic cost me some 120.00 in the money-of-that time…
The same with the E/V 655C mic…
I’d love to have one of them E/V RE-20 mics…
to go with the collection of mics I have…
Maybe, some day ??
EH ????
I sent the E/V 655C mic back to Buchanan to have them rebuild the pop filter, back some 20 years ago…
Hey,
when I was at the Musicstop… That had to be before '83…
Where’d the time go ????
anyway… ?
I used that 655C for just about all the vocal tracks we did, back then… The filter was full of lung waste…
When I got the mic back from E/V the sound was alive-and-well, again…
The 330 mic would make a nice video prop… :)
:agree:
:laugh:




Give me a spec link to that preamp you’re talkin about…
Gotta see it…



Bill…

Not quite on topic, but I really love older ev mics. Also new ones. I don’t know why, but a number of years ago I purchased the printing plate for an EV ad from the 60s. Hung it on the wall downstairs. Weird thing is, it disappeared, and I can’t figure out where it went. Or who gave it legs.

Quote: (woxnerw @ Oct. 25 2010, 11:33 AM)

Hi jeremysdemo:

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that mic cost me some 120.00 in the money-of-that time..
The same with the E/V 655C mic..
I'd love to have one of them E/V RE-20 mics..
to go with the collection of mics I have..
Maybe, some day ??
EH
I sent the E/V 655C mic back to Buchanan to have them rebuild the pop filter, back some 20 years ago..
Hey,,
when I was at the Musicstop.. That had to be before '83..
Where'd the time go ????
anyway.. ?
I used that 655C for just about all the vocal tracks we did, back then.. The filter was full of lung waste..
When I got the mic back from E/V the sound was alive-and-well, again..
The 330 mic would make a nice video prop.. :)
:agree:
:laugh:




Give me a spec link to that preamp you're talkin about..
Gotta see it..



Bill..

Sounds like you had some good times there Bill!

Those Ev are well sought after and hold their value really well.

HEre is a link to the specs, about 60DB of fairly clean gain, not to shabby.

VT-1

IT has a tube in it, but you can just bypass that and use the clean channel since it's one of those well documented starved plate designs that do more harm than good to the signal.

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Thanks for that link…
That preamp looks interesting…
Then I did a google and
called it “Ribbon Mic Preamps” and came up with this link…
Ribbon Mic PreampsThen I saw this
Thread…
To me…
this preamp looks fascinating…



Somehow-or-other I feel that tube preamps is somewhat outdated for Ribbon Mics…
Simply because of the noise floor of tubes…



I have an Apex 207 preamp with starved tube/plate design… I’ve never been able to arrive at any decent tracks, using it…
Maybe, it’s the old mics I have in my closet…
Who knows ????





Bill…

YEa I have heard good things about those cloudlifter dohickies too! might be something worth looking into for you to be able to use your existing pre’s with the ribbon, really boost the signal level +20db.

Those apex207 units were a real bust for a lot of people, some did the mods to get them up to specs some just said forget it and attacked the creditability of the manufacture…it was real blood bath.

keep shinin

jerm :cool: