Mic mods ???

[bibleboy3]

Hi All,
I just received a mic that I won on ebay for $32 it is a CAD model# GXL2400 my whole reason for buying this mic was to mod it? any suggestion???



Bill

[Skipwave]

Open it up and take pictures of the guts to post. That gets people interested and speculating about what circuit it uses and what mods it might benefit from.

[digitaldrummer]

been there, done that...

http://www.digitaldrummer.net/mics

[johnbohn]

Open it up and take pictures of the guts to post. That gets people interested and speculating about what circuit it uses and what mods it might benefit from.

Yeah show us some guts.

[idealfreedistribution]

Digitaldrummer's pics and suggestions are pretty helpful. His mods will make a big difference, most probably positive.

[digitaldrummer]

its about all you can do unless you want to gut it and do a Royer mod, or start replacing capsules, etc. there's a little more $ka-ching$ for that though. The mods I show only cost you a couple bucks for some new caps and the difference is what I can only describe as "sounding like someone removed the wooly sock that was once over the mic".

[bibleboy3]

I am a E.E.T. so doing any mods is just another day at the office..LOL!! but the reason I bought this mic was to basicly gut and start over... maybe put a copy of a royer,coles or neuman board inside... I did look at digital drummers stuff on his site. it does make sense to replace ceramic caps with some good polys another thing I noticed is the way the capsule was mounted looks the same for both the nady and the cad mic.. BTW thank you for the ideas keep them comming


Bill

[idealfreedistribution]

The only bummer with you plans is that many of the parts for a Nuemann design are pretty hard to source and very expensive. The U67 is a possibility, but the amp design isn't considered this mic's strong suit (at least in many opinions). I could be wrong, but don't think Coles is known for anything but ribbon mics.

The Royer cicuit is a possibility, or you could try a AKG C12 or Telefunken ELAM circuit, which use more readily available parts than most of the Nuemann designs. Also, you might check out the Gyraf G7, which is based on a couple of Nuemann designs but uses easily obtainable parts.

Craig

[bibleboy3]

basicly I just want to replace the board with a better design.. has any one tried replacing all the caps with tant. caps ????

[digitaldrummer]

basicly I just want to replace the board with a better design.. has any one tried replacing all the caps with tant. caps ????

for audio circuits, I think thats generally regarded as "sucking" (that's a technical term). From what I have seen, Polypropylene film or Polystyrene tend to sound best in mics (and mic pres).

[idealfreedistribution]

basicly I just want to replace the board with a better design.. has any one tried replacing all the caps with tant. caps ????

If you want a new circuit, why do you want to replace the caps on the existing board?

[digitaldrummer]

if you remove the extra grill material and replace the caps, I guarantee you it will sound like you paid twice as much as you did for it.

[audioboffin]

if you remove the extra grill material and replace the caps, I guarantee you it will sound like you paid twice as much as you did for it.

Let's see, twice $32 .. that's nearly as much as a new SM 57 would cost, and if you refer to what Fletcher says about the ubiquitous 57... perhaps you have a useful mic?

Seriously, most el cheapo mics these days have a lot of blast protection so the manufacturers don't have to deal with as many warranty returns of damaged diaphragms/ribbons, so if you can use a pop filter you are well on the road to some satisfying results with a lot of less expensive mics. Coupled with some component changes can often end in very pleasing results.

Half the fun lies in the experimentation, so hop right in :=)

[bibleboy3]

Hi All,
I have removed the interior grill material on my Oktava 319 as well as my CAD 177 both with pleasing results!! My logic here is the fact that it only cost me $32 so I figured why not see if I can find a better circuit or maybe some upgrades. To the existing one .?? I guess you could say I am trying to make a silk purse out of a sow?s ear LOL!!!!!!

[bibleboy3]

Hi All,
MY GOD!!! there were 2 screens inside this thing!! no wonder it sounded muffled!! now I am looking for either a new circuit or some upgrades to the existing board.. any other suggestions??