stapes vs. the ghetto army

[leigh]

i'd love a pair of stapes mics, but i feel like i've been waiting like a year for them to come out. and now they are going to be like $400-500 for a pair

Are the Stapes even out yet? There's no ordering info on their site, and I can't find anyone else who carries them. I wasn't thrilled to hear about their price increase, but they probably have been learning the hard way about the effort it takes to create a quality product consistently, not just in a handful of prototypes. Still, if it's in league with the Earthworks TC30k, it's less than half the price for a matched pair.

Leigh

[Sicily]

that reminds me of another question. I've noticed that people have been selling the MXL 2001 and 603s as a pair. Do they work well as a pair? or are people just trying to get rid of back stock?

I'd have to say that it's because they work well as a pair...my 603's do anyway. Are these places selling "matched pairs"? That's what you usually want if you're going to buy two of the same mic, especially if you're going to using them at the same time, you know?

Do some research on what a matched pair is and why it is useful...you'll find a better definition than what I can give you. Or maybe someone here can explain this better than I can...?

[soundguy]

I think in most cases, when you purchase a matched pair from a manufacturer, all they are doing is measuring the frequency response of each microphone and then making pairs available which have the exact frequency response, or a frequency response within a given tolerance of each other.

If you were recording stereo tracks, you wouldnt really want one mic to have a 2dB rise at 7K, if it did, every time someone talked, it would seem like the image pulled to that direction. so the idea is to find two mics that arent necessarily flat, but have the dips and peaks in the same spots to the same degree.

dave

[the velour fog]

no...i mean they are selling the 603 with a large diaphram condenser by Marshall...so little and big as a pair. how does that work??

I talked to Eric from Stapes the other day...he said they are closer, but still not quite ready to sell. He's gonna let me know when they're ready...and I'll pass the word along.

[Sicily]

no...i mean they are selling the 603 with a large diaphram condenser by Marshall...so little and big as a pair. how does that work??

No, like soundguy explained, if you're recording stereo tracks you want mics with the same frequency response and I'm sure that the 603 and the 2001 would be different. I'm not sure if this technique is ever used for anything or not?

They're probably selling them together because a lot of people out there would like to have an inexpensive large AND small diaphram condenser to use in their home studios or whatever. That's my guess anyway...

[stapes]

I like the title of this thread. Sounds like a Sam Raimi movie title. Only time and you guys will tell who ends up winning the final battle.
When we first started out, we _were_ making essentially a bunch of prototypes for people on a budget, and I really enjoyed playing the role of the inexpensive microphone provider. I wish those days could last forever, but there is a long list of considerations why a compay can not survive in that role forever. We have lots of plans for great designs for you people in the future, and want to provide the absolute best quality for your money. That is why we are developing a new version of the omni mics. They are still going to provide an incredible value for what they are and what they cost, but I feel kind of bad that we have bracketed ourselves out of the "romin noodle" market. I myself was once in the same boat, but have also realized that saving up just a little bit extra money for the real deal is totally worth it. Hopefully everyone that wants a pair of the mics will be able to save up for a pair when they are available. We are working on some very last minute design issues and will most likely have the mics ready to go sometime this month. We've got lots of bills to pay, and lots of people wanting mics, so there's plenty of motivation to get these done. Sorry it's seemed like it's been dragged out forever, but I know you guys would prefer everything being done right the first time. Once we get these omni's out of the way, we'll have a tube mic, and transformer i/o mic pre on the way. For those interested, we are also working on a drop-in replacement for the internal amp in the wurlitzer. It'll have a high voltage tube driven pre with transformer outputs on it. You can plug it into an amp, or right into a mic pre with balanced xlr.
I'll keep the board up to date with any developments.

thanks for your support and interest,

Erik Wofford
Stapes Audio

[thearnicasync]

I feel super lucky to have gotten one of the last pairs of the recent Stapes runs. It's my "go-to" mic for anything that small diaphrams are the natural choice. They don't work on everything, and I'll still put a 57 on a guitar before I do a stapes, but they're great, great overheads and general purpose condensers. I think they excel on shakers, tambourine, and distance micing applications. They sound like the Earthworks Larry had when I recorded at Jackpot some years ago. Not to crisp, plenty of bottom (considering the diaphram size), and...quality character. I dunno.

That said, I'd wait for the new ones if you're sold. As great as mine sound, the construction is still pretty ghetto. The diaphraps stick out and they're made from mic connectors. This doesn't bother me becuase I don't really care what they look like and I rarely record for money. The way the diaphrams are situated is a little frightful. I mean, I go through tennis shoes every couple of monthes if that makes any applicable sense. I paid $320, shipped.

I'm waiting for someone to post on the $150 Audio Technica "fixed charged" small diaphrams. Audio Technica is my "go to" brand for the sub $300 mic. I'll bet those sound fine, and I'll also bet you can get them for $125 online somewhere. Probably Musician's Enemy or Zzounds.

Rock on.

[soundguy]

Holy shit Eric, you've got to be kidding!

Ive been waiting for someone to come up with a solution to the wurlitzer preamp since about the third day after I got my first wurlitzer. Are you keeping the tremelo circuit exactly the same? both of the preamps in the rhodes and the solid state wurlitzer really suck like mad, its about time someone came up with a good replacement. Having a DI output on it is beyond brilliant.

I want to buy the first one.

And my 2 cents on the new mics, I always was interested in the old ones, but the housing always turned me off, while its a bummer to pay more, Im more than happy to pay it considering the improvements made to the package.

dave

[stapes]

We're actually planning on selling the wurly tube amp as a kit kinda like all the DIY projects that have been in tape op recently. We'll sell the printed ciruit board, and give you the parts list and tell you how to do it. It's really pretty simple. I'm not the one that actually designed the wurly mod, so I don't really know the nuts and bolts of it yet. Brad Avenson, who is the designer of all the products is making it. He said that he ommitted the tremolo circuit to cut down on components and complexity. If you want tremolo, there are plenty of pedals that will do a suitable job from $30 to $300.
Look for an article in Tape Op about the wurly mod. We'll be submitting one pretty soon.

Erik Wofford
Stapes Audio