Altec lipstick mics?

centurymantra · Post by **centurymantra** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:34 am

A friend of mine is loaning me a pair of these nutty little Altec lipstick tube mics. I fired one of them up last night just to test it out, and my initial reaction was a "...holy crap! These are cool". I was just throwing a little tambourine on a track and, in the process, I think I've discovered the world's best tambo mic! Seriously. If future experimentation yields similar results, I'll be mighty happy. Can't wait to try them out as drum overheads. My initial reaction is that it is definitely a 'flavor' mic, but such a cool vintage-y flavor. It seems to be a condenser that embodies certain qualities of a nice ribbon mic. Anyone ever work with these things? What have you had luck using them with?

I might have to try bending my friend's arm to sell me these if I like them as much as I think I will. He doesn't really record, and just pack-rats stuff like this. I'm wondering what these things are worth, and am just curious if someone here might give me some guidance on this. If he is willing to sell them, he probably would offer a bit of a 'good guy' price, being a friend and all. I know he found them cheap at an antique radio show. Still...would want to offer a fair price on them. I've got two mics in a greenish 'lipstick' body with a clip on them...kind of like a pen clip. There are two power supplies...appears to be all the original cables. I do not have the mic holders. It appears to be the microphone described at this link; http://www.triodeel.com/m20lit.jpg
Anyone have a clue on this...?

Thanks?

Gotta go record me some tambo now...

??????? · Post by **???????** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:41 am

try it on snare. Seriously.

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:57 am

+1 on percussion for the M20. And what brad said about snare drum. The M20 is first go to with me for those two applications. There are different capsules which you may or may not know. I don't think I'd grab one for drum OH, but I have a pair so may need to try that soon...

John Noll had one for sale here in the past few months for what I considered a very attractive price. Find that posting for a good assessment of value.

If you buy one, look around for an NOS tube and also maybe think about a recap on the power supply if it's noisy. The output level on mine is real sensitive to distance from source, and the output isn't huge to begin with. A placement far from source could mean cranking up input gain and raising noise floor, so watch for that.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:00 am

I used those on toms for a shiner record.
The ones i used are at Pogo studio, Marc Rubel's beautiful place. That was my first experience with the altec's. They are great.

jaguarsg · Post by **jaguarsg** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:14 am

steve albini likes it.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:45 am

Depending on which model you have, the caspules aren't all interchangeable. There are some mods you can do to make them work, but it's important to know which ones you have. I've used the 165s, 175s, and 195s and they're all cool. I own a 195 and I recently bought a 165 and am currently looking for a 525 power supply for it. They can be really nice on acoustic string instruments.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

ciminosound · Post by **ciminosound** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:01 pm

You can find more detailed info on the M20 and M30 here;

http://purpleaudio.com/resource/pdflib.html

gregnrom · Post by **gregnrom** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:01 pm

I don't know who's selling them, but here's our info on it.
http://www.electrical.com/item.php?page ... es/135.jpg

centurymantra · Post by **centurymantra** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:07 am

I'm currently using ones that have a number 21 on the capsule and do not look like the one in that Electrical Audio pic. So these are probably the '21D' model...is that an omni? Looking forward to trying it on snare...

sara_tonin · Post by **sara_tonin** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:12 pm

I've been looking for those for awhile now, can only seem to find them on ebay.
Any advice?

gregnrom · Post by **gregnrom** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:59 pm

centurymantra wrote:I'm currently using ones that have a number 21 on the capsule and do not look like the one in that Electrical Audio pic. So these are probably the '21D' model...is that an omni? Looking forward to trying it on snare...

That is the omni "saltshaker" style capsule. Does yours look kind of like a saltshaker? It wont sound good on snare, or at least, it hasn't for me. It will sound good used as a lapel mic, for your 1960s styled sports-talk TV show.
Your mic, in good condition, can be a good acoustic instrument mic, or room mic with a flat response. They are built sturdy, and are easy to service.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:18 pm

gregnrom wrote:That is the omni "saltshaker" style capsule. Does yours look kind of like a saltshaker?

I was under the impression that the Altec 633 was the mic commonly known as the saltshaker. Totally different than the M20/M30/M50 mic systems. Wasn't the 21D one of the capsules for the "Coke Bottle" mics?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

gregnrom · Post by **gregnrom** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:07 am

cgarges wrote:
gregnrom wrote:That is the omni "saltshaker" style capsule. Does yours look kind of like a saltshaker?
I was under the impression that the Altec 633 was the mic commonly known as the saltshaker. Totally different than the M20/M30/M50 mic systems. Wasn't the 21D one of the capsules for the "Coke Bottle" mics?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I didn't mean to confuse it with the 633 mic, just describe the capsule itself. There is another omni capsule that has vents cut on the sides, as opposed to the holes on the top. I forget if that is the 21A or not.

centurymantra · Post by **centurymantra** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:10 am

gregnrom wrote:
cgarges wrote:
gregnrom wrote:That is the omni "saltshaker" style capsule. Does yours look kind of like a saltshaker?
I was under the impression that the Altec 633 was the mic commonly known as the saltshaker. Totally different than the M20/M30/M50 mic systems. Wasn't the 21D one of the capsules for the "Coke Bottle" mics?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
I didn't mean to confuse it with the 633 mic, just describe the capsule itself. There is another omni capsule that has vents cut on the sides, as opposed to the holes on the top. I forget if that is the 21A or not.

Thanks for the info/feedback on this, though it sounds like we're still wondering what capsule/mic this is. It definitely does not look like a saltshaker (I think I've seen the 'saltshaker' mics in the past), but definitely looks to be the 'lipstik' microphone.

I found this pic, which appears to be the exact mic that I have.

And this is the power supply...

Any ideas on this. I think the mic sounds pretty cool.

gregnrom · Post by **gregnrom** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:11 pm

It is the "lipstick" mic (165 / M-20).
The mic commonly called "saltshaker" is the Altec 633 like Chris said earlier.
I was describing the look of the capsule as compared to the other omni capsules. Kinda saltshakerey.
Sorry for the confusion.

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Altec lipstick mics?

Altec lipstick mics?

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