Okatava Mods - Again

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

User avatar
the finger genius
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 746
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:32 pm

Okatava Mods - Again

Post by the finger genius » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:13 am

I apologize for another Okatava Mod thread, but I don't think anybody has raised (or answered) this question yet. Please feel free to correct me if this has come up before.

My question being: has anybody done a direct comparison of the mods being offered by various services (e.g. oktavamods / Michael Joly, or billsrecording) or even of the different options by these different services? OktavaMods.com appears to have 4 different mods available for the MK319, and not a whole lot of detail around the difference in the final result.

I'm specifically interested in modding my MK012s and MK319s, and am thinking of doing it myself. I hear everyone talking about how much better their Oktavs sound after modding, I'm just wondering where to begin.
vvv wrote:
That said, what I'm gettin' at is, perfectionism is for the truly defective.

You may quote me.
_________________

kayagum
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3490
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 11:11 pm
Location: Saint Paul, MN

Post by kayagum » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:20 am

I have the PE mod for both the 319 and 219.

I haven't really taken the 219 through its paces yet, but the 319 sounded great!

The PE mod lowers the self noise noticeably, and the standard mod makes the mic sound both more airy and less brittle at the same time. People often describe the effect as taking the blanket off of the mic.

IMHO, the mods are the best bang for the buck for practically any mic under $1000, especially if you bought the original mics at one of those GC blowouts.

standup
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 722
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2004 7:04 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Post by standup » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:38 am

the finger genius wrote:has anybody done a direct comparison of the mods being offered by various services (e.g. oktavamods / Michael Joly, or billsrecording
I have two MC 012's, one modded by Joly, the other has the "Dorsey mod", and the work was done by the previous owner. The two mic bodies don't have drastically different personalities, but the mod-by-previous-owner mic has noticeably hotter output.

User avatar
TheStevens
pushin' record
Posts: 253
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:19 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by TheStevens » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:59 pm

Michael Joly did my 319 with PE. What the previous posters said is absolutely correct; there is an incredible improvement on both sound quality and noise!
I also did the dorsey mod on 2 of my 012s, using parts from bill sitler. holy crap! great improvements! this isn't too hard to do if you have experience with PCBs and desoldering. I didn't replace the 3 large tantalum caps since they already looked good, or Q2. Don't know how hard those are to replace.
Anyway, if you're considering any of these mods to your oktavas, don't even hesitate!

User avatar
Jeff White
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3263
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:15 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Contact:

Post by Jeff White » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:04 pm

Michael Jolly modified my MK-012 pair back in October. I've had them since 2001 or 2002 or something like that. Huge difference. I prefer them to my buddy's KM184. Everyone who has heard them loves them and wants a pair of MK-012s now. They were always nice mics but the Jolly Mod has taken them to a new level. They just sound like way more expensive mics should and just really crystal clear in a pleasing way. I cannot recommend the OktavaMods enough. Very happy.

Lucky for me I have cardioid, omni, and the Red Head LDC caps for them.

Jeff
I record, mix, and master in my Philly-based home studio, the Spacement. https://linktr.ee/ipressrecord

bibleboy3
pluggin' in mics
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:41 pm

Post by bibleboy3 » Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:21 pm

I thought this was a DIY thread...???? I hope this isn't going to turn into a joly worship thread :roll: all the man does is bend the circuit a little and everybody thinks he's a god :roll:


Bill
you reap what you sow

kayagum
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3490
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 11:11 pm
Location: Saint Paul, MN

Post by kayagum » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:20 am

bibleboy3 wrote:I thought this was a DIY thread...???? I hope this isn't going to turn into a joly worship thread :roll: all the man does is bend the circuit a little and everybody thinks he's a god :roll:


Bill
Actually he does quite a bit of other things (upgrade the grille, take out the resonator disc, isolate the body, upgrade the path components) but not really circuit bend, unless you count the rewiring to cut out the switches to shorten the path. Plus, he's spot on for customer service. He does deserve some kudos. Now, is it worth the money? That's up to the individual. For me it was, but I don't have enough time to rip apart my gear on my own.

So, :roll: back at you for understating what he does...

But nobody's stopping anyone from doing their own mods. Have fun!

bibleboy3
pluggin' in mics
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:41 pm

Post by bibleboy3 » Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:46 am

from what I gather he mostly changes a few caps a.k.a "circuit bending" and that is some thing I am more than capable of doing. I am curious to see what others have done to their mics in the way of mods


Bill
you reap what you sow

fireproof
pushin' record
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 9:24 am
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

oktava

Post by fireproof » Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:16 am

I have a handful of Joly Modded mic's and all the mic's went from sounding ok to amazing with his standard and PE mod's.
So in my world he is a MOD-GOD!

Adam

bibleboy3
pluggin' in mics
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:41 pm

Post by bibleboy3 » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:41 am

then you obviously have no electronic knowledge



Bill
you reap what you sow

chris harris
speech impediment
Posts: 4270
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:31 pm
Location: Norman, OK
Contact:

Post by chris harris » Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:21 pm

and, you're obviously being kind of an ass.

chris harris
speech impediment
Posts: 4270
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:31 pm
Location: Norman, OK
Contact:

Post by chris harris » Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:32 pm

bibleboy3 wrote:then you obviously have no electronic knowledge



Bill
No shit. It would seem pretty obvious to me that most people who would pay someone else to make relatively simple electronic mods for them, have little to no electronic knowledge. Pointing it out is a dick move. If you have a better service or better mods to offer, then hang your fucking shingle and get to work. Berating people who offer this service or people who take advantage of it is just petty and shitty. Not very christ-like, bibleboy.

User avatar
Scodiddly
genitals didn't survive the freeze
Posts: 3958
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2003 6:38 am
Location: Mundelein, IL, USA
Contact:

Post by Scodiddly » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:17 pm

Sure, Joly just makes some changes. Nothing especially difficult in itself.

But part of the product he offers is that he's tried out a bunch of different things, evaluated them, and decided on which ones offer the most useful outcome. That's more than "a little circuit bending", it's somebody who's made a project out of trying to find the best ways to improve these particular mics and then offering the results as a service.

Maybe you could call it "circuit bending" or "fooling around with a Dremel tool" or whatever else you want, but the bottom line is that I've heard good reports about his service and his customers seem quite happy with the deal.

User avatar
the finger genius
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 746
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:32 pm

Post by the finger genius » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:47 pm

Starting to wish I hadn't opened this topic up again. bibleboy3, you wouldn't happen to be the Bill from http://www.billsrecording.com/, would you?
vvv wrote:
That said, what I'm gettin' at is, perfectionism is for the truly defective.

You may quote me.
_________________

User avatar
Jeff White
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3263
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:15 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Contact:

Post by Jeff White » Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:51 pm

Let me just say that another reason why I am so happy with OktavaMod totally improvingmy MK-012s is because I made the initial $198 investment for a pair of them almost a decade ago. I've been using those mics all of the time, invested in some decent shock mounts, then the omni caps, then the Red Head caps, and then the Jolly mods, which didn't cost me that much money. I jumped on them when they were 20% off last fall after months/years of putting it off. And it was 100% totally worth it to me to have someone else do the mods who knows how to make them sound awesome since I have zero experience modifying mics (even though I build my own cables and can replace guitar pickups and stuff). It cost me $150 including shipping to have my mics upgraded with the special he ran. That's a lot less than it would cost me to replace the mics when I totally fucked one or both of them up by experimenting with them on my own. And I love those mics, as do the folks who I work with.

I've also heard the same kind of arguments regarding Black Lion. "All they do is replace some op-amps..." etc. Well, let me tell you, the investment that I made back in 2006 through them was totally worth it as well. Analog paths, new mic preamps, new clock upgrade for under $300. Paying for the expertise of someone is never a bad thing. Folks like Michael Jolly and the guys over at Black Lion provide folks like me a way to take an investment that I have made and make it better. Way better, actually. And I am more than happy to pay someone to do this for me.

If you have the capabilities and the skills to do this work on your own, hats off to you. That's great. If you want to provide a competitive service to work on this stuff for other folks, there is always room out there for people who provide a great service. No need to belittle folks like me who have paid for services like this that happen to not be YOUR service.

If you are Bill over at Bill's Recording, isn't your mod just the Dorsey mod? What do you do to improve on the Dorsey mod?

Jeff
Last edited by Jeff White on Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I record, mix, and master in my Philly-based home studio, the Spacement. https://linktr.ee/ipressrecord

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 55 guests