Anyone have a Cascade VIN-JET?

[dennisjames]

If so, what are your thoughts. Did you get the Lundahl upgrade?

I'm considering this for vocals, fiddle, and mando. I've heard the clips on Cascade's site, but it's all electric guitar. Anyone have some acoustic examples of this mic?

I'm also inexplicably drawn to the 731R (sucker for aeshetics) and would love to know if anyone has some time with that one as well.

Thanks.

[AstroSounds]

Bump

I really would like to hear some opinions on the Vin-jet.
As far as I can tell it is really similar to the Shinybox mics and the Apex 205 (modded by Joly) but the Vin-Jet (with Lundhal) is generally $50 cheaper.

So what's missing in the Vin-jet that is present in the Shinybox 46MXL or an Oktava-modded 205?

[Michael_Joly]

The Vin-Jet is a standard Chinese "long ribbon / short path" mic and uses the same basic ribbon motor as the Shinybox and Apex 205.

I can't speak to any other similarities or difference between the Vin-Jet and ShinyBox. But in terms of differences to my mod'd Apex 205...

The Vin-Jet ships with the stock "waffle plate" HF resonators in place. This provides a bit of HF boost but at the expensve of transient response purity. It is for this reaon I remove these waffle plates in my mods to the 205. I also "pre-stretch & tension) the ribbon in my mod so that the mic will not develop ribbon sag over time. Finally the wiring is routed and and secured in place in my 205 mod to achieve the deepest and most stable null of AC ambient hum pick up.

Re: pricing - without shock mount the total price for a mod'd 205 is less than the Vin-Jet. With shock mount it is $20 more than the Vin-Jet - but you're getting a mic that I personally have modified and certified.

[kingmetal]

I fell in love with the 713R the first time I saw it but I've been too chicken to pull the trigger. It'd go to Joly straight away. I'd love to hear if anyone has used it -- if it worked on vocals my artists would go nuts.

[Slau]

Michael Chiriac sent me the earlier version of the Vin-Jet for a shoot out a couple of years ago and I thought it was nice. One thing about it, at the time, was that it was phase-reversed when facing forward. I pointed it out to Michael and the subsequent model was corrected. Speaking of which, they then did the upgraded version with the Lundahl xformer. I got the new model in and happened to do a shootout with several other ribbons including an AEA R-84. The Vin-Jet was really close. It had a slightly higher noise floor by maybe 3 dB but sounded quite nice on general sources. I don't think it sounds particularly good on guitar cabs but neither does the R-84, in my opinion. It's great for horns. I used it in a lineup for a brass section a couple of months ago and it sounded great.

Yeah, it's a little more expensive than some of the Apex mics but, with the mod costs, well, I'd say you come out around even. Cascade guarantees their mics and if there's any problem, they'll either fix or just replace the mic. That said, having Michael Joly work on a mic is worth the piece of mind when you know that special, individualized attention is being given to each mod?totally worth it in some cases.

Have I confused you enough?

[ulriggribbons]

The difference to the 46MXL aside from body shape differences would be that I actually make and install the ribbons in my microphones. Higher quality, tighter tolerances.

Regards

Jon

[PublicMelody]

What Jon (Shinybox) didn't mention is that he uses a different ribbon in the mxl46 that better matches with the Lundy transformer.

When I had the newer ribbon put in mine I could definitely hear a difference.

Very nice microphones (the mxl)!

[dennisjames]

What's it say about you when you find your own old post while trolling during down time at the day job??

I ended up getting the Cascade Victor in the end (as well as a tasty FetHead from Mr. Joly - a very pleasant transaction btw). I've not done too awful much tracking with the Victor but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

A friend of mine ended up buying a pair of Vin-Jet's from TOMB (serial numbers 001 and 002). He's pretty happy with them as far as I've heard but I don't know what all he's done with them.

As for the Victor I've tracked some vox, fiddle, acoustic guitar, and drums. On my vox, I found it to be a soft touch that will be application specific but not a default, go-to mic. The mic performed wonderfully on the fiddle. It's open and detailed and very full bodied. I've not had to squeeze that sound into a dense mix, but for more sparse arrangements, it's just the ticket. On acoustic guitar, I don't know that I'd use it other than in a blend with another mic. And on drums, I've used it as part of an M/S set up with great results. I'm going to track some more drums in the near future and I'm pretty sure it will be a staple there. It handles the details nicely without too much of the "room" (also know as my attic) showing up in the capture. Of course, the pattern can be used to minimize or maximize elements of the kit. And now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I also tested it with some mandolin the day it arrived and was very happy with the capture.

I realize this brief review is of very little scientific merit, but these are my limited impressions at this point. Note that I purchased the base model without any upgrades.

Finally, to kingmetal, I share your feelings on the 731R. I'm convinced that if I have that mic, I will sound better and more inspired, that food will taste better, that I'll be better looking, that all the mysteries of the universe will reveal themselves to me in glorious fashion much the same way my yet to be obtained dream late 60's Ford truck will also edge me closer to nirvana. That is about the coolest looking mic I've ever seen. I've shown it to people and said, "isn't that just the sexiest thing" and been met with blank stares and uncomfortable silence. Damn, I want that mic!