How do I know what Radio Shack stuff to snag?

[J to the Q]

thankyou for posting the pic
of the MG-1
the memories came flooding back.
made my night.
perfect example of radio shack done good.

[EasyGo]

I can;t believe no one has mentioned the original PZM mic yet.

This was my mic in my 4 track days, and it still works great. I think there are more recent versions of the PZM, but the old Crown-designed black square one's the shiz. $50 at RS back in about 89-90? Geez.

[citizenkeith]

What is the model name/number for the Crown-made RS PZM?

[vvv]

The tie-tack condernsor mic. makes some cool noise when clipped on acoustic guitar, and mixed with a more standard mic.

I have one from about 5 years ago, powered by a watch battery. I'm not sure the latest models work as well...

The SPL and multi-meters are indeed useful.

I have a switch box that I use in reverse to choose different speaker sets; I have two different ones, both labeled for components, that work as well but are cheaper than the ones labeled for speakers.

I, also, use the Optimus 4" and 5" speakers, in an office and as 3rd monitors...

[EasyGo]

What is the model name/number for the Crown-made RS PZM?

'Realistic PZM' (Pressure Zone Microphone); designed by Crown but presumably manufactured offshore.

These sound nice-n-natural on acoustic guitars, vocals, and as drum room mics. They're kinda noisy, but there are mods online for balanced operation and phantom power.

These were really the shit back when there weren't $40-100 mics everywhere you looked!

[Mike Simmons]

I like the RCA branded 4" speaker cubes from the shack. At $9 a pop I bought a bunch. They're a nice small speaker reference for those of us too cheap to shell out the $$$ for Auratones. They're also handy as talkback speakers and reamping speakers for effect.

[YOUR KONG]

Ok, so how'd you guys find out about this stuff? Did you buy at random or get recommendations from other recordists?

[marqueemoon]

I like the RCA branded 4" speaker cubes from the shack. At $9 a pop I bought a bunch. They're a nice small speaker reference for those of us too cheap to shell out the $$$ for Auratones. They're also handy as talkback speakers and reamping speakers for effect.

I have a pair of those too. They are great for vocal level balancing, and a/b ing with your "good" speakers.

Those tom mics they used to sell (3032?) are not bad. They look just like Sennheisers. I have an original PZM, but I must admit I don't use it much.

[SLAG]

Omnidirectional Stereo Clip-on mic (33-3028)
Got it on sale for $15.

Sweet for discrete minidisc recording. Just checked the website, I don't think they sell 'em any more. Boo hoo.

[balletproof]

Notice a pattern with all the "used to"s and "back when"s?

I prefer to call the place Cell Phone Shack now.

Sure the multimeters, solder (not the irons), caps/resistors/lamps (if you require only the 20 flavors now carried), etc. are great, but how much longer untill that section dissappears?

Anyway, on to my original intent- The small metal cased heavilly shielded speakers are out of production, but if you ask around someone will find some in a stockroom. Part # 40-5003.

[Randy]

Ok, so how'd you guys find out about this stuff? Did you buy at random or get recommendations from other recordists?

I used to go to the one near my apartment so much that I was on a first name basis with the staff. They let me try out the speakers and all the mics, etc.

I bought a couple of those PZM mics on recomendation from a friend, and the megaphone, well, how can you look at it and not know is a neccesity? I also bought a couple of the RCA branded speakers that have a 6.5 inch woofer, and they are a good for finding out how things sound on "cruddy" speakers, and they sound pretty good.

[SpaceCad]

Anyone have any experience with the Realistic Reverb unit with the sliders? They are going for around $15 on Ebay and I remember several people on the board using them a year ago.

Any opinions?

[wenzel.hellgren]

Anyone have any experience with the Realistic Reverb unit with the sliders? They are going for around $15 on Ebay and I remember several people on the board using them a year ago.

Any opinions?

I've got one. As a reverb, it's not very good. It's just a short delay, really. The funnest thing is to patch the line out to the line in, then it makes cool feedback and you can adjust the pitch with the delay time slider. It sounds good to overload/distort the mic input.

I don't think they even went for $20.00 new, did they? I know I bought mine as a teenager and I doubt I ever had that kind of cash. But I could be mistaken.

If you already have a short delay, skip this box.

[dgochenour]

One guy I met at the Analouge Heaven Midwest convention found a Radio Shack piezo-electric buzzer that when taken apart can be used as a decent contact microphone. He had it on a brass bowl and it sounded great.

I had a friend who used these piezo elements as drum triggers... they actually worked pretty well! He just attached them directly to the heads.

[wenzel.hellgren]

One guy I met at the Analouge Heaven Midwest convention found a Radio Shack piezo-electric buzzer that when taken apart can be used as a decent contact microphone. He had it on a brass bowl and it sounded great.

I had a friend who used these piezo elements as drum triggers... they actually worked pretty well! He just attached them directly to the heads.

I use the peizo buzzers as drum triggers, mounted inside a remo practice pad. I can give full instructions/links if anybody wishes. they work great with an Alesis D4 as a trig. to midi converter.