Need help rewiring Sony cardioid condenser with XLR

[Red Favorite]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I had a question...I have an old Sony cardioid electret condenser mic (ECM-95S) that came with a two-track reel to reel tape recorder. It's square, and has two plugs on the end of a hard-wired cable. One is 1/8 inch, and the other is a little smaller. I know one is for audio and the other is for the phantom power, but I want to re-wire it with an xlr so I can power it from my TubeMP mic pre. Could someone tell me if this is possible (voltage, etc.), and what the pin layout would be? I have no idea if this mic would even sound "good", but it might add an interesting flavor or something, and would be worth the effort to me if I knew it could work. Thanks!

Red

[Scodiddly]

Are you sure about those connections? Often the smaller plug was just connected to the switch on the microphone, and was used to start/stop the tape.

[Red Favorite]

Well...no, actually I just assumed it was. Assuming you're correct, how would I wire it up? Thanks for the quick reply by the way...

[Scodiddly]

I really don't know what this mic might be like...so here are a couple of possible answers.

By any chance, does the mic have a battery? There might be something to slide or unscrew to get at it. If so, then you could just use a 1/8"-1/4" headphone adapter and go into a 1/4" input.

Does the 1/8" jack have 2 or 3 contacts? If it has 3, then one of those probably does power and the other signal. I don't know which.

If 2 (just tip and sleeve), then probably you need to apply a DC voltage and then use a capacitor to block the DC from getting into whatever mixer or amp input you connect it to.


Hey, do you still have the recorder? Maybe you could just snag a line or headphone output from the recorder and let it worry about how to interface to the mic.

[Red Favorite]

Oh man, do I feel stupid....there was this really obvious screw in the middle of the case...i opened it up & inside there was a corroded AA battery! Luckily, it didn't seem like it leaked on the guts of the mic. I dug out Tape Op issue 1 (old school), and found the PZM mic article with the balanced wiring instructions, so I should be OK from here on out...
sheesh, what was I thinking?
thanks again for your help...