A fistful of microphones

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Dubmaniac
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A fistful of microphones

Post by Dubmaniac » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:52 am

So last night, I lucked out. I scored five microphones on Craigslist- cheap! There's a Shure SM53, an EV RE11, an RE50, and two 635As. Actually, one of them is labeled "SRO-635a", and the other one has no label, but looks the same. Now that I've got these things home, what mic does what best? I know that the 635s and the RE50 are omnis, and the other two are cardiod, but that's about it. If you own any of these microphones, how do you use them? Which ones are best for guitar cabs, for example?

Another couple of questions. What's the best way to clean an old dynamic microphone? I'm thinking mostly about the crud in the windscreen. I think the old guy who sold these to me was a smoker, and he told me that he used some of them as harmonica mics. I'd like to get the nicotine and whatever else out of them.

One last question- the RE50 rattles when I shake it. It still works, but a mic that rattles can't be a good thing. How do you open up an RE50? I'm sure I can fix the rattle if I can get into it. It doesn't seem like it wants to unscrew. Any suggestions?
"Stare with your ears"- Ken Nordine

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evilaudio
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Post by evilaudio » Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:47 am

Good score!!

I've got EV635A/B mics. They sound pretty good on guitar amps, if the room is good (which mine is not). They are a nice alternative to the common 57 on guitar or as a "wild card" mic for drums or room something. One thing I know for a fact is they are NOT good as a "gang vocal" mic! I kinda knew that one, but thought I'd try it out last night as it's an omni, but it didn't cut the mustard (no big surprise there)... I really wanna love and use mine more, but I just don't that much. I'll be interested to hear other peeps uses for them. I have a PL9 that I cleaned out a few months ago. The foam stuff they put in there crumbles and deteriorates, so it would be a good idea to open them up and just blow-out or otherwise carefully clean what looks rotten or deteriorated. The sound of my PL9 really opened-up after I did that. I'm not scared to use it for vocals now since all the nasty build-up is gone and you can actually see-through the mesh now! I just used a metal wire brush and some denatured alcohol to get the tough stuff out (not on the diaphragm itself!!! ouch!) of the metal mesh screening and other metal parts.

Good luck!!!
Blah!

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losthighway
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Re: A fistful of microphones

Post by losthighway » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:33 am

Dubmaniac wrote: One last question- the RE50 rattles when I shake it. It still works, but a mic that rattles can't be a good thing. How do you open up an RE50? I'm sure I can fix the rattle if I can get into it. It doesn't seem like it wants to unscrew. Any suggestions?
That same issue was really the 'death rattle' for my RE20. It means the foam inside of it, which actually holds the capsule in place correctly, is so deteriorated that the diaphram is loose. This spells big distortion problems. Most research on here has lead me to believe that fixing this yourself is rather difficult, and paying EV to fix it is very expensive.

I might have to get a new one.

capnreverb
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Re: A fistful of microphones

Post by capnreverb » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:52 am

losthighway wrote: That same issue was really the 'death rattle' for my RE20. It means the foam inside of it, which actually holds the capsule in place correctly, is so deteriorated that the diaphram is loose. This spells big distortion problems. Most research on here has lead me to believe that fixing this yourself is rather difficult, and paying EV to fix it is very expensive.

I might have to get a new one.
I sent my re20 this year to EV to fix the foam issues. With shipping back and forth it was less than $100. It even arrived with a new frequency test chart that they made to test it after repair. Funny thing, my re20 looked like it had seen better years and when i got it back it had that new mic smell!

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aurelialuz
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Post by aurelialuz » Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:32 pm

the 635a is my go to snare mic now.
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newfuturevintage
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Re: A fistful of microphones

Post by newfuturevintage » Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:52 pm

capnreverb wrote:
losthighway wrote: That same issue was really the 'death rattle' for my RE20. It means the foam inside of it, which actually holds the capsule in place correctly, is so deteriorated that the diaphram is loose. This spells big distortion problems. Most research on here has lead me to believe that fixing this yourself is rather difficult, and paying EV to fix it is very expensive.

I might have to get a new one.
I sent my re20 this year to EV to fix the foam issues. With shipping back and forth it was less than $100. It even arrived with a new frequency test chart that they made to test it after repair. Funny thing, my re20 looked like it had seen better years and when i got it back it had that new mic smell!
Depending on how much you value your time, $100 could be a good deal. I replaced the foam in mine (about $20 or so IIRC for the foam), but it did take a couple hours to get the thing apart and back together. It also involves a little bit of soldering.

Dubmaniac
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Post by Dubmaniac » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:35 am

Thanks for the replies. I noticed that they pretty much all address the EV mics, but nobody has said anything about the Shure SM53 yet. Does anybody have one, and if you do, what do you think of it? What does it do best? Bueller... Bueller?

Something else... it looks to me like the EV RE50 should just unscrew up near the capsule, but I can't get it to budge. Is there another way into it that I'm missing? Or should I just throw some Vise-grips on there and turn? Okay, I wouldn't really use Vise-grips on it, since I don't want to gouge the case, but is it just a matter of using a lot more torque?
"Stare with your ears"- Ken Nordine

Dubmaniac
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Post by Dubmaniac » Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:59 am

Answering my own question, I just got the top of the RE50 to unscrew. Must have been all those years of cigarette smoke, beer and other funk that were jamming up the threads. Sure enough, the foam was completely gone. It had turned to dust, which I dumped out of the mic. It looks like I'll be giving EV a call soon to find out how much it would cost to refoam it and replace the rubber ring surrounding the capsule. I'm tempted to try it myself, since I paid almost nothing for the mic, but I'd rather have it done right if it won't cost an arm and a leg.
"Stare with your ears"- Ken Nordine

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