Question About Tube Mics

[wolfman_rob]

I am looking for a new Tube Mic.

Been Really Thinking about getting one of those Mojave Audio MA-200 Mics

I hear alot of good things about this mic but still are sceptical of spending this much on a mic and not really knowing how good it is.

is this mic really any better than some of the Cheaper Tube Mics like the

Rode K2
ADK A51 TC
MXL V69

Also What About Mics like the AT 4060 or some of the Peluso Mics that are copies of other Vintage Mics.

Or Should i just Pony up the Money and Get A Really Good Neumann

Also Any Recomendations would Be Great as well

Fixing to Lay Down some Cash in a day or two wanted one last opinion before i start negotiating prices

Thanks,
Russell

[Barry Johns]

I have a Mojave MA 200 and it's a good mic. That being said, if you want an awesome tube mic, one that will do you for a lifetime and you'll never want to replace it or move on from it, buy a Pearlman TM1. 1500.00 and worth every penny of it!

[ghilfman]

After a lot of research for getting a great vox mic .. I went with a Soundelux 251c .. very happy with it

[ghilfman]

After a lot of research for getting a great vox mic .. I went with a Soundelux 251c .. very happy with it

[usd]

you should really check out the pelusos. i´ve a P12 and it is indeed a great mic.
but it´s never wrong to get a good neumann...
HTH! regards, alex

[brianjanthony]

I've gone through this process numerous times. A couple things straight away... tube doesn't always = warm. I have some FET mics that bury tube mics in the warm department.

I had a K2 in here for Eval. Didn't like it. I have the MXL V69... great amp mic. Not so much for vocals. I've tried a Peluso. And that was the worst purchase experience of my life (not so much for sound, but for customer service etc). I'm in a minority there. But I wouldn't take a free Peluso at this point. I've had a Soundelux ifet7, but the switch was buggy and (to me) it was ANTI-warm or full. I used Neumann 67s and tube 47s while I was in NY. I liked the 67 on my voice but ours was noisy.

That brings me to the ADKs. Again, I might be in a minority. But I am a big ADK fan. I don't work for them or anything like that. But I can whole heartedly recommend ANYTHING from their custom shop. I own all of the CS mics: Vienna 2 AU, Hamburg 2 AU, CS1 with a Blue K47 cap, and 2 CS-1 mics modded to include custom ADK caps which I actually like as much as the BIG BOY mics. IMHO, their FET Vienna2 AU is more full and has a less grainy top end than any of the cheaper tube mics. I've had the TC/TT series here. They are a shade under the Custom Shop mics reach wise, depending on your needs. The GK67 version was the best I heard. Not too bright. Not grainy, etc. Not bad, but when I compared them to the Custom Shops, I sent the stock ones back.

It depends on the sound you're after. ADK (like Peluso) tailors each mic to a different Vintage mic. So the CS-1 with a Blue Cap is like a Cactus/47 sound. The CS-1 with GK67 cap is like a 67 tube etc. The GK12 variation is akin to the 414TLII or the C12.

Please let's not get into the "Well, that is not a true U47" type argument. Or bang on the fact that they are Chinese parts assembled in USA (their FET mics are sourced from various countries). They get in the ballpark. A little placement and EQ go a long way. Plus, the ADK Custom Shop is AMAZING in terms of Customer Service. Need the mic modded to your needs? Want to try variations on the circuit? Want to hear mic A with a mic B capsule? No prob. And the Custom Shop mics are easily modded/upgradeable in the future. And they run on 12Ax tubes (so for a loud singer or different tone, drop in a 12 AU7 for less gain, etc). Lastly, they're more than patient in letting me test out mics.

Would I take a Neumann? Sure. But I've used them, and with my ADKs, I don't sit there saying "Gosh, if I just had the real thing, this record would really be great." To me, the ADKs are the real deal. Granted, my website doesn't boast a Neumann arsenal (this can deter some), but my clients (many of whom use more $$$$ mics elsewhere), frequently enjoy the results we get here MORE than the $$$$ mics.

I can gladly post some clips for you. Send me an email.

My 2cents.

brian

I am looking for a new Tube Mic.

Been Really Thinking about getting one of those Mojave Audio MA-200 Mics

I hear alot of good things about this mic but still are sceptical of spending this much on a mic and not really knowing how good it is.

is this mic really any better than some of the Cheaper Tube Mics like the

Rode K2
ADK A51 TC
MXL V69

Also What About Mics like the AT 4060 or some of the Peluso Mics that are copies of other Vintage Mics.

Or Should i just Pony up the Money and Get A Really Good Neumann

Also Any Recomendations would Be Great as well

Fixing to Lay Down some Cash in a day or two wanted one last opinion before i start negotiating prices

Thanks,
Russell

[25ghosts]

Hi,

I have several tube mics.

1 is the neumann M147 Tube for $2800
2 is a t.bone (neumann phony but brilliantly made) for €279

I would have never thought of buying a phony but my good friend is an old recording engineer from which I have learned quite a deal (he recorded Imagine with J. Lennon) and has recorded pretty much anybody with a name up until the early 90's.

One time I had promised a friend that i would help him record his jazz band's new Album only I have no experience in recording a full scale band so I called my friend. He came and brought about 30 mics. Back then Neumann was about the only brand I knew but he was not carrying any. His mics looked cool and I never thought to ask what kinds they were as the guy had been around recording since end of the 50'ies. Anyway - as everybody were VERY please with the sound (amazing to watch this man work) and the album was finished and the band had left - he said " lemme show you somethin" - then he grabbed his arsenal of mics and PROUDLY stated that only ONE mic was expensive and costs €279 ALL the others did not exceed the petty cost of €29 - let me repeat so you dont think it was a typo €29.

He said - ALL the condenser large diaphragm mic of today are far more capable than the mics which costed $4000 in the 60'ies. As I asked him about neumann he said "Great mic, but the t.bones are just as good"

If you compare the Neumann and tbone directly with just the noise coming in - then the tbone may have a little more of that - but in a recording or when an instrument is playing you cant hear it.


A year later we recorded a famous new york based trumpet player "Lew Soloff". Just b4 the recording he explicitly asked that we use a Neumann M149 which here costs $5000. So we went out and rented it. My friend from the other recording was again present (he aint active no more but likes helping me out on his retired days) and this time he brought the T.Bone SCT2000 for €279. As Lew Soloff arrived and did a sound check we told him that we had a new kind of mic which we thought would also like to try on his trumpet - we told him it costed $4000. He was not really keen on it - cuz as he said "I love my Neumann sound and that is ALL I am ever going to use when I am in the studio" The New York based engineer with whom he normally works turned out to be a neumann Endorsee

Anyway - we recorded Lew's trumpet with both mics. Now I cannot begin to describe how affine this guy (great player) was on Neumann so you can imagine the smile on my lips when Lew heard the sound check and we flipped back and forth between the mics without telling him which one was which, and he was not even able to tell them apart. He was real shook up and said that it was impossible for him to call and would really like to know more of that brand of mic which we were using. I made it simple and went and got the €279 invoice. Man, the guy almost had a heart attack and you get to guess ONCE what he bought 2 of.

Anyway - here's a link to a german music warehouse (selling worldwide) and they are the only ones carrying this mic as they are building it:


t.bone sct2000


Sorry to make such a long story out of it but I let me assure you that I will never ever again buy a neuman, brauner, akg etc without comparing them to a t.bone first.

Good Luck

PS - One more little thing about expensive and cheap mics:

The guy to whom I am referring all the time used our 3 meter grand piano for the jazz rec. Although I offered him a matched neumann tlm 170 stereo pair he insisted on using his own setup. Which was a wooden disk mounted vertically and on each side it had a funny looking thin mic spaced each side about 10 cm away from the disk. After the recording I bought his setup cuz it was the greatest piano sound you could imagine... I paid €10 per mic and €50 for the wooden disk - He said "I have to have my friend make that disk - he is a carpenter and I wanna pay him for his effort - the mics btw were two BEHRINGER mics which you normally only use for measurement... They cost €25 per mic if you get em new.....

[jjhuntfox]

I'd suggest you do some searching at the following two web sites for additional opinions:

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/megaboard.php

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/f/33/18614/

[Matt Rouch]

I don't have the Rode K2, but I do have the NTK. I consider it a useful mic. It can be kind of "glassy" on vocals, but it seems to work well on male vocals in the tenor range and what I'd call "husky" female vocals. It's decent --not great, but decent-- on just about anything, but the only thing I almost always use it for is to mic a bass guitar cab. It's great on that. If you combine it with a DI from the bass it consistently delivers a rich, full bass that's able to cut through the mix yet still have that fat bottom end.

It was worth the money I paid just for that. For me, bass was usually the hardest instrument to record. I was almost never satisfied with the sound I got, and I was almost always doing quite a bit of additional EQing during mixdown. The NTK combined with a DI gives a good sound every single time and I rarely have to do any EQ (unless I screwed up the DI).

[Russ M.]

My take on the AT 4060. The AT 4060 is a wonderful mic and handles extreme dynamic well. . It is my alternative to the U87. It works best on voices that have a lot of mids but not much air. I probably use it on vocals 80% of the time. Not great for rock though. The U87 has more of a pushy midrange and the 4060 is just the opposite. I also have used it on Ac Guit and Violin but now sometimes prefer the Earthworks QTC40 for Ac Guitar.