Stonker or stinker?
 

"Don Pearce" wrote


First up, that out-of-phase thing is going on again.


Yep, but I'm not too troubled about that - both/either of those mics
would only be used for mono recordings. (Not to say there won't be
'absolute phase' questions in the future though!)


The two channels
are upside down from each other. And first impression is that this mic
is unbelievably much brighter than the ribbon.


Yes.


In fact it really
sounds far too bright.


Yes.


Perhaps that is something that is settling out
of the initial problems.


I'm watching it.

If it was always too bright it would then be a question of
tweaking/fettling it. I have a feeling the bloody valve is soldered in -
otherwise, a swap for a nice Mullard or summat would be first port of
call!

Another option of course is to return it for a refund, but I feel I'm
already a bit reluctant to do that - the challenge to make it summat a
bit nicer would be an interesting one....



As for that preamp, it looks like the phantom power may be on. Does
that plastic blob on the back pull out and go in the other hole?


:-)

I don't think so, but there's absolutely nothing goes anywhere near
there - see in the bottom of this pic, about midway on the back of the
case and to the right of the gain adjustment:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/MicAmp03.JPG

Stonker or stinker?
 

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:07:32 GMT, (Don Pearce)
wrote:

First up, that out-of-phase thing is going on again. The two channels
are upside down from each other. And first impression is that this mic
is unbelievably much brighter than the ribbon. In fact it really
sounds far too bright. Perhaps that is something that is settling out
of the initial problems.

As for that preamp, it looks like the phantom power may be on. Does
that plastic blob on the back pull out and go in the other hole?

Is there a test recording somewhere that you two are keeping to
yourselves?

Stonker or stinker?
 

"Laurence Payne" NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:52:28 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

OK, that's interesting but one of the auctions I was looking at for
valve mics made a fairly strong point about *not* letting the mic see
Phantom power...???

Point us at it?


Can't - I had a number of them in My eBay before I made a choice but
I've since had a clearout and seem to have deleted them. I clearly
remember the *do not* bit, but I've no idea now what it was - one of
then was a strange 'solid state valve' affair and I can't find that even
in completed listings. There's always the chance it was on a website
that was linked from an eBay auction, anyway....

Stonker or stinker?
 

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:52:28 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


OK, that's interesting but one of the auctions I was looking at for
valve mics made a fairly strong point about *not* letting the mic see
Phantom power...???


It can be important when there is a wiring fault in the mic,
particularly with a ribbon mic, where it is possible to put phantom
across the ribbon and blast it out of the gap. If everything is OK,
though, there is never a problem putting phantom on a mic that doesn't
need it.



OK, from what you and Plowie have said, I'm quite comfortable with that
now!

Stonker or stinker?
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Phil Allison" wrote in message
...

"Keith G"
"Phil Allison"

** The Chinese do - wherever a via is really needed

12 year olds with bare feet, standing on a dirt floor in a big
galvanised
iron shed with a diesel gene droning on outside copying sample PCBs.

True enough - I suspect the 12 year olds are the ones approaching
retirement age, though.


I haven't been to China and I haven't seen for myself, but I
suspect/hope the views expressed above are not true or, if they are, I'm
pretty certain they won't last for long.


** He says - arguing foolishly from a position of self admitted
ignorance.


It's foolish to admit ignorance?

How else is anyone ever gonna find anything out?



Wise up and ask someone who has really been there and seen the conditions
first hand - as I did.

Performing light assembly by hand in dirt floor sheds is nice work under
nice conditions, for rural China.


See my mention of the movie 'Not One Less' - if it bears any resemblance
whatsover to reality (and I believe it does - none of the characters are
played by professional actors for a start), it kinda implies that in rural
China dirt floors are not uncommon. I think you are making the mistake
that *less Western* nations (who don't have Chav fake wood panel flooring)
automatically have no life?



For the opposite - check out the Chinese factories making tubes for
compact fluorescent lamps, the ones we are now told are so efficient &
planet friendly we HAVE to use them, like it or not.

There is liquid mercury and its toxic compounds lying all over the
floors.


Don't make the mistake of thinking that sort of thing is exclusive to
China - parts of East Anglia glow green at night from the queer ****
that's being dumped there, I'm led to believe!!

In the late '80s, I worked for Marconi, and spent a fair bit of time in
China as we were thinking about forming a joint-venture with a Chinese radio
Transmitter factory. They wanted access to modern designs, and we wanted
access to cheap manufacturing facilities, as FM was being expanded rapidly
in China at the time.

I visited one particular factory which made FM transmitters, 1-10kW tetrode
designs, whereas European transmitters of the era and of that power were
solid-state. I was particularly interested in Quality Control, as I
couldn't see any! I was told that staff "self-criticise" and so an inspector
isn't needed, nor would it be culturally acceptable as any criticism of a
worker's output would mean them losing face. This would be fine, if I didn't
see several assembly workers taking their soldering irons to the solder,
melting a blob onto the end of the iron, then balancing the molten blob and
dropping it onto the PC board pad. I was told they all did it that way......
When I was later asking them about what failure mechanisms they had found
were particularly common, they said they had problems with dry joints.......

Needless to say, we didn't form a joint venture with that particular
company, nor any other at the time.

It's now twenty years that I haven't been to China, so I don't know if the
culture against seperate inspection is still a factor, but since then I've
been sceptical of Chinese Quality Control ever since. There was a programme
on TV some weeks ago about a UK manufacturers that have factories in China,
and maintaining Quality seemed to recur as a problem. With modern automatic
pick&place machines and SMT, there is less scope for quality issues than
with hand soldered electronics, but nevertheless, if the culture doesn't
accept outside criticism, it doesn't bode well for quality.

S.



--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

Stonker or stinker?
 

"Laurence Payne" NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com wrote in message
...
On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:07:32 GMT, (Don Pearce)
wrote:

First up, that out-of-phase thing is going on again. The two channels
are upside down from each other. And first impression is that this mic
is unbelievably much brighter than the ribbon. In fact it really
sounds far too bright. Perhaps that is something that is settling out
of the initial problems.

As for that preamp, it looks like the phantom power may be on. Does
that plastic blob on the back pull out and go in the other hole?

Is there a test recording somewhere that you two are keeping to
yourselves?



Nothing worth going *public* with!! ;-)

I'll post some music comparisons when I get it a bit better sorted...

Stonker or stinker?
 

In article ,
Keith G wrote:
OK, that's interesting but one of the auctions I was looking at for
valve mics made a fairly strong point about *not* letting the mic see
Phantom power...???

Then it's badly designed in some way. Most studios have permanent phantom
power on all mic inputs - and valve mics are still in use in some. My AKG
C28 is fine with phantom power - and it was designed before such a thing
existed. (IIRC)

--
*Middle age is when it takes longer to rest than to get tired.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Stonker or stinker?
 

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
OK, that's interesting but one of the auctions I was looking at for
valve mics made a fairly strong point about *not* letting the mic see
Phantom power...???


It can be important when there is a wiring fault in the mic,
particularly with a ribbon mic, where it is possible to put phantom
across the ribbon and blast it out of the gap. If everything is OK,
though, there is never a problem putting phantom on a mic that doesn't
need it.

How do you get DC past its transformer?

--
*It doesn't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Stonker or stinker?
 

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:09:19 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
OK, that's interesting but one of the auctions I was looking at for
valve mics made a fairly strong point about *not* letting the mic see
Phantom power...???


It can be important when there is a wiring fault in the mic,
particularly with a ribbon mic, where it is possible to put phantom
across the ribbon and blast it out of the gap. If everything is OK,
though, there is never a problem putting phantom on a mic that doesn't
need it.

How do you get DC past its transformer?

With a ribbon the inrush current in the transformer is enough to do
the job. I've heard of permanently bent ribbons that way, although I
haven't seen it for myself.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Stonker or stinker?
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Laurence Payne" NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com wrote


Is there a test recording somewhere that you two are keeping to
yourselves?



Nothing worth going *public* with!! ;-)

I'll post some music comparisons when I get it a bit better sorted...


Here's a couple of quick snatches which Swim *volunteered* while I had
the
mics set up as per:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/Two%20Mics.JPG


- *not*, I hasten to add, anything like a proper setup for recording!

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show...0&%20Valve.mp3

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show...0&%20Valve.mp3


The left channel is the ribbon, the right channel is the valve mic -
each one conspires to make the other sound ****e...!!

:-)