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Hi Harvey and everyone.

As I was going through my equipment closet I came across the mic above. I didn't think much about it but became curious when I did a google search and found it was reviewed in an old audio mag (the body of the review was unavailable) and was part of the equipment in a studio. Another site had someone's opinion that it was similar to an AKG 431.

I plugged it in and it was not that impressive, however, and it also needed a lot of gain. To the point that my Mackie 1202VLZ (not Pro) preamp was quite hissy.

Any info on this old mic? Any site I should check? Anything would be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,

JOAT

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GT40sc Wed, 03/06/2002 - 13:11

I have a couple of those, bought new in 1983 for $50 each. At the time, the best microphone you could get from Radio Shack. (Not saying much) But reviews at the time were quite favorable.

They were also very common in video; I have seen them used as camera mics under several different brand names.

It's one of those "sounds OK if you don't have anything else" type microphones. Used them on drum overheads all the time, back in the project studio days. Worked fine, as long as no one asked me what they were...

Their "sound character" is more in favor of analog recording, and can get harsh under the wrong circumstances (bad cymbals, hats, ADATs, etc) But they worked great with my old Tascam TSR-8...

hope this helps,

SC

anonymous Wed, 03/06/2002 - 19:09

Hey thanks a lot, SC! I've been waiting a while for someone to reply to this post!

Your comments are pretty much what I expected about this mic. Do you have trouble pre amping it? I have to crank a lot of juice through it to get it to an acceptible level but then my preamp starts hissing. And it doesn't accept phantom power just the battery.

Thanks a bunch for the info!

JOAT

knightfly Wed, 03/06/2002 - 22:59

Hey, I have 3 of those babys too - went back about 5 years later and tried to buy 5 more, just cause they're cheap and usually work. My luck was good, though - they put in a high power FM station about 12 miles from my studio, and those mics work great as FM receivers. Actually came in loud enough to use as background music... I never tried kluge-ing bigger batteries onto them, but that might improve the sensitivity, or kill them... Now that I have a pair of Oktava's and a pair of MXL V67M's, maybe I'll try a 9-volt battery across one. (In about 3 months, when I have things re-wired in the studio...) Steve

anonymous Thu, 03/07/2002 - 06:23

Thanks for the info, Knightfly. Tough luck about the FM reception.

I also just received my V67 and I am very happy with it considering it is my first large diameter mic. Do you find a lot of use for the pair of V67? Because of the price drop, I am wondering if I should buy another but I don't know what applications I would use it on. So far I think peopld have been getting mixed results on anything besides vocals.

JOAT