I would hope that you knew enough about ribbon microphones to make sure that on your 1641, you didn't have phantom power on? If you're phantom power was on and there had been any kind of intermittent with your microphone cable and connectors, there is a good chance you have just killed your new M-260. Phantom power should never be applied to any ribbon microphone except those indicated to be " active ribbons ". Those are the only ribbon microphones that actually require phantom power since there is internal active electronics to buffer the output of the ribbon. So in those particular microphones, they need phantom. Otherwise, Phantom should be avoided like the Black plague with any ribbon microphone of a passive variety, which are most. You may be attempting to return something you actually just blew up yourself? And that's not his fault it's yours.

If you decide to test for continuity with a volt ohm multimeter, it should be set for ohms at the highest setting not the lowest setting. You need to check between pins 2-3 for any indication of continuity. No continuity would indicate either a bad connection, cold solder joint or that the new ribbon has been blown like a fuse due to phantom power. Your 260 was my first introduction to ribbon microphone technology from my mentor 40 years ago. It's a nice short geometry single ribbon unlike its bigger brother of the 160 which utilizes a pair of ribbons and is quite a bit more costly. I've had four of those for over 30 years. And yes, they have survived phantom power... so far since I also make sure my Cables are always good. But phantom power is only applied to my ribbon microphones from mixers for which there is no switch to defeat phantom power with. So I've always been taking a chance that I won't be having any cable connection issues. And my 160's were more than $700 each. One was actually killed by a waitress who inadvertently struck the microphone stand and the microphone went to the floor never to be heard from again, sheesh. The cost of that microphone was what I was making on that particular job. C'est la vie $700 down the toilet. And that wasn't from phantom power but from a phantom waitress.

I will not record Phantom of the Opera.
Mx. Remy Ann David

Thanks RemyRAD,
Yep I knew about the phantom and by the way It couldn't happen because the cable provided was ending in mono jack and NOT xlr, my 1641 has phantom only on the first 8 channels xlr; I would never try a microphone using phantom first anyway, I try to get info before making any attempt. I actually thought he needed a dedicate preamp because of impedance issue kind of vintage vs modern device.

The seller's gonna get it back and we see how we end it up, he was a bit vague about his testing then I assume he didn't really test it before sell it and even the price was a bit suspiciously cheap 73£, but you can get some good deal sometimes.

I actually wanted a m160 but couldn't find any of the old series, dunno really how the new ones are.
Thanks for your help anyway
Matt

RemyRAD, post: 385102 wrote: I would hope that you knew enough about ribbon microphones to make sure that on your 1641, you didn't have phantom power on? If you're phantom power was on and there had been any kind of intermittent with your microphone cable and connectors, there is a good chance you have just killed your new M-260. Phantom power should never be applied to any ribbon microphone except those indicated to be " active ribbons ". Those are the only ribbon microphones that actually require phantom power since there is internal active electronics to buffer the output of the ribbon. So in those particular microphones, they need phantom. Otherwise, Phantom should be avoided like the Black plague with any ribbon microphone of a passive variety, which are most. You may be attempting to return something you actually just blew up yourself? And that's not his fault it's yours.

If you decide to test for continuity with a volt ohm multimeter, it should be set for ohms at the highest setting not the lowest setting. You need to check between pins 2-3 for any indication of continuity. No continuity would indicate either a bad connection, cold solder joint or that the new ribbon has been blown like a fuse due to phantom power. Your 260 was my first introduction to ribbon microphone technology from my mentor 40 years ago. It's a nice short geometry single ribbon unlike its bigger brother of the 160 which utilizes a pair of ribbons and is quite a bit more costly. I've had four of those for over 30 years. And yes, they have survived phantom power... so far since I also make sure my Cables are always good. But phantom power is only applied to my ribbon microphones from mixers for which there is no switch to defeat phantom power with. So I've always been taking a chance that I won't be having any cable connection issues. And my 160's were more than $700 each. One was actually killed by a waitress who inadvertently struck the microphone stand and the microphone went to the floor never to be heard from again, sheesh. The cost of that microphone was what I was making on that particular job. C'est la vie $700 down the toilet. And that wasn't from phantom power but from a phantom waitress.

I will not record Phantom of the Opera.
Mx. Remy Ann David

I have never used a Tascam US-1641, but I thought it had 8 microphone pre-amps with XLR connectors and 8 line inputs on jacks. If you are trying to use a ribbon mic plugged into a line input, it isn't likely to work, as there is not enough gain. However, before rejecting the mic as faulty, I would try a cable that terminates in an XLR connector at the Tascam end plugged into one of the mic channels on the US-1641.

If the mic appears to work on an XLR input but is still very quiet, it could be that there is simply not enough gain in the US-1641 anyway, even using a mic channel. If so, that would not be the fault of the mic seller.

If the mic does work but you don't want it, I'll buy it off you for what you paid for it.

Hi there, tascam 1641 has 10 mic pre inpunt, 8 xlr, 2 jack, + 4 line (without pre)on the back. I've tried even on other equipment and it doesn't work anyway. To use a Xlr you need to remove the 'motor' from the plug or use an adapter because the mic doesn't work, and the mic socket is a small tuchel because is not a modern one (which has a hpf on it).

And of course I want the mic, that's why I want it fixed. If h hasn't enough gain how can you use it without have a ridiculous amount of noise? Hopefully the seller is gonna sort it out, otherwise Beyerdynamic will.

Selling it again... don't think so, it worth to be fixed anyway

The two front-panel jacks on the Tsacam US-1641 are not classified as pre-amp inputs. They are switchable to be line/instrument level. The instrument position does have reasonable gain (only 6dB less than the pre-amps on the XLR mic inputs), so would serve to test a ribbon mic, but it is not what I would want to use as a permanent route in for the Beyer.

For extra gain, you can get in-line boosters that give you an extra 20dB. They are designed for low-output dynamic mics (which include ribbon and moving coil types), and plug into an XLR input of the interface. They power themselves off phantom power from the interface, but do not pass the PP through to their XLR mic input. To use a booster like this you would have to get an XLR adaptor or else a different small Tuchel - XLR lead.

Hi, yeah fine, how much extra gain do I suppose to need? even plugging into a PA doesn't give a minimum sign of noise leaving apart signal, If you need 60 or 80 db more than any other mic (uher 534, akg d14s, shure sm57, sm58, akg d3500 all give good signal) you plug into the same input then there is definitely something wrong. Maybe somebody had some experience with this mic and can help, how my tascam works I already know, just because I used already to record. A line boost of 20 db would give me at most 20 db of volume isn't it (0+20=20), 1/3 of a man normal speaking volume, probably not enough.
Another think is that the cable has the transformer on it, then if you wanna change the cable you need to modify it. Since I'm not buying something broken or non in perfect condition I don't see why I suppose to spend extra money on it. Now the seller is responsible for it otherwise we'll find a solution to fix it with beyerdynamic in Germany.

Boswell, post: 385139 wrote: The two front-panel jacks on the Tsacam US-1641 are not classified as pre-amp inputs. They are switchable to be line/instrument level. The instrument position does have reasonable gain (only 6dB less than the pre-amps on the XLR mic inputs), so would serve to test a ribbon mic, but it is not what I would want to use as a permanent route in for the Beyer.

For extra gain, you can get in-line boosters that give you an extra 20dB. They are designed for low-output dynamic mics (which include ribbon and moving coil types), and plug into an XLR input of the interface. They power themselves off phantom power from the interface, but do not pass the PP through to their XLR mic input. To use a booster like this you would have to get an XLR adaptor or else a different small Tuchel - XLR lead.

This microphone already has a transformer on the cable, you are already getting an extra free 10 DB of passive gain. And that should work just fine going into the 1/4 inch input. So if the preamp has 50 DB of gain you would have 60 with that transformer which should still be adequate for spoken word recording. Not that you won't hear some hiss. You are likely to but hey, you can take care of that with software and have a great sound.

With six you get egg roll
MX Remy Ann David