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Author Topic: CT-12 Capsule?  (Read 33991 times)

Klaus Heyne

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #15 on: November 04, 2010, 12:34:30 PM »

kats wrote on Wed, 03 November 2010 13:24


I'll do a review on JJ's forum soon...

I'd rather you did that on PSW's microphone forum, especially because the pertinent thread started here.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks
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kats

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #16 on: November 04, 2010, 11:07:17 PM »

My pleasure! Coming soon.
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Tony K.
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Entertainment is a bore, communication is where it's at! - Brian Jones 1967

kats

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2010, 12:17:07 AM »

Well here's my review of a C12type microphone I built. First time I have tried to build a mic and it wasn't without some growing pains. The first one took me about 2 weeks of basically staring at a schematic wondering where I went wrong and why the bottom end was weak and no reach on the mic. Basically 4 hours of building and a hundred hours of staring. It turns out I had a faulty xformer and I had built the mic correctly from the get go!

Components:

Capsule: CT12 by Tim Cambell
Valve: GE 6072 5 star
Xformer: Tab Funkenwerk Hiller Type 14:1
Mechanical: Flea
PSU: Tab Funkenwerk
Cable: Gotham Audio GAC 7

Resistors: NOS as per original, except for the shunts which were ohmite's
Capacitors: NOS polystyrene as per original. Coupling cap: V-Cap - (Oil Impregnated Metalized Polypropylene) 1.0uf as opposed to .5uf as called for in schematic.

Note on coupling cap. Originally I went with a Solen SM series .5uf cap because I couldn't find a suitable PIO cap (I still wouldn't mind trying) but when I was having the bottom end troubles I spent too much money on a V-CAP  with a 1.0uf value in hopes of squeezing some more low end. At that time I didn't know the issue was with the xformer. I should mention that TAB replaced the xformer no questions asked, nor requesting the old one back or charging for shipping, and in a timely manner.

And speaking of vendors, Tim Cambpell had phoned me months after I bought the capsules from him wondering how I liked them and offered tuning changes if I had any different preferences. He also mentioned that he tunes them on the side of bright as opposed to dark as that is his preference, and as it turns out it was my preference as well. According to Tim, his capsule uses the original NOS gold sputterrd membrane that AKG used to skin his CT12's that he had  acquired. My only complaint would be that the tab on the side of the capsule protrudes a little too much to fit in the headbasket comfortably. I mentioned it  to him and he offered to rectify it, but I was able to do that myself without much trouble. But in fairness for an honest review, it should be mentioned.

The mechanical kit from flea is nice piece of work. I'm not sure about the headbasket. It seems a little too square at the top corners, more like an Ela m 251 and a little higher. In my research in how to build this mic, it seemed to me in pictures that the head basket was slightly rounded on the corners and not as tall. Perhaps someone could share some light on the subject for me?

One thing about the kit. It was designed to use a Haufe T14 xformer. Because I chose the Hiller, the screws to hold the xformer in place were not long enough and you would have to buy longer screws.

The PSU seems to be very well built, fat traces, historical look, and built to historical specifications so that I could bias the mic using the original methods.

So far I have used the mics on about 2 dozen session, from acoustic guitars, drum overheads, male and female voice, piano rooms, drum rooms, and back ground vocals. It has always worked well, and has always returned  very good results.  I should mention that the two mics are close in sound, very consistent with eachother although if you critically listen, one has slightly more in the high frequencies. So not perfect.

I've included 3 wav files. Keri Latimer ("Nathan") was kind enough to give me permission to post these here.  2 of these files are from a mic shootout with absolutely no processing. The chain was mic->Helios type 69->UA2192->PT 44.1/24. Unfortunately there was noise in the stuido when we did the shootout and the gain was low on the preamplifier. I have included the final track used on the record to get a better quality recording here, but the caveat is that it was going through an LA3A compressor hitting at the most 2-3dB GR at peaks - but still premix no eq or effects. IIRC, the demo's might have been sung 18" - 20" inches from the mic where I believe I had Keri move up a bit to 12" - 18" from the mic. All patterns were cardioid.

I've included the mic we shot my C12 against for interest sake. It was a Telefunken U47AE made in USA using the identical chain.

Okay the wavs:

C12 Demo:   http://empirerecording.ca/review/c12 test.wav

U47 Demo: http://empirerecording.ca/review/u47.wav

C12 Final: http://empirerecording.ca/review/c12 final.wav


http://empirerecording.ca/review/body.jpg

http://empirerecording.ca/review/tubeside.jpg

http://empirerecording.ca/review/xformerside.jpg

http://empirerecording.ca/review/capsule.jpg

http://empirerecording.ca/review/tubeside2.jpg
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Tony K.
http://empirerecording.ca

Entertainment is a bore, communication is where it's at! - Brian Jones 1967

J.J. Blair

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2010, 02:25:30 PM »

Great job, Tony!  Is that the FLEA body kit?  What are the green resistors, and where did you get them?
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studio info

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kats

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2010, 05:07:38 PM »

Yeah FLEA mechanical kit.

Those green resistors are "Victoreens". I found them at that surplus place in the States - I think you might have even mentioned the place to me, can't remember now. Last year's invoices are packed away.

EDIT: I remember now, Surplus Sales of Nebraska
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Tony K.
http://empirerecording.ca

Entertainment is a bore, communication is where it's at! - Brian Jones 1967

J.J. Blair

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #20 on: November 08, 2010, 03:37:02 PM »

Cool.  I get stuff there all the time.  Never saw those!  Thanks.
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studio info

They say the heart of Rock & Roll is still beating, which is amazing if you consider all the blow it's done over the years.

"The Internet enables pompous blowhards to interact with other pompous blowhards in a big circle jerk of pomposity." - Bill Maher

"The negative aspects of this business, not only will continue to prevail, but will continue to accelerate in madness. Conditions aren't going to get better, because the economics of rock and roll are getting closer and closer to the economics of Big Business America." - Bill Graham

kats

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #21 on: November 13, 2010, 11:33:16 AM »

JJ, if you find something to replace the 250M ohmite shunt resistors that are period correct, let me know!

And of course a PIO coupling cap would be nice, I have bad luck finding those. On a side note, I also tried the rel-cap polystyrene caps and they were good too. I'd like to build another pair using only modern electronics and see how they sound.
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Tony K.
http://empirerecording.ca

Entertainment is a bore, communication is where it's at! - Brian Jones 1967

rphilbeck

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #22 on: November 29, 2010, 06:08:00 PM »

Wow that is awesome Tony.  Thanks for posting this.  I've been considering a project like this for sometime and you may have just put me over the edge.  



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KB_S1

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #23 on: November 29, 2010, 06:40:11 PM »

Tony,

would you mind sharing how much that cost you to put together?
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kats

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #24 on: November 29, 2010, 07:38:49 PM »

$2.5k ish
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Tony K.
http://empirerecording.ca

Entertainment is a bore, communication is where it's at! - Brian Jones 1967

rphilbeck

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #25 on: November 29, 2010, 08:04:33 PM »

Bargain.  You get the pride of having built it yourself and it sounds gorgeous from the samples you provided!!!
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Frankenheimer

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #26 on: November 30, 2010, 07:40:02 AM »

Something at 200HZ.Could be the room.Would be great to hear the mic without any device in between. Only the preamp and the converter signal.Anyway, sounds great.My CK4 pimped mic is a workhorse and used nearly every day.
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Franz Skale
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DAHAM RECORDINGS and codings

matucha

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #27 on: November 30, 2010, 07:51:36 PM »

Or proximity effect.

But this thread cought my attention, because my pair of c414eb has the white ringed capsules with glued-on membranes. They doesn't sound bad, but a bit too ironed out/bland. That's good at times, but not great on most mid rich material. What I like about them is how they interpret bas, it is deep and sounds true (for lack of better words). I wouldn't like to loose that, but at the same time I hear brass ringed capsules are more "alive" and exciting sounding. Would you change the original teflon capsules for CT-12s if you had othervise very nice pair of C414eb?
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kats

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #28 on: November 30, 2010, 08:12:27 PM »

Frankenheimer wrote on Tue, 30 November 2010 06:40

Something at 200HZ.Could be the room.Would be great to hear the mic without any device in between. Only the preamp and the converter signal.Anyway, sounds great.My CK4 pimped mic is a workhorse and used nearly every day.


The first two clips are without anything between them. Unfortunately the HVAC room door was open so you hear the noise. The singer is also back from the mic an additional 6 inches ( as I mentioned) so you will hear less proximaty effect.  I did bring her closer for the last  take because I liked that sense of intimacy it brought. That's probably what your hearing.  

Having said that, there still is a bit of "that" in the mic. Deep bass and full low mids, coupled with the air on top. That character is what I find so interesting about this mic.

Ps.

The Hiller type xformer which preceded the Haufe xformer in C12 production allows for more bass response in the mic. Also as an aside, I have a/b'd this mic with some of the top cloners and the low mids and bass were very similar, however the CT12 exhibited more air and presence which I found to be a welcome attribute relatively speaking.  
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Tony K.
http://empirerecording.ca

Entertainment is a bore, communication is where it's at! - Brian Jones 1967

Frankenheimer

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Re: CT-12 Capsule?
« Reply #29 on: December 01, 2010, 06:56:48 PM »

matucha wrote on Wed, 01 December 2010 01:51

Or proximity effect.

But this thread cought my attention, because my pair of c414eb has the white ringed capsules with glued-on membranes. They doesn't sound bad, but a bit too ironed out/bland. That's good at times, but not great on most mid rich material. What I like about them is how they interpret bas, it is deep and sounds true (for lack of better words). I wouldn't like to loose that, but at the same time I hear brass ringed capsules are more "alive" and exciting sounding. Would you change the original teflon capsules for CT-12s if you had othervise very nice pair of C414eb?

I have a very nice sounding C422 with teflon capsules, but i am about to evaluate a change to the CT-12 ones.Don't understand me wrong, i use the c422 quite often, but i think with the CT-12 it would be a weapon for all circumstances. So i pimped my CK4. Also equipped with the teflon capsule.It was hard, cause of the space in the basket, but it is one of my favorites.I us it with a Soika Op-Amped Sytek preamp.Great sounding.Also love my matched pair of 414combs, which are in pristine condition and do their work mostly on overheads and voice.But also they are fabulous on 6 to 12 string (also slide guitar) switched to omni.
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Franz Skale
http://dah.am/coding/
DAHAM RECORDINGS and codings
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