Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rocky mayocko]

Hello Microphone folks,
I have a Groovetubes model 6tm microphone. I bought this in 1997 and it has been a nice microphone.
I have left it on overnight a dozen time in the many years i have owned it. I’ve been told that the miniature tube is really not apt to have problems.
  I would like some advice for maintenance or modification. All i can say is it doesn't get as much use as an Audio Technica 4047
both my clients and I seem to favor the Audio Technica I've never found the multiple pattens to be useful. This is a Pre Alesis model.
I can't find much info on this.

Here is some background from a review done in Sound on Sound in 1997.

This mic has dual  5-micron, gold-evaporated -- to achieve multiple switchable patterns. Both sides of the capsule are matched to within 1dB. Unusually, the pattern switching is handled by two switches, one for selecting omni, cardioid or figure-of-eight, and the other for switching from wide cardioid to hypercardioid. The pad and roll-off switches are the same as on the 5sc. Powering the on-board preamp is a Groove Tubes-selected 5718M miniature wire-ended triode valve soldered directly to the circuit board. Again, the output is transformer coupled using a CineMag Nickel core transformer which is custom wound for low distortion.
In tests against the 5sc, the 6TM has a significantly warmer, more comfortable sound, but it also handles detail well. While some valve mics work well with only specific types of voice, I get the impression that this one will suit most singers. The sensitivity is broadly similar to that of its tubeless counterpart, and in typical studio situations where the mic is used close up, the background noise performance of both mics is more than adequate, the valve model only slightly noisier than its solid-state counterpart.
SUMMARY

Both these mics are good performers, but in slightly different ways, and the tube-driven 6TM sounds pretty much as you'd expect from Groove Tubes, with a lively, warm character. The 5sc is the company's first tubeless mic, but it uses the same basic capsule construction and delivers more of a warts-and-all, tell-it-like-it-is kind of a sound. Being ruthlessly honest, I have to say that I prefer the sound of the cheaper Rode NT1 as a large-diaphragm, solid-state microphone; if anything, the 5sc errs on the side of sounding just a little lightweight, no doubt due to its presence boost. While lack of coloration is a trait to be admired in certain microphones, large-diaphragm mics are generally used more for their ability to sound larger than life than for their uncompromising accuracy. Nevertheless, different voices do demand different types of mic, so if you need a mic that can open up the top end of the sound while keeping the low-mid clean, the 5sc should do a great job.
 

[klaus]

Reviews in audio magazines cannot be trusted, because they are inevitably linked to the products in ways not disclosed to the reader.

Often, the product to be reviewed is either donated to the magazine or reviewer, or sold at considerable discount, with the expectation (and mutual understanding) of a positive review. If the manufacturer advertises in the publication, there may also be an expectation that the product will be positively mentioned (with a throw-in of marginal negatives, like the color of the cable, or the shape of the wind sock). Positive reviews will then be used by the manufacturer in the promotion of the product.
So, everyone is a winner in this scheme, except...

The bottom line here: the Groove Tube mic is an entry-level condenser and you should not expect more than entry-level performance. Modifications or upgrades of such entry-level mics will rarely lift the product to the next category.

But mics in that price class have their place in introducing beginning recordists to the world of condenser mics, thus improving their recordings, until they are ready and able to spend more money for better mics.