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[lausookiesookie]

A few years ago, I made a trade with Tony Merrill from Stephen Paul audio. He had two AKG C414 microphones  of mine. Both had teflon capsules. I offered to trade him one of the mics if he would put in a Brass CK12  capsule in one of them  and send it back to me.  He sent me an agreement form that I signed and then he sent me the mic. 

I started to have problems with it soon after I got it. It would get this low rumble fluttering, like it was being hit hard by 'plosives even though I was using a pop filter and not much volume was being directed at the microphone. I called Tony and he said that the mic was working perfectly when he tested it. He said it was probably my phantom power source.

Turns out that that made no difference. I had the same  problem thru various mic pre amps. He then said I need to engage the hi-pass filter on the mic. The Problem does seem to go away with a 30 Hz hi-pass filter engaged. There are still artifacts that I  am hearing and it still seems broken.

Tony has been unresponsive for a few years now. I need to find someone else to repair this capsule if possible. Maybe it needs to be reskinned.  Someone said Thiersch in Germany is a good person to send it to. I heard Tim Campbell does a good job but sending stuff from the U.S to him is costly and almost impossible due to customs. Also heard that Haun (MBHO) in Germany does reskinning of CK12 capsules.

 I am wondering if re-skinning can be done in a way that retains the original sound of the CK12. And if so, who does the best job ? Any sage advice would be appreciated.

[klaus]

You bring up several issues which should be kept separate in order to resolve them.

1. Tony Merrill's purchase transaction and quality assurances. Needless to say, that cannot be handled by anyone but the two of you

2. The quality and health of the AKG CK12 capsule. Here, a third-party authentication or evaluation would be helpful: are all of the capsule's components original AKG? Do the diaphragms still have full tension, or are they bottoming out when confronted with 'plosives?

3. "Reskinning" quality of third-party refurbishers. Thiersch would not be my first choice restoring a CK12 (I speak from personal experience); Campbell seems to be the top choice. From my conversations with him, I get the impression that he cares very much. I am not aware that Haun offers third-party capsule restorations of any kind, including CK12.

The capsule is very complicated, and dialing in the magical response it is capable of, is very time-consuming and requires extraordinary skills going way beyond simple measurement protocols.
If your original capsule is truly unrepairable, rather than pursuing reskinning, I would hunt for an original CK12 in good shape, and not risk the timbral changes imminent in all aftermarket re-diaphragming.

[richbreen]

+1 for Tim Campbell!

He did one of the capsules on my C24 and his work was great - matching to the other capsule was excellent.  I had the same reservations about sending the capsule over there, but in the end it was no big deal - whole thing was done in a couple weeks from the time it left me to the time I got it back.  Tim will give you some recommendations about how to ship it, and I found him really easy to deal with.

best,
rich

[granger.frederic]

+1 for Tim
great guy
i used a lot of CT12 capsules for myself and mic repairs
i even sent him a ck12 brass C414eb for remembraning, with great success
never been disapointed

[Noah Scot Snyder]

I'm not a microphone repair technician so I am only speaking of my experience. I had a 414 TLII that exhibited what sounds like the same behavior you describe (very low end information and lots of it more or less unrelated to program). It was a problem with the amplifier and AKG was able to repair it for me. It might be worth having someone look at the mic to determine if the problem is in fact the capsule. Of course, you may have already considered that.

[klaus]

... It was a problem with the amplifier and AKG was able to repair it for me.

In another thread it was discussed that at the moment AKG in Los Angeles may no longer offer factory service support for vintage mics (particularly those with original CK12 capsules may be affected).

[Noah Scot Snyder]

That's too bad. In all honesty, it was a bit cumbersome to deal with them as they are part of the mega Harman Kardon group and a repair on an old mic was not a high priority for them. But I did send it to Northridge and it was repaired in 2013. Of course, mine did not have an original CK12. Unfortunately, there seems to be a reluctance by freelance technicians here to do any surface mount work, so it's usually back to the manufacturer in my experience.