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[judah]

Hey,
got an M500 that need a new ribbon.
Where do I go from here? Sank? Beyer? Anyone?

R.

PS: the M500 is one of the most beautiful mics I ever tried. I own two and the one that still works I payed 60

[fzfile]

I have an M500 but not the 160.

I was going to send it out for the Sank mod because I got it used in the original box and the foam was disintegrated and the foam-dust has gotten on the inside so I figured he could clean it up and do the mod too.

The unmodified mic is really spiked in the upper mids and high end....downright shrill in most cases.
But this one guy I jam with and record with a lot has a real smooth voice that likes to stay buried in a mix and this mic helped him cut through a couple of songs really well.

So I'm just keeping it un-modded for the moment for his voice.

Mr. Sank said his mod would definitely smooth the mic out but it will still be bright .... but different.

Its only $125 for his mod though and he's a super-nice dude.

-mike

[judah]

fzfile wrote on Fri, 17 September 2004 22:14

I have an M500 but not the 160. I was going to send it out for the Sank mod because I got it used in the original box and the foam was disintegrated and the foam-dust has gotten on the inside so I figured he could clean it up and do the mod too. The unmodified mic is really spiked in the upper mids and high end....downright shrill in most cases. But this one guy I jam with and record with a lot has a real smooth voice that likes to stay buried in a mix and this mic helped him cut through a couple of songs really well. So I'm just keeping it un-modded for the moment for his voice. Mr. Sank said his mod would definitely smooth the mic out but it will still be bright .... but different. Its only $125 for his mod though and he's a super-nice dude. -mike

Hi Mike,
thanks for your help. In fact I love the M500 but I don't find mine very bright at all. Maybe it's the ageing of the ribbon or something else but it's really well balanced. I find myself using very small eqs on it. Anyway the other M500 I have arrived today. I bought it from a heavy metal singer I'm workin' with at the moment, Looking inside the ball I can see al the foam is apart and maybe some bits and pieces fell on the ribbon. I'm considering send it to Mr.Sank just for cleaning and checkin' it out. But if the mod is worth a try I'll go for it. I don't need a matched pair neiither two perfectly similar M500. It's just a mic that I happen to love and got this second one for 30

[moogus]

Never tried the M500 (its on my list though) but I love my M130 and M200.  Drums (OH/room) and vocals especially.  Cant say enough good things about them.  Always need eq, but still sound more natural than any other mics I have.



M

[petimar]

I had a reribboned M160 that never seemed to work well for me. I got it cheap of Ebay and and Stephen sank do his reribbon.  Could be there were other problems with it.

When a friend wanted to trade for the M500, I tried it and loved it.  The 500 is more versatile for my uses, and is great on the female vocalists I've tried it with.

[plughead]

IME,

I've used an M500, as well as 160 stock, and Sank DX modded: if the 500 sounds good, and works well, keep it stock. I like the DX mods - they are actually quite bright, with that rich bottom, but a bit more hollow in the mids - not a bad thing, but the stock 500/160/260's seem to sound more forward in the mids, so depends on your desires for the particular application. I find the Beyer mic's circuit a bit noisier than modern equivalent's, but for non-ambient recording, it does the job fine...

If it were an option, I'd have one stock, and one for DX mod: the best of both worlds!

good luck!

[judah]

thanks to all of you. I'm very scared to reribbon my M500. I've heard some bad things about the Stephen Sank mods and I'm still non convinced by the one who respect his work. The one M500 that sounds "good" to me is awesome. This week I'm trackin' an impro-jazz combo and I've used the M500 on a lot of things. I foun dit to be INCREDIBLE on most wind instruments (this week it was: sax (tenor and baritone), clarinet, flute, whistle), did a couple electric guitars too, with beaufitul results. The guitarist kept sayin' "the sound is incredible, the performance sucks but the sound....". So I have to admit that I'm really in love with this mic. The other one is unusable. But to spend 125USD (+shipping) and be disappointed....mmmhhh.. I'd rather spend them for somethign else. And so far I'm not sell yet on the reribbon thing.
thanks anyway to all of you.

R.

[Fletcher]

If you need service, I would recommend sending it back to the manufacturer.  About the only mics I don't recommend someone send back to the manufactuer are Neumann's, AKG's and RCA's.  In the case of RCA, they've moved on and Clarence Kane and Wes Dooley are absolutely meticulous... in the case of Neumann and AKG, there isn't anyone still working for them that seems to know what a microphone is supposed to sound like [except for their new crap... and I personally don't call those microphones... semantics, work with me].

In the case of companies like Beyer and Shure and Sennheiser and Electrovoice, IMNTLBFHO, the manufacturer is the way to go...

Best of luck with the mic!!!

[judah]

Fletcher wrote on Fri, 01 October 2004 13:10

If you need service, I would recommend sending it back to the manufacturer.  About the only mics I don't recommend someone send back to the manufactuer are Neumann's, AKG's and RCA's.  In the case of RCA, they've moved on and Clarence Kane and Wes Dooley are absolutely meticulous... in the case of Neumann and AKG, there isn't anyone still working for them that seems to know what a microphone is supposed to sound like [except for their new crap... and I personally don't call those microphones... semantics, work with me]. In the case of companies like Beyer and Shure and Sennheiser and Electrovoice, IMNTLBFHO, the manufacturer is the way to go... Best of luck with the mic!!!

Hi Fletcher,
thanks for your input. I sent an e-mail to Beyer. Never got a reply. I'll try again.

R.