Old microphones

[MattF]

Hi Guys

 

A bunch of old mics are potentially about to come my way, and I was after a bit of help separating the wheat from the chaff. The only knowledge I have on these comes from a basic googling.

 

Shure 819s. Suggestions that these are the precursor to the sm91, or infact the same with a different number?

AKG D19. Some of the studio bloggers seem to like these, specifically on vocals. Otherwise nothing.

Grampion GR1 and GR2. I've never heard of Grampion, but they seem to be an older British manufacturer. Anyone used these?

Audio Technica ATM10. Bit more internet noise on these, but nothing glaringly positive.

 

And some which I think may be bin candidates unless anyone suggests they are hidden gems.

 

Shure Unidyne III 545. Google isn't being too helpful with this. Link to a pdf in the shure "discontinued" section appears to have now been discontinued.

Altai Electret condenser mic. Anyone?

Realistic stereo electret microphone. As above.

 

Obviously I'm hoping to check all these through and listen myself, but I'm after anyone who used to use them, or in some cases has even heard of the manufacturer, to provide whatever info they might have.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

[timtheenchanteruk]

the Realistic is old "Tandy" own brand, some of their stuff was actually suprisingly OK, one of their PZMs were the crown rejects, but still pretty good.

 

Im pretty sure the shure unidyne was of a similar feild, ie maplin/tandy esque, and not up to much.

 

Altai, well....

[Trunker]

Shure Uni-dyne, not bad on guitars considering when they were built, AT10aM, I like these for drum overheads on theatre shows, picks up the kit far better than C1000 (what wouldn't?) Nice full sound. Not come across the rest to comment.

[Stan Hope-Streeter]

I used to use Shure 545's in the 1970's. They look like an SM57 and have similar applications.

 

819 doesn't look like a Shure number, maybe it was OEM'd for another manufacturer?

 

Here's the original Shure part number code:

 

200 series: Ceramic

 

300 series: Ribbon

 

400 series: Balanced armature ("controlled magnetic ") for comms systems

 

500 series: Dynamic

 

The SM (Studio) types followed a similar code, but it seems to have been corrupted and extended in recent years. Numbers 8 and 9 denote electrostatic types.

[MattF]

819 doesn't look like a Shure number, maybe it was OEM'd for another manufacturer?

 

That's what I thought, but pretty much the only solid bit of info I've been able to track down was http://www.shure.com/idc/groups/public/doc..._pro_819_ug.pdf , which definitely makes it look similar to an sm91.

 

Thanks for the info on shure number codes, always interested in stuff like that.

 

Sounds like the 545 and atm10 might make it to a real listening test. Not holding out particularly high hopes for the Altai and Realistic, but hopefully steering clear of judging books by covers...

 

Cheers for the input guys, anything else out there?

 

Matt

[Simon Lewis]

Cheers for the input guys, anything else out there?

 

I seem to remember that the ATM10 was an omni?

I used Unidyne IIIs as SM57 substitutes for several years - fine for what they were used for (guitar cabs etc.). Some had 4 pole screw on connectors that allowed hi or lo Z conection (possibly a Tuchel connector?).

[Sound Man]

I've got four Shure 545 microphones and I use them to mic up choirs. They can be wired for both an high and low impedance output. Further information available here.

 

As regards the Altai Electret condenser mic, it depends on what the model number is. I have got a couple of them and mine require a single AA battery for power.

 

The Grampian microphones are vintage but if you put them on e-bay someone will buy them. They proberbly have an high impedance output but I can't confirm this.

 

Hope that helps.

 

David

[paulears]

Grampian mics were pretty popular for PAs in the late 60s early 70s and sounded totally ... awful! Impedance wise, oddly, many were very low impedance, 25 Ohms, if I remember correctly, called DP4L. If you don't get the connector, you're going to have trouble - they were a very odd twin pin type with a screw ring for the earth.

 

You could even get a parabolic dish for them at one time.

 

The 545 was an excellent mic - the SM57 superceded it after running parallel for a year or two. The SM58 was the old 565. They didn't originally use XLRs, and as Simon says, they had the Tuchel connector fitted and you used a different cable to get low or hi z - rather neat!

[James Remo]

http://www.microphone-data.com is a good source of data on microphones, but it doesn't go that far back (ATM10a is the only mic there is info for from your list) You do have to register but I've not received any direct spam in the 2 years I've been registered. Not massively helpful to the OP, but a good source of info

[Jivemaster]

Try them! Even a great mic can sound bad if it's been illtreated.

 

If you don't like the sound you get then relegate tham to props! Some of the very early mics are in demand as props.

 

IIRC Grampian was a brand applied to some home and pro audio kit in the 50' and 60s including big metal horn speakers for large area PA. Whether they made the mics or bought them in....

[paulears]

Grampian were a pretty big firm and made all their kit. I didn't read the OPs post properly - the ones he's talking about are ribbons - sorry.

 

http://www.saturn-sound.com/images/grampian%20gr1%20-%20cardioid%20ribbon%20mic

[Stan Hope-Streeter]

Grampian were a pretty big firm and made all their kit. I didn't read the OPs post properly - the ones he's talking about are ribbons

 

I've just had a rummage in my technical library. These are listed in the 1968/9 HiFi Yearbook but not the 1959 or 1962 editions, which gives some clue as to vintage.

 

The GR1 and GR2 were the same except for their polar patterns. GR1 was described as "unequal figure of eight" (I'd say that means a hypercardioid) whilst the GR2 was "equal figure of eight".

There's a built in transformer and they were available as 25, 200 or 50k ohms. I don't know if that was by selecting trafo taps or whether they had to be ordered in a given impedance.

 

Old ribbon mics such as these are worth loadsamoney on ebay, the audio freaks love them.

 

The ribbons are easily damaged, but various mic specialists (professionals and hobbyists) can repair them. The job requires some jigs and a suitable grade & thickness of aluminium foil.

[Lamplighter]

AKG D19 was a highly regarded general purpose dynamic mic in the mid 1960s. Slightly odd 60 ohm impedence and a switchable high pass filter. Natural sounding on speech and most vocals, cardiod pattern. I used one for over 40 years until the coil went open circuit. Sadly missed.

Brian

[jodat2]

I don't think the ATM10s are that bad. They're certianly not as good as some of audio technicas other mics. I had a problem with one recently which found out it only needed a replacement battery.

[paulears]

Canford Audio packaged an ATM10 with a MD recorder in one of their ASC packages a few years ago, as part of a reporter kit. I have to say I was quite impressed with it.