Identifying mic capsules

[revbobuk]

Just been watching a prog. about folk music on BBC3, and lots of the archive recordings had capsules that looked a lot like AKG CK5 mics, on various length bodies and goosenecks. But they were silver, rather than the black which seems to be the only standard colour for the CK5. Were they something else?

 

I was also tickled by the Steeleye Span number which had Maddie Prior singing 'All around my hat' with a small diaphragm condenser on a stand, then picking it up and singing into it from about 1cm away, with no pop shield or any kind of pop noise. Just possibly miming!

[paulears]

In those days, the capsules, pre-amps and extention tubes were all silver. The CK5 was very popular on totp, it's essentially just a CK1 with windshield. Most at that time did not have XLRs but Tuchel connectors.

[Simon Lewis]

Indeed - the nickel finish predates the black one, and I still have various 451 series parts in nickel.

Another common sight on TOTP in the eighties was what looked like a 451 with an aeriel coming out of the Tuchel connector. I assume that the beeb simply stuck a pencil with a bit of heatshrink over it up the connector to make it look like a radio mic. There were plenty of videos with singers miming into Unisphere Bs with no cable at all...