Re: Mic Mods

[Randy Lilleston <randyl@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 15 Jan 1995, Tom Ellis III wrote:

> Many thanks to Barry Schaede for his nice comments on our little mic business
> here.  We do mod old, and only old, JT-30 shells, adding pots, mixing elements,
> different paint jobs, etc.  We firmly believe that older shells have sonic
> qualities that aren't matched by the~I! newer, thin walled shells.

 A couple of things I'm curious about:

 First, do you guys modify Shure Green Bullets? I've never understood why 
someone doesn't offer a modded one of these, with a volume control and 
XLR or phone jack. Many regular Green Bullet guys have done this work for 
themselves.
 Secondly, I can't see how the thickness of the shells makes one iota of 
difference. The mic element in the Astatics is mounted into the grill 
with a rubber gasket, and the element is directional. For the shell to 
make a difference, the sound waves would somehow have to leak through the 
gasket, bounce off the inside of the shell, leak through the gasket again, 
make a Magic U-Turn and head back into the element. In other words, these 
sound waves would have to be more determined than salmon heading for the 
spawning grounds (grin).
 My pet theory (it's as good as anyone else's) is that the old mics sound 
the way they do because of the aging of the element, and because of the 
use of thicker wire from the mic leads to the connector. But who knows? I 
also suspect they sound better because people have decided they must 
sound better (more grinning). Oh, well...