Hot Rod -- Crystal Balls Mic (LONG)
(Note: This is kinda long. Sorry.)
Harpers,
I've finally had a chance to take a good look inside that Hot Rod/Crystal
Balls mic. In talking to Kevin at Kevin's harps, this mic might be
a straight Hot Rod and not a hybrid like I thought. I haven't talked
to my friend again about it, but Kevin said that the yellow colored
mics are Hot Rods and that all the Crystal balls are silver-green (like
an old JT-30). Anyway, here's what I found...
THE POT
-------
The pot is definitely 5 Meg, I measured it. The only markings on it are
a 'C' w/a circle around it (like a copyright symbol) and '5M'. The pot
looks similar to the ones that you can get a Radio Shack, however, it
has the type terminals that solder into a circuit board as opposed to
the short terminals with a hole at the end. (I forget the correct terminology
here.) Also, the volume seems to turn down very smoothly without a sweet-spot.
The CAPACITOR
-------------
I believe that capacitor is a 1.5 ufd. (It might be .15 ufd... if you are
experimenting, you might try both.) The markings on the cap were kinda
worn, so it was hard to tell. Also, it was a ceramic cap.
The ELEMENT
-----------
The element was a new style JT-30 replacement element... like the ones
you can get from Kevin's. On the back of the element, the words "ASTATIC"
and "MC-127" were embossed in the metal case of the actual element. Also,
stamped on the back of the element in black ink was "MC-151". I'm pretty
sure this means it is a crystal element. Also, there was a smudge of
blue paint on the back of the element. (I don't know whether this is a
special marking or just a smudge.) All in all, I believe that this is where
the action is. I figure it is either one or more of the following:
1. Rod and Kevin know some type of magic to do with an ordinary element
to make it hotter and fatter. Expose it to humidity at the right
level, maybe, or something like that. I know Rod has been messing
around with crystal mics for over 25 years.
2. Rod and Kevin have some why of ordering special "hot" and "fat"
elements from Astatic. Maybe they have some certain specifications
that they have given Astatic. And Astatic either "cooks" them up
especially for them OR they sort through all the elements they make
and have a special bin for Rod and Kevin.
3. Rod and Kevin buy from Astatic in bulk and cherry-pick the best
elements.
What ever it is, these element sounded fat and hot. Much fatter and hotter
than my old JT-30.
The JT-30 Shootout
------------------
I have another friend who sells old harp mics at his music store here
in Columbia. I went over there with my old JT-30 and the HotRod and a
re-issue Fender Bassman amp. We spent a few hours comparing about 15
different mics. It turned out, my old JT-30 was about average... on a
very subjective scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being the fattest cross between
Big Walter and Little Walter, my old JT-30 was about a 6. I'd say
the Hot Rod was about an 8 or 9. It was impressive. In addition to
having a bunch of bottom end, it had a good amount of high end. Got
pretty nasty. Now, of the various other mics, various JT-30s and other
Astatic models, ceramic and crystal elements, there were a few dogs..
an old JT-30 crystal with very low output, to a 1940 Astatic that
almost had no output. The best mic of the bunch was an Astatic shell
with a Turner ceramic element in it. That one was hot, fat, very strong,
didn't feedback much. It WAS Big Walter. Without a doubt, a 10+!
The second best mic was an old JT-30 with a ceramic element. Very loud,
very strong, very fat. I'd say that one was a 9 or 9.5.
In summary of the shootout, out of about 15 mics, there were about 5 that
were special. The Hot Rod was one of those. They were all 8's or above.
I was very suprised at the difference between all the mics. They all
had their own character. As another point of comparison, I had compared
my old JT-30 to another older JT-30 and a Blues Blaster about 6 months
ago. They were all pretty close. At the time, I thought they were
all pretty darn good. Now that I've heard these other mics... I'm not
so sure. Now the 15 mics in the shoot-out represent years of my friend
searching high and low for any old mic he could find.
Summary: Is the Hot Rod worth it?
---------------------------------
If you want a really good, hot mic, you could either go the Hot Rod, Crystal
Balls route or go for an old mic. I would imagine that the Hot Rods and
Crystal Balls are perhaps more consistant than the older mics. (But that
is just an assumption, there is a bunch of variability in all this stuff,
I just figure there might be less variability in newer stuff.) Or,
if you want to go the old mic route, you could get one from someone like
my buddy (Mike Fore - PackRat Music 803-926-0008) or Tom Ellis (who
is on this list). They take a lot of the variability out of old mics
by digging up the best ones around. Either way, the cost is pretty close,
between $115 and $160. While new stock Astatic JT-30's and Blues Blasters
sound pretty good for about half the price, there is definitely a difference.
And IT IS ALL VERY SUBJECTIVE. You might hate what I call good tone.
The MOST Important Part of Your Tone
------------------------------------
Finally, as many people on the list have said over and over (and I agree
totally), MOST of the TONE comes from the PLAYER. There's a guy in
Charleston, SC named Juke Joint Johnny. One night I saw him getting a
great tone from his JT-30... then his mic or amp when out on him. Without
missing a beat, he picked up his vocal mic and started blowing through
that... and got a great Chicago blues tone... through his VOCAL mic straight
into the PA.
Hope this was interesting, informative, or at least humorous.
Elliott New
PS - The schematic of the volume control for the Hot Rod.....
Capacitor
| |
------------------| |---
/ \ \ | | |
| | / |
Element-> | | Pot \ |
| | / <-------------- to hot lead
| | \ on the connector
| | /
\ /___________\
|
---
-
ground
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