Rode NT2A low output, capacitor issue?

[AUDIO FREQ]

My friend has an NT2A he’s been using that just doesn’t sound good. So I offered to take a look inside and make a visual inspection to see if there’s any issues. First glance I noticed some bubbling on this capacitor. It’s a larger silver colored one. So I looked some more at different angles and noticed some cracks on the side.

Does anyone know the value or what caused this? I’ve never seen anything like it. The mic performs fine, it has no noise issues, just sounds a tad hollow, and needs a little more gain than before.

 

[Khron]

That may well be the case. That's one of the caps in series with the signal, part of the high-pass filter.

Especially if it's visually "distressed", odds are it's not completely ok electrically either.

 

[AUDIO FREQ]

Thank's Khron! Ok, I guess it's time for shopping for replacement! Would anyone happen to know the original value? It looks like a stacked film capacitor judging from color, but im a noob...so any help would be appreciated!

 

[Khron]

I measured the one in mine - mind you, IN-circuit, but my LCR-meter showed 338nF, so likely a nominal 330nF +/-5-10% tolerance. If you have room (and you should), and have some good double-sided tape at hand, or even hot-glue, you could even consider replacing it with a through-hole one.

Can't quite fathom why Rode didn't go with through-hole film caps though, there would've been plenty of room in there. And the electrolytics are through-hole anyway, as are the switches, so that's not an excuse. And the SMD ones are also pricey as hell - Kemet through-hole 330nF @ Mouser are 0.33eu a piece; SMD ones, 2-3x that price...

 

[AUDIO FREQ]

I measured the one in mine - mind you, IN-circuit, but my LCR-meter showed 338nF, so likely a nominal 330nF +/-5-10% tolerance. If you have room (and you should), and have some good double-sided tape at hand, or even hot-glue, you could even consider replacing it with a through-hole one.

Can't quite fathom why Rode didn't go with through-hole film caps though, there would've been plenty of room in there. And the electrolytics are through-hole anyway, as are the switches, so that's not an excuse. And the SMD ones are also pricey as hell - Kemet through-hole 330nF @ Mouser are 0.33eu a piece; SMD ones, 2-3x that price...

You're a life saver Khron! I do have a throughhole, generic 330nf capacitor out of an old MXL mic I modded (I tend to save used parts that test good...). It's a red jelly covered no name brand cap. Should I order a better brand? Does this affect the tone/sound? This friend of mine, he usually records at everything flat, no hpf, no pad, and only in cardioid.

 

[Khron]

"Red jelly covered"? Got a photo of it?

 

[AUDIO FREQ]

Yeah sorry, I don't know what it's actually covered with, but it looks like this .

 

[Khron]

Ah, resin-dipped film (polyester, most likely, at that size). That's perfectly fine in my book - any film capacitor is better than electrolytics or ceramics (possibly with the exception of NPO / C0G, but you'd be hard pressed to find those in more than 10nF for a decent price).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_capacitor