silk screen instead of metal mesh on mic?(updated!)

Discussion with a fellow DIYer made me think about something. I have a pair of modded SP B1s and as some know these have the 3 micron 797 capsule. These mics are great except for one thing, the high end is rather harsh and boosted above 10k. would using silk instead of wire mesh help smooth it?

any other suggestions helpful!

thanks! :guinness:

On condenser mics you REALLY need the electrostatic shielding of the wire mesh...

how about silk AND mesh? is there any other way to lessen the harsh without surgery? :green:

Why do you think the harshness comes from the mesh?

Try mounting the suspected mesh over a good-sounding mic, and see if that becomes "harsh".

I don't think it will.

In my experience, mesh has to be VERY badly designed to influence notably on mic sound.

Jakob E.

oh no i don't mean that the mesh is causing the harshness, i mean to attenuate highs to the capsule, kind of a mechanical eq...

Ah.. That is a different thing..

Try it, and see what you come up with..

will do. other than that what usually causes a mic to be harsh in a circuit? the circuit already uses good quality caps and resistors, no solder flux on the PCB either. What should i expect from changing FETs?

:guinness:

anybody?

Harsh can be the capsule tuning; I've also heard it from a triple layer mesh that's been painted with too much goop so you can't even see the capsule inside. I wouldn't expect much change by changing the FET, except for maybe noise, but it does depend on the circuit.

this is one of those plastic ring capsules if that helps anybody.. i don't get much time to try new mods to these mics since when i get free time from work i am usually using them for more work..

maybe just a pop filter might help. some people diy with pantyhose, maybe use more than one layer.
or find a mic pre that will round out your sound, like a V76 with the original pi filter left in.
cj

thanks all, i'll try the pantyhose, pop filter AND silk and let you know.

Svart,
It's probably not the grille...

Exactly what type caps did you use, and where in the circuit are they located? I bet we'll find the culprit there.

the harshness did not change with a cap change. that was the first, most desperate and quickest attempt at fixing this issue i'll admit. the mic had Wima caps but i don't remember what the value was, I swapped in .1uf 50v polypros that i had laying around(between the capsule and circuit) and it did increase some of the clarity in the mid range as far as my ears tell me, but the harshness is still there. It's not a big issue, i just cut 12k shelf about 3db and it tames it but I believe the harshness to ride in the 15-20khz range because its that sizzle that extends past hearing range but you can still "feel" it in your ears if you understand what i'm trying to convey. I'll play around with it some more this weekend when i get a moment to breath!

thanks!
:thumb:

and Flatpicker, as i stated to Gyraf, I asked about the grill because i want to change the acoustic properties of it, not really replace it because i thought it caused a problem. the mesh is very open, where a lot of other mics have very closed mesh with multiple layers. I wanted to add a layer of something very close knit like silk that would attenuate higher frequencies.

Adding layers here can actually make the harshness worse, as you can make more reflections happen in the capsule region, but you'll just have to try it and see.

-Dale

[quote author="Svart"] the mic had Wima caps but i don't remember what the value was, I swapped in .1uf 50v polypros that i had laying around(between the capsule and circuit) and it did increase some of the clarity in the mid range as far as my ears tell me, but the harshness is still there..[/quote]

The original Wima's are good caps to start with. Were they in a signal path? What was the original value? I am not familiar with the schematics of the mic, but something tells me that your .1uf value might be low, so you are cutting low end and the mic sounds more "top end forward"--in other words, subjectively translates into "more harsh". Try to use there something more like 1uf polypropilenes.

If this doesn't work, the best person to talk about it would be Brent Casey. You can find his phone # elsewhere.

[quote author="Svart"]...I swapped in .1uf 50v polypros that i had laying around(between the capsule and circuit)...[/quote]This cap should be around a 1000pf - not 0.1uf. Are you sure you are looking at the cap between the capsule and FET? Don't know about the SPB1, but most mfgs use 680pf monos here. Change it to a 1000pf polystyrene.

Besides that, I'd follow Marik's advice and try larger value polypros or metalized polys in the signal path. Again, can't remember what's in the B1, but keep in mind there are different grades of WIMAs. I'm partial to Panasonics, myself. :wink:

[quote author="Svart"]...the mesh is very open...[/quote]That's a good thing, IMHO. I'd keep it that way!

There's also a possibility that this circuit was designed to give the mic a boost in the 12khz range.

what quality does the styrene cap do for the sound? changing the value didn't seem to introduce any real difference in the quality of the sound, just a little more mids that i can tell. the frequency graph shows boost around 12k but mine has always sounded more shelf like than belled. No worries though, I'll try the styrene too.

[quote author="Svart"]what quality does the styrene cap do for the sound?...[/quote]In this position it just seems to do a much better job of producing a natural sound and letting you hear the "space" around the mic as well. Gus turned me on to using polystyrenes here, and he summed it up best by saying they just sound more "real".

excellent, yet another thing i was looking for while modding these.

thanks!