Western Electric 633a (Altec Saltshakers) omni dynamic mic discussion/help

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

bkbirge

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
138
Location
Houston, TX
Hey all, I've done a search and I don't see this mic discussed anywhere here. I've had many of these Altec "Saltshaker" microphones over the years. I sold most of them and still have 2. These are the Western Electric pre-Altec versions (identical). Anyway, neither of them work. I've taken them apart and the inside is very simple, just a magnet with a foil diaphragm (looks like any old dynamic kind of thing, spiral pattern) glued onto the top of the magnet. The magnets appear to have almost no magnetization and the foil on both of them is flaky to kind of an extreme level so 2 possibilities of death here.

1st question: is there a way to re-magnetize these magnets? 2nd: how would I go about refurbing or replacing the diaphragm? If the questions are vague please help me focus them, I'm new at this.

I have also thought about just getting a couple sm57 elements and a couple nice transformers (there's plenty of room in the housing) and turn them into frankensteins but in that case I wouldn't be sure of what transformers to get.

These aren't museum pieces, they're pretty used looking and have been repainted poorly at some point so no worries about destroying collector's items, I just want some vibey mics and tinkering time. Thanks for any help or pointers to knowledge you can give!

 
It's been awhile since I've seen the inside of one.  I'd be inclined to first check with some of the various mic restoration guys.  There must be someone who has a rate for 633A's.  Just to know.  Magnets can be re-magnetized.  I recall no transformer, being 30 ohm mics.  Plenty of people do the sm57 thing without transformers.  Are the leads from the coil still attached properly?  I have fixed mics like this with that problem.  Find the manual online.  I think it has an exploded view drawing. 
 
I have a blue one from the '50s which is labeled "Northern Electric."
I used to use it back in the '60s at a radio station where I started as an operator.
It was the mic on a gooseneck on the remote console.
It even has the station sticker I pasted on it in 1961.
Still sounds good!
They are a very simple design.
If your capsule is failing, the mic probably had a pretty rough life.
Another identical one was used by the announcer on remotes when I was operating the portable remote console.
He was pushed into the pool by another station employee and that mic went spiralling into the fresh water lake, going "glub, glub, glub" as it sank to the bottom while it was live on air.
We fished it out, dried it out and it lived to work again.
It probably wouldn't have survived a similar salt water bath.
 
Yeah I think it is the capsules, they seem open on my voltmeter and connections look good. Anyone just sell the diaphragm parts? There's gotta be a crazy DIY'er that's done some homebrew crinkling of these things!
 
Back
Top