Easy way to tell where Oktava MK 319 was made?

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Paul678

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2013
Messages
97
There's a broken unit on Ebay, but the seller and me don't know how
to tell where it was made.

Is it true the Chinese copies are inferior to the Russian made originals?  Because
I've heard even the original Russian Oktava factory had piss-poor quality control.

I've heard many people say that Oktava mics are only good if you test them out at
a store and cherry pick them.  That doesn't give me confidence in the product.....    :-\

 
Paul678 said:
Is it true the Chinese copies are inferior to the Russian made originals?  Because
I've heard even the original Russian Oktava factory had piss-poor quality control.

I've heard many people say that Oktava mics are only good if you test them out at
a store and cherry pick them.  That doesn't give me confidence in the product.....    :-\

It is true that the variance in voicing shall we say in Oktava mics does exist. I think though on GDIY it is important to discuss the reason why. It is due to the fact that a lot of shall we say more affordable mics do not adhere to the strict component tolerances that higher priced units are subject to (there is a reason KM84s cost what they do). Meaning sometimes you get the closest resistor to the value prescribed in the original circuit that can be acquired at the time. Also the cost of certain components is prohibitive per unit. 1G resistors come to mind as do hand selected FET's and the proper biasing thereof. I have noticed that sometimes unit to unit the value of certain components in the same place on different mics is totally different. In most cases the capsules are fine and the bodies are great donors.

Most of my experience is with the Oktava MK012 and MC012 mics. I have now in my posession 4. Two of them I totally rebuilt the circuit and 2 I left alone because I liked the way they sounded stock. They both sound fine to me though different.

The point is that these are really fine mics at the price and they make great DIY projects as there are all kinds of circuit upgrades one can perform. The line of capsules available for this amplifier is also vast.

As to the fake question Rossi is right there is a lot of info on the WEB Google away. Here is one bit of info:

http://recordinghacks.com/fake-oktava-mk-012-photos/

Good DIYing
 

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