Apex SP2 The whole Gang!

I recently bought a Set of Apex Mics Called 'Studio Pack 2' ( SP2 ) and thought I would share in the hopes that there may enough interest in these mics for the modding! I know the 460 is getting some attention but let me introduce the others.

The 185 ( Stereo pair ) which comes standard with cardioid and omni capsules

Front
Back



Cardioid Capsule




The Multi-Pattern 415


The Case


I emailed Apex for the schematics and they gave me the 460 but they said they did not have the others and that due to their simple nature, they did'nt need them for repairs.

Do you guys have any ideas for mods to this set of mics? Perhaps we can start a meta if enough people are going in this direction.

Nice pics..!

Both of the mics seems to be transformerless - maybe not the obvious candidates for modifications?

Not having a schematic because it's simple sounds like a very bad excuse to me..

Jakob E.

I would first look for similar designs by MXL, etc. since they are covered here.

The valve condenser looks like a Nady TCM1050 - get it opened!

The mods for it are well documented here.

Thanks for the pics!

The small diaphragm mics look pretty much like MXL 603s. It's essentially the same circuit minus the bias adjustment pot, plus an additional low cut switch, which simply switches two caps in parallel with the other coupling caps in front of the pnp output stage.

Take a look at Gus' mods for the MXL603s here: http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=5156

[quote author="rodabod"]The valve condenser looks like a Nady TCM1050[/quote]

No, the valve one is just like the Nady TCM 1150, not the 1050

i have modded an apex sd [ the more simple version than yours ]
with the royer 5840 tube circuit , not too hard . perfboard & tube connected to 5 pin , make a cable and the p.s.u. more or less !

regards Greg

the SD ones look more like the nady SD cm ones. I have two of the nadys sds even modded I do not like them. I think the older mxl603s I had, had better capsules.

are there three 1 gigs and a few 51meg or maybe 200 meg resistors in the LD microphone in the picture? might be another circuit board with a beringer B2 pro type circuit china multipattern solid state.

I wonder if Neumann contacted them about the grill shape?

I can take more detailed shots of the circut boards if that will help. I will also press apex for more schematics.

The Valve mic is indeed the 460.

I just found out that Apex now is offering SP3 which has their ribbon mic ( similar look to the nady RSM-2) along with the 415 and 185. I really hope these mics are worth modding because these kits are cheap and come in hardshell cases.

I'm also wondering if there's anything I can do to improve the Apex 415. I've got a stereo pair of them and they're just begging to be modded... The first thing I noticed about them is that their noise floor is really high, anything I can do about that? The tone of these mics is actually pretty nice aside from that. And they appear to be built like tanks. They've got a nice hefty weight about them

The head amp of the 185s looks exactly like the Oktava 012 circuit to me. You could certainly replace those caps with better ones, if you can squeeze them in. I managed to fit 1000pf silver mica caps into my 012s (just barely) for the capacitor off the capsule, polypros were just a bit to big. It looks like there might not be as much space in the 185, since the pcb is closer to that side.

What part number on the capsule FET?

*bump* :thumb: