k brown
Well-known member
The cap is so lightweight, the leads so short, and AKG boards are of sufficient quality, that I wouldn't think that cap is in any danger of coming loose, unless you pound nails with your mics . . .
Last edited:
I'm sure that @Khron would recommend you to fix it preventively with some glue, against shocks, vibrations, etc.
is 400 in any way different?
Yes, that looks to be a 680pF cap. Should work if you remove and replace the original with that. It's much easier to just add on a 470pF capacitor if you have one of those.Thank you Khron!
Can anyone please confirm if this is the correct cap?
But as discussed upthread, the easiest way to do it is with a surface mount capacitor, 0805 size (NP0 or C0G ceramic), which just sits right on the existing capacitor, and you can solder the corresponding ends together with a dab of solder.Yes, that looks to be a 680pF cap. Should work if you remove and replace the original with that. It's much easier to just add on a 470pF capacitor if you have one of those.
It's closer to the U67, for a U87i Vintage sound @kingkorg used 680pF.
But you can use more values and a miniature dip switch inside the microphone.
It would be a very versatile multi-voice microphone
It seems that everyone who has compared the two approaches thinks it’s easier to replace the capacitor with another surface mount one, and still easier to just piggyback another 0805 SMT cap on top of the one that’s there.Is there a reason folks are using through-hole mount capacitors instead of replacing the stock cap with a new surface mount one? Is it just the difficulty of removing the smd stuff making it more likely to cause damage?
Is there any benefit to midding it rurther? I was looking at mayeb using AU Flat47 in it
I suppose you could try JLI-3412; it's not as high quality as the AKG, but is a bit flatter; with the modded AKG EQ, probably quite flat.I swapped the capacitor and the mic indeed sounds more tame and controlled on my voice.
Is there any benefit to midding it rurther? I was looking at mayeb using AU Flat47 in it. I am not trying to go for a neumann clone or anything, just want as flat sounding mic as I can get for some non-voice related recordings, wherer I want to keep things as tue to life as I can.
Sure, you can just add it to the existing one.I had ordered these caps from Digikey. I'm not too experienced with all the ratings for parts like this, and the caps that showed up were much smaller than a lot of what I'm seeing in photos, though that might be a good thing. Will these work to add to the existing cap? Thanks for any guidance!View attachment 135480View attachment 135481
Correct - they are non-polar.Got the mod done on a P420 the other day - added a 470pf cap onto the original - not the cleanest but I've never soldered anything this small. I practiced on an old broken tuner to get a feel for it. Anyway - I think it seems solid enough.
Definitely much warmer and richer sounding mic compared to stock. Thanks @kingkorg and everyone else for the idea and the tips!
One thing that just occured to me - does the orientation of the leads matter in this - is there a positive and negative? I didn't even consider it! It seems to have worked out but I have another one on deck and want to be sure.
EDIT - looking at the data sheet for the capacitor and says it's a "non-polar device", so I'm guess that answers my question and it doesn't matter which way it's installed. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
View attachment 135716
Enter your email address to join: