Banzai's KM84 DIY Body & PCB kit build thread

[TwentyTrees]

I got it done professionally, by Hi Spec Coatings in the UK.

 

[Rob Flinn]

I got it done professionally, by Hi Spec Coatings in the UK.

Useful to know, they are pretty close to me. Out of interest, what did it cost for 2 mic bodies roughly ?

 

[mrgrooves666]

Yes body tubes are sandblasted to remove whatever they have, and yes its sprayed and then cured at high temp in an oven. Cerakote is very popular among gun clubs, and I think you can get a good deal from someone applying in those circles, or at least that was my experience. Yes the 84 label is a decal for now, but I plan to laser engrave it later on. The box, some guy form berliner mics was selling them in ebay a while ago for good price, said he had some extra unused stock. I carefully removed the silk screened logo with a little polish.

 

[TwentyTrees]

Useful to know, they are pretty close to me. Out of interest, what did it cost for 2 mic bodies roughly ?

For two, I don't know - I had all six done at once so there may have been some kind of volume discount. The main chap Wesley was very helpful, I'm sure he'll do you a reasonable quote.

 

[Whoops]

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Hi mrgrooves666 and TwentyTrees,
are you're microphones modified MXL mics for the KM84 circuit? or are they built from the Banzai Kits?

Thanks

 

[TwentyTrees]

Mine are Banzai kits, 3U capsules and transformers.

 

[mrgrooves666]

Hi mrgrooves666 and TwentyTrees,
are you're microphones modified MXL mics for the KM84 circuit? or are they built from the Banzai Kits?

Thanks

Mine are banzai's, 3 U capsules, Ami traffos.

 

[DSpenceATL]

This dude said a stereo pair wasn’t enough and built 6. I’m impressed. Great looking finishes from both of you, glad to have more options to help my indecisiveness

 

[Whoops]

Mine are Banzai kits, 3U capsules and transformers.

Mine are banzai's, 3 U capsules, Ami traffos.

Thank you friends.
When people started to do this project there were a lot of complaints about the sound of the cheap capsules included in the kit.

What did you guys think of the sound and performance of the 3U Audio capsules compared to the ones that came with the kit?

Thank you

 

[mrgrooves666]

Graeme Woller, the same fella that designed the pcb's for banzai's also made pcb's to modify existing MXL 603's. He might still have some left..

 

[mrgrooves666]

3U capsules rock, in my humble opinion. They do sound much better than the ones included in the kit. I wouldn't know if my mics sound the same as a km84, I dont have one to compare, but at least on acoustic string instruments, wich is were I would use such mics more, they do perform very nice now.

 

[Whoops]

3U capsules rock, in my humble opinion. They do sound much better than the ones included in the kit. I wouldn't know if my mics sound the same as a km84, I dont have one to compare, but at least on acoustic string instruments, wich is were I would use such mics more, they do perform very nice now.

I did a testing session with a friend last year, we had 3x Neumann KM84 that we A/B tested to other cheaper SDC mics we had.
It was hard as the 3 vintage original KM84 all sounded quite different from each other, not a subtle thing, they could be 3 different microphones.
One of them was really off, the sound was terrible, so that one was clearly broken.
From the other 2 one of them had reduced high End, although usable.

We were confused which would be the one of the 3 mics that was closer to how a KM84 should sound.

One was sounding better than the other 2, so we had to assume that was the good one.
Strangely enough that KM84 sounded almost exactly like the very affordable Tbone SC140 in the A/B tests, I always though the SC140 sounded pretty good for the price but I was not expecting that both could be so close that I couldn't really identify which was which in a blind test.

This is just to say that comparing a new mic or a clone to one unit of an original vintage mic can be an hit or miss, we really never know if the vintage mic is in good working order and if it sounds similar than what it sounded when it was new, or similar to a good specimen.

So the important thing it that you are happy with your mics