Microphone modding

[geertvdijk90]

Hello everybody!

I'm new here, though not entirely new to electronics work, and I've performed my first by-the-book (or by-the-online-tutorial) mic mods as well.
However, I've recently come across some ultra cheap bargain mics. Without finding actual matching mods (or even comparable microphones), is it good practice just to replace all caps with better parts, like silver mica/poly equivalents, of the same values, or is that a terrible idea?

Thanks,
Geert.

 

[radardoug]

Short answer, NO.  Long answer: If you study electronics for more than 20 years, then you may gain the knowledge to know the answer to your question. It all depends.....

 

[joaquins]

  You will just get a more expensive mic, not a better one... changing caps randomly doesn't help unless you get lucky, someone choose to put those caps there, maybe because were the right value, maybe because they already have them in the BOM so was cheaper to use that value, finding which is the one you need to change is the hard part.

  You do need some experience and knowledge  to know which one to change, I did mod some guitar pedals with my own ideas back when I was starting, but was quite a lot of trial and error plus looking around other circuits and find the right component to change. I ended with pedals with way too many pots for any guitar player to enjoy using but for me they worked nicely since I could take so many different sounds out of a single pedal.

JS

 

[gyraf]

If it was me, I'd get two of the cheap mic.

And collect any and all information I could find on those mics in question (including good close-up pics and schematics if possible), post it here on groupdiy, and ask for educated guesses on viable upgrade routes.

Then I'd try the ideas out on one of the mics, keeping the other stock. If in doubt about mod greatness, lend the par out to a known-good-engineer for a double-blind test. It's always good to ally yourself with known-good second-opinion ears.

Jakob E.

 

[ln76d]

I would first consider what i don't like in the sound of microphone which i would like to modify
Then i would try to find some answers how to change that.
Put into Microphones subforum new topic with one example of your microphone.
If you don't have schematic for it, then make good pictures of the PCB, make description about your feelings in case of it sound etc.
It's the best option to start.
Most of "mods" available on several forum is like audiophile gear modifications - totally without knowledge about the circuit and role of several compenents - just to put higher capacitor value and definately more expensive. Usual it sucks the same as original or sometimes it is even worse. If we add to that whole work and spent money then usual people have expression that it sounds better...