My Oceanic AKG C3000 (not b)

[RetroGalaxia]

Hi there, thank you for the add!!!

I'm new here, but I've been a singer and voiceover actor for many years. I'd like to know if you can give me some guidance with respect to my AKG C3000?

I just opened it today for the first time after about 25+ years of owning it. I took these pics a couple of hours ago for you to see everything as I was taking it apart. That's what I saw.

WHAT (in the hell) HAPPENED‽
Well, about 4 years ago, I took it to a choir presentation me and some friends had at a private school nearby my house and we were going to use it to sing around it in front of an audience. I know it's a studio mic, but I went and let them (the choir) borrow it just for that presentation.

Well, we set it up, phantom and all. Great sound as always. I left it there on the stand while we all went into a nearby room to warm up our voices. It just so happens that the sound guy frickin' dropped it and it was no longer working!!! We know for a fact he dropped it from the height of the stand because the daughter of one of my friends was outside and saw everything happen. The guy picked it up quickly and put it on the stand and pretended nothing happened. He thought nobody saw him. Little did he know.

When we came out, the sound guy made it seem that the mic suddenly stopped working. He didn't know the little girl saw him!

To make a long story short, the school made him responsible for it, but he just took it to a "technician" but the mic never came back 100%

Now, 4 years later it has this very noticeable "ocean" sound permanently. Do you know what could be causing this and can I fix it on my own? I have some soldering skills if you point me in the right direction. Thank you SO much in advance. I really love this mic.

Questions:

- Do they sell that rubber ring around the capsule (shock mount?) New so I can replace it? It's cracking at two of the anchor points and it's already broken on the top ones.

- Should I remove that c303 or whatever it's called on the PCB to remove that +9dB from the high frequencies that someone mentioned in a post here on GroupDIY? And how do I go about removing it, if I even have it on my PCB.

Here's a link to a recording I made yesterday of the sound. I just left the mic on and recorded to Audacity.

I have an EVO4 sound interface and the gain was set to 100% the phantom was on of course.

 

[McIrish]

Looks like a foam windscreen disintegrated. The PCB should clean up fine with alcohol and a toothbrush. Cleaning off the debris from the capsule will be a bit time consuming. Be careful not to touch the mylar part of the capsule.
I've had many mics that had foam go bad over the years.

 

[RetroGalaxia]

Looks like a foam windscreen disintegrated. The PCB should clean up fine with alcohol and a toothbrush. Cleaning off the debris from the capsule will be a bit time consuming. Be careful not to touch the mylar part of the capsule.
I've had many mics that had foam go bad over the years.

Hey McIrish! Thank so much for that info! I cleaned the PCB with some alcohol and a brush. And I also got out almost 100% of the old foam from the capsule grill. I was very careful. I will be posting more pics as I reassemble it. I found a purple sponge and with an X-acto blade I cut a very thin layer of it so I can put it where the old one was over the capsule. It should work just as good, right? What do you think about repainting the mic? It has quite a bit of pitting (I think that's what they call it) specially on the outside on the top where the grill is.

 

[k brown]

AKG can supply replacement parts for most of their mics - mounting ring might be available.

As to noise - could be so many things; will need to be assessed by a tech; more likely a board/connection crack than anything else.

I wouldn't put just any old foam over the capsule; just use an external pop filter when needed.

 

[RetroGalaxia]

AKG can supply replacement parts for most of their mics - mounting ring might be available.

As to noise - could be so many things; will need to be assessed by a tech; more likely a board/connection crack than anything else.

I wouldn't put just any old foam over the capsule; just use an external pop filter when needed.

Hey thank you so much for the ideas! I'll write to AKG and see if they can send me a new shock mount rubber for this.

 

[kingkorg]

That grille is just glued to the capsule. You can just pry it off and glue back on if you need to clean the capsule bit more.

The large capsule is hypercardioid electret. The tiny one is omni, cardioid pattern is created by adding the omni signal to the hypercardioid at lower level tuned by a trim pot on the board.

The larger capsule doesn't need the foam in front of it, or the grille. It's a built in pop filter. It has a funky response not similar to any other capsule of this type. It does it's own thing. Not bad, just unique.

I bet the foam on the back of the capsule is busted as well.

 

[RetroGalaxia]

That grille is just glued to the capsule. You can just pry it off and glue back on if you need to clean the capsule bit more.

The large capsule is hypercardioid electret. The tiny one is omni, cardioid pattern is created by adding the omni signal to the hypercardioid at lower level tuned by a trim pot on the board.

The larger capsule doesn't need the foam in front of it, or the grille. It's a built in pop filter. It has a funky response not similar to any other capsule of this type. It does it's own thing. Not bad, just unique.

I bet the foam on the back of the capsule is busted as well.

Hi KingKorg! Thank you SO much. I just popped the grille off and dusted the capsule a little more! Great! Now, should I take that back foam off, too?

What do you think about painting the mic again to get rid of that hideous pitting the top half has? Sand it and paint it? Or just leave it like that? Anything to get rid of just that pitting?

Thank you again!!!

 

[kingkorg]

Hi KingKorg! Thank you SO much. I just popped the grille off and dusted the capsule a little more! Great! Now, should I take that back foam off, too?

What do you think about painting the mic again to get rid of that hideous pitting the top half has? Sand it and paint it? Or just leave it like that? Anything to get rid of just that pitting?

Thank you again!!!

I took off the foam from the back as it was busted, i guess your is too. It will just make more mess if you don't.

I tried to measure the difference with and without that foam in the back, and couldn't see any difference.

In theory, that one in the back could alter the pattern response, but by tiny amount, and even that is questionable because of it's very low mass. My best guess is that they used it to balance the sides, the front has the foam, so it would make sense to use it in the back as well. Maybe even to block whatever heavy air flow might come from back, since it's a bit more open (hypercardioid) and doesn't have rear diaphragm.

I removed the foam on both sides, i really don't think you need it, unless you use it like a podcast mic or something.

Regarding paint stuff, you need to ask someone else, i'm really bad at it. There are some useful threads here. I have however managed to paint grilles in some mics with a spray can. If you are carefull, you can pull it of without clogging the grille.

Here's an example
https://groupdiy.com/threads/elam-ish-style-body-and-headbasket-donor.81482/post-1055699

 

[RetroGalaxia]

I took off the foam from the back as it was busted, i guess your is too. It will just make more mess if you don't.

I tried to measure the difference with and without that foam in the back, and couldn't see any difference.

In theory, that one in the back could alter the pattern response, but by tiny amount, and even that is questionable because of it's very low mass. My best guess is that they used it to balance the sides, the front has the foam, so it would make sense to use it in the back as well. Maybe even to block whatever heavy air flow might come from back, since it's a bit more open (hypercardioid) and doesn't have rear diaphragm.

I removed the foam on both sides, i really don't think you need it, unless you use it like a podcast mic or something.

Regarding paint stuff, you need to ask someone else, i'm really bad at it. There are some useful threads here. I have however managed to paint grilles in some mics with a spray can. If you are carefull, you can pull it of without clogging the grille.

Here's an example
https://groupdiy.com/threads/elam-ish-style-body-and-headbasket-donor.81482/post-1055699

Got it; foams off! Great info brother!!! Thank you!!! I'm gonna be using it (my renewed c3000) for either singing or recording voiceovers (in my booth). I wrote AKG an email to see if they can sell me a brand new rubber shock mount thingy for the capsule. Mine is toast! The rubber is already cracking from age (as you can see in the images). I hope they can sell me a new one.

I'm gonna try sanding it, giving it a coat of light primer, and then going with some black maybe? And that red ring I'll probably sand it so it's gold in the middle.
The letters (logo and settings) are almost gone, so might as well paint over it all. I know it's an AKG and I'm not gonna sell it anyway.

Thanks again, bro!

 

[RetroGalaxia]

I wrote AKG two days ago, and today I received this email from them. All I can say is wow.

I just asked them if they had the rubber shock that holds the capsule. (sigh) I'll have to stick with my C3000 as is.

Btw, the cleaning I did thanks to all of your advice, worked!!! No more ocean!!!

 

[k brown]

One thing I'd do, is keep an eye on eBay for a 'for parts or repair' 3000; pretty unlikely when one turns up it will have been through the mill like your has.

Gotta scrutinize the photos carefully - you'll often see C 300 B listed as C 3000, and of course it has to be a champagne C 3000 like yours, not the later black one which has completely different internals.

 

[RetroGalaxia]

One thing I'd do, is keep an eye on eBay for a 'for parts or repair' 3000; pretty unlikely when one turns up it will have been through the mill like your has.

Gotta scrutinize the photos carefully - you'll often see C 300 B listed as C 3000, and of course it has to be a champagne C 3000 like yours, not the later black one which has completely different internals.

Oh that's a great idea!!! Thank you so much!!! I'll be careful with that color tip!!! Thank you!!! I've had mine easily for 25 years!!!

 

[k brown]

You can see in this thread just how different the C 3000 B was.
https://groupdiy.com/threads/akg-c3000b-5-min-mod-awesome-mic.67911/#post-867659

 

[RetroGalaxia]

You can see in this thread just how different the C 3000 B was.
https://groupdiy.com/threads/akg-c3000b-5-min-mod-awesome-mic.67911/#post-867659

Oh!!! Thank you!!! I haven't seen that!!! Thanks brother!!!

 

[RetroGalaxia]

You can see in this thread just how different the C 3000 B was.
https://groupdiy.com/threads/akg-c3000b-5-min-mod-awesome-mic.67911/#post-867659

Ok, I just saw the first minutes and I can tell you I have the first version. Flat grill controls on the back C3000. I bought mine sometime in 1998.

 

[k brown]

Yes, the original C 3000 was the only version with the hypercardioid LDC capsule, and the omni SDC on top.

 

[Riley Casey]

You can see in this thread just how different the C 3000 B was.
https://groupdiy.com/threads/akg-c3000b-5-min-mod-awesome-mic.67911/#post-867659

Great video Its all even more convoluted than I thought and makes me glad I've held on to my mid 90s C3000s all these years.