Neumann U67 Clone : D-U67 Tube Microphone Build Thread.

[poctop]

ok so i pluged it !

hell this thing sounds amayzing ! i can't do some major recording tonight because of neigbhoors but wow what a presence on a talking voice ! can't wait to do more audio tests.

first time ever i have a animated Gif of hapiness in my thread,
I am glad you made it and enjoy your new toy,
Best,
dan,

 

[dgoszillai]

haha yeah really was happy and pompom girl is exactly how i felt. i never used a mic with such a sound !
really can't wait to work with this mic. i am still happy this morning but as i am doing five mics i pluged the #2 today on the same psu that worked for the first mic assuming calibration is almost ok. it produced instantly some noisy crack noise in my speakers so i power it of i didn't take time to check the voltages. tried #1 mic and all is ok PSU is fine
watching the pcb#2 i don't see major problem .. 
do you think i should risk to power it up long enough to measure voltages ? this noise is really scary.

 

[tskguy]

Well it could be a number of things, if you already plugged it in and didn't see smoke I'm sure it's fine to check some voltages. Triple check the hi z section as well as the connection to the capsule especially the wire that connects to the mount and backplate.

 

[Jim50hertz]

Finished my U67.

Iaudio transformer
NOS Telefuken EF86 from Cristian
Ben's capsule

On a comarison with Iaudio MK47, we found the MK47 to have more presence. It was chosen in all preamp-compressor combinations we tried.
The U67 was a little too bassy. (Atleast on my friends vocals)
I have all the jumpers in as factory default.
Should I try removing them or try a different tube?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Neil

I have the same components and this reflects my initial experience.  After a 36 hour burn in I noticed a (subtle) difference.  I do hear this mic as darker than I expected, in the same way as I hear some ribbons as dark.

I'm keen to hear someone's opinion who has or has used a real one on this subject.

What capsule is in your MK47?

 

[poctop]

Finished my U67.

Iaudio transformer
NOS Telefuken EF86 from Cristian
Ben's capsule

On a comarison with Iaudio MK47, we found the MK47 to have more presence. It was chosen in all preamp-compressor combinations we tried.
The U67 was a little too bassy. (Atleast on my friends vocals)
I have all the jumpers in as factory default.
Should I try removing them or try a different tube?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Neil

I have the same components and this reflects my initial experience.  After a 36 hour burn in I noticed a (subtle) difference.  I do hear this mic as darker than I expected, in the same way as I hear some ribbons as dark.

I'm keen to hear someone's opinion who has or has used a real one on this subject.

What capsule is in your MK47?

I would be really interested into some feedback of the real one for sure,  then i am sure you would enjoy the M269c,
it has an extra edge to it  .  the capsule is also important factor , from here i have real vocal sample from mine with D-U67 and Ebay used neumann capsule ? ,
i will post it really soon.

Best,
DAn,


Edit : Here is the sample from D-U67 AMIT67 and Neumann K67,
Recorded Apogee Big Ben Clock 44.1 to FF800 trough Martin's 1073 in Nuendo 32bit float Dithered by Nuendo to 16bit.
Some inexperience into distance gauging tough.

https://cdn.groupbuilder.com/groupdiy/u/39511/58d0281993d96.wav

Let me know what you think.


Best,
Dan,

 

[dgoszillai]

ok i pluged my #2mic using same PSU and cables as the first mic that worked.
but i took it out from the body (last time it was inside)

this time i don't have "crack" but constant 50Hz buzzing loud with no signal but that 50Hz. i tried cardio and bi noLowCut @0db
i get B+ 197v (max) H- -6.5v. looks like my #1 mic except that massive buzz
each time i touch the PSU case that buzz drop 3db

 

[tskguy]

Dogzilla,

All mic's out of the body will for sure hum pretty bad. I would put the body back on and see if you still have the same hum and crackling issue. The voltages seem fine.

 

[dgoszillai]

dam sorry i'll do this tomorrow.

 

[Le Roux]

Finished my U67.

Iaudio transformer
NOS Telefuken EF86 from Cristian
Ben's capsule

On a comarison with Iaudio MK47, we found the MK47 to have more presence. It was chosen in all preamp-compressor combinations we tried.
The U67 was a little too bassy. (Atleast on my friends vocals)
I have all the jumpers in as factory default.
Should I try removing them or try a different tube?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Neil

I have the same components and this reflects my initial experience.  After a 36 hour burn in I noticed a (subtle) difference.  I do hear this mic as darker than I expected, in the same way as I hear some ribbons as dark.

I'm keen to hear someone's opinion who has or has used a real one on this subject.

What capsule is in your MK47?

I have a Thiersch Blue line PVC if I remember correctly.

I've been playing around with recording my Gibson Hummingbird using the U67 and noticed a huge difference in sound with the LC switch. Didn't find much difference on my friends vocals though.
I'm going to do more vocal recordings this weekend with him.

I must admit, I do love the all the options on the U67. And i am no way saying its a bad sound.
Just not sure what I was to expect.
One more thing I did notice is it picks up alot of the room, whereas my MK47 and Audio Technica 4060 cancels out that noise.

 

[poctop]

I have a Thiersch Blue line PVC if I remember correctly.

I've been playing around with recording my Gibson Hummingbird using the U67 and noticed a huge difference in sound with the LC switch. Didn't find much difference on my friends vocals though.
I'm going to do more vocal recordings this weekend with him.

I must admit, I do love the all the options on the U67. And i am no way saying its a bad sound.
Just not sure what I was to expect.
One more thing I did notice is it picks up alot of the room, whereas my MK47 and Audio Technica 4060 cancels out that noise.

Let us know ,  and on a side note the original SYT-5 body from chuckD had the label wrong for the pattern on the mic , just want to make sure you really have it in cardiod there , the best is to try the position to make sure ,

Best,
DAn,

 

[micaddict]

I've been playing around with recording my Gibson Hummingbird using the U67 and noticed a huge difference in sound with the LC switch. Didn't find much difference on my friends vocals though.

The singer will probably be closer. But more importantly, the low cut or roll off starts at 200 Hz. The low E on the Hummingbird is about 82.5 Hz (and the big woof from the main body resonance will roughly be around 100 Hz). A bass singer can hit this note (low E) too, but most of his notes will be higher. Even more so for tenors, of course. Also, many singers use a twangy technique (often without knowing it) and pretty much eliminate the fundamentals of the notes anyway.

BTW, S2 is inside the body (no switch) and offers a choice between a 40 Hz cut or flat down to 20.

One more thing I did notice is it picks up alot of the room

Sounds like the back of the capsule is "active". Like poctop said, in cardioid this should not be the case.

 

[dgoszillai]

great news !
my #2 mic is fine !
as i put it back in it's body i noticed a very tiny piece of cable that was not covered by thermo (dam don't know the word for that plastic thing you heat) any way i changed that and it's fine now no buzz no crak only pure hapiness of sound !
let's go test #3 now.

 

[dgoszillai]

by the way.
i found this site to get some wooden box for the D67. do you have any other propositions for that ?
and i'm searching for a nice suitcase with foam to store mic / psu / suspension / cable again if you have any idea.

 

[micaddict]

Nice box, but if it's an exact fit for the U67 then the D67 (SYT-5 body) will not fit.

 

[ben_studio]

Dear All,
I'm just building a D67 with my collegue DGODZILLAI, and my mic works fine except with the PAD SWITCH "On".
The signal is still there but there's an added noise on it.
Do you have any idea where I should focus my research to sort that issue out ?

Thanks ! and besides this, it sounds great !

Ben

 

[poctop]

Dear All,
I'm just building a D67 with my collegue DGODZILLAI, and my mic works fine except with the PAD SWITCH "On".
The signal is still there but there's an added noise on it.
Do you have any idea where I should focus my research to sort that issue out ?

Thanks ! and besides this, it sounds great !

Ben

Is the functionnality of the switch work,  Have you solder the 2 legs for the switch support , what kind of noise is it  ?

does the casing of the switch is 0 Ohm in regards to the mic body or railing or PCB gnd,  Do you have the original Schematic handy.

Can you make sure you have it wired corectly there is a nice tutorial on this on the M269B thread !
Let us know,

Hope this helps,

 

[nolivdacom]

EDIT : dam that 0.1A (time lag) just blew of. it blows right away again if i change it. I red somewhere maybe 0.2 would be better ?

Same problem for me with 0,1A. I use 160mA Slow Blow Fuse. All is right for me. I had problems with my psu because I choose to not solder power switch and 20VA transfo. My psu break down twice during recording session. I decided to solder all parts in my psu!

i'm searching for a nice suitcase with foam to store mic / psu / suspension / cable again if you have any ide

http://www.thomann.de/fr/thon_flexcut_universal_mischpult_2.htm
not sure about size but it seems to be a good solution...

best
Olivier

 

[poctop]

EDIT : dam that 0.1A (time lag) just blew of. it blows right away again if i change it. I red somewhere maybe 0.2 would be better ?

Same problem for me with 0,1A. I use 160mA Slow Blow Fuse. All is right for me. I had problems with my psu because I choose to not solder power switch and 20VA transfo. My psu break down twice during recording session. I decided to solder all parts in my psu!

i'm searching for a nice suitcase with foam to store mic / psu / suspension / cable again if you have any ide

http://www.thomann.de/fr/thon_flexcut_universal_mischpult_2.htm
not sure about size but it seems to be a good solution...

best
Olivier

Yep For sure soldering Stuff is always better IMHO,  as Per the Fuse the original PsU is spec'd 0.1A for Voltage from 220V to 240V and 0.2A for 117V to 127V,
those Fuse needs to be A very good quality Slow Blow Fuse to not be disrupted by initial inrush current ,  I had this problem on all My 1176 (4) i did where the Fuse was the exact amperage required but it would intermittlently blow the fuse on startup, i just increased a bit the amperage and they never failed again

Hope this helps,
dan,

 

[nolivdacom]

Yep For sure soldering Stuff is always better IMHO,

;D
About that, I didn't solder wires to or from main board on my PSU... I used connectors to do it...
Is it important?

best,
Olivier

 

[poctop]

Yep For sure soldering Stuff is always better IMHO,

;D
About that, I didn't solder wires to or from main board on my PSU... I used connectors to do it...
Is it important?

best,
Olivier

the use of screw in connector is fine if they are used properly i guess a matter of personal taste i guess but i would have to mention that i never use connector for the PCB gND to chassis i always solder it to the pcb pad for perfect connection that will last forever

Best,
Dan,