Rode NT-1A Capsule Mod

[ekkof]

Hi John, curious to hear what it sounds like with the new capsule!

Btw. I'm new here, but excited to get startede modding some mics myself!
And there happens to be an NT1A for sale for around 60usd and a AKG perception 100 for a bit less, so trying to figure out which one would be the better option.

 

[micolas]

Hi John, curious to hear what it sounds like with the new capsule!

Btw. I'm new here, but excited to get startede modding some mics myself!
And there happens to be an NT1A for sale for around 60usd and a AKG perception 100 for a bit less, so trying to figure out which one would be the better option.

Hi, Ekkof
If the AKG microphone is the old model Perception 100, then I would buy it, of course if it is in good working order.
It is a simplified version of Perception 200.
It can be modified according to Kingkorg's instructions and you can get an excellent microphone in the style of the U87.

 

[micolas]

Hi, @ekkof

Is this the AKG microphone model?
http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/AKG-Acoustics/Perception-100

Edit: I don't want to pollute the thread, but even though I'm a big Rode fan and I've also modified the NT1a, personally I'd choose the Perception 100 now.
The design issue with the NT1a is the headbasket.

 

[SubSpec]

I would agree that the Perception series (old 100, 200, 220, 400, 420) would be the better all arounder and a great mic in general, particularly with the capacitor mod.

That said, I'm am of the less common opinion that the NT1-A can be a really special microphone with the right capsule. In fact I put a vintage Neumann K870 capsule in one yesterday just because. I've got 7 of them around here, most with different capsules in them. The body resonances are terrible, the headbasket is generally trashed by most everyone, it feels cheap, looks cheap (typically is cheap) and to listen to it compared with others on Youtube it generally comes off poorly. Yet I love it.

The NT1-A with Blue's B8 has stood against dozens of much more expensive mics in my personal testing project and remains the benchmark I check them all against, as for whatever reason it makes any issues in other mics apparent when A/B'ing.

https://groupdiy.com/threads/rode-n...-flat-47-antelope-edge-duo-cap-blue-b8.88377/

 

[JohnX]

I had initially swapped out the capsule with an AliExpress version as somebody on this thread had suggested, but I really didn’t like it. It sounded just as sizzly & bright as it sounded before I swapped it out. I had suspected that would be the outcome, but I wanted to follow through anyway.

I then swapped it out with a soliloqueen flat 47 and I liked that much better. However, since I didn’t think that if it was enough of an improvement to the NT1A that it would make me start using it more often, so I replaced it with its original capsule and used the soliloqueen flat 47 on a different microphone completely, which I am loving now.

So far, the aliexpress capsule is just sitting back in the original box that it came in.