Townsend Labs Sphere Hacking

[kingkorg]

Nope  not the same thing. It uses electret capsule.

 

[dab0815]

Thx! I just baught two subzero szc 100 and a used b2 pro so i can try making my first build next week. 

 

[analogguru]

Don't forget to take (and post) pictures of the innards of the mics.

 

[dab0815]

Don't forget to take (and post) pictures of the innards of the mics.

i think KingKorg has pictures on his dual output mic build thread..

But i will post some pictures of the insides when i receive the mics

 

[dab0815]

i got the mics today. here are pics of the innards of subzero szc 100. it seems i can only post one picture per post so i will post them in each post for front and back. also for questions regarding the build i will go to kingkorgs thread where he has build his stereo output mic.

 

[dab0815]

here is the other side

 

[analogguru]

Thanks for the pictures.  Interesting that there are (still) through-hole-parts inside.

 

[analogguru]

So the SubZero - SZC-100 is identical to the good old Apex - 185 and the Alctron - (HS)T-02A, nearly identical to the Apex - 180, the Alctron (HS)T-01A, the Nady CM90 and the CAD - GXL1200.  The circuit itself is very similar to the MXL - 991 too.

 

[dab0815]

Use 5 pin XLR  for connection, with breakout cable to two regular XLRs.

Do you happen to know where i would get a 5pin xlr insert in europe? I think i need one with a screw to be held in place indide the mic socket. and those inserts in regular xlr plugs dont have that screw afaik..
I found the switchcraft cg5m but it seems to be only available in the us and the cheapest i found it was 10$ plus 20$ shipping :/

 

[kingkorg]

Nope, i used chinese variant 5 pin connector of Aliexpress.

 

[dab0815]

Nope, i used chinese variant 5 pin connector of Aliexpress.

I searched there too but couldnt find one. Could you send me a link? I have to wait for the mic body to arrive anyway so it wont matter and i can always solder the two cables directly to the pcb as some kind of interim solution first until the connector arrives .

 

[dab0815]

Or maybe you have one spare that i could buy from you?
eDIT: i just bought the switchcraft one because i needed some other stuff from digikey. Now i just wait for the mic body to arrive and complete the build

 

[guitarheadhunt]

I own the Austrian Audio oc818 dual output microphone. I have tried it with the sphere plugin. I think it sounds great. Not sure if it sounds the same as if I was using the sphere mic itself but It sounds good.

 

[kingkorg]

Emulations shouldn't be way off. If AA published graphs are accurate, oc818 shouldn't be way too different. They are both flat-ish mics to begin with.

C800 for example has huge boost in high end, so emulation curve should dominate over oc818's curve. Same goes for ld12, ld251, ribbons...

 

[mihi_fuchs]

I gave the built a shot and tried out some of the plugins presented herein. The results were actually better than I expected. nevertheless, as I was using a different capsule for the build, I had to adopt the filter kingkorg published here a bit. In some cases I omitted it completely. The attempt to tame the high end by a hardware LPF in the circuit was rather disappointing (C17).

Nevertheless I'm really happy with the build and maybe some other find the soundsamples attached to the building thread useful for themselves.

Here's the link to the building thread: Dual Output Microphone: 2x Schoeps Circuit + K87 capsule BM-800 Donor Body)

Cheers
Michael

 

[guitarheadhunt]

Emulations shouldn't be way off. If AA published graphs are accurate, oc818 shouldn't be way too different. They are both flat-ish mics to begin with.

C800 for example has huge boost in high end, so emulation curve should dominate over oc818's curve. Same goes for ld12, ld251, ribbons...

Yes I recently compared the oc818 with the sphere. The models do sound completely different. You can hear the distinction with the models more so with the sphere than you can the oc818. That being said the models tend to take on the character of the mics. Sphere mic is no where near as detailed as the oc818. The models bring versatility with the oc 818. Gives you more flavors. I do think the models sound better with the L22.

 

[AllDayTrue]

I just bought a used L22 from GC and immediately ran into a problem since I use Windows 7 and UA Connect requires 10 or better. Can someone please hook me up with a version of the plugin from the pre-UA days? Contacting Universal Audio is pretty much impossible. The phone lines aren't accepting calls and the email I sent 3 days ago has yet to be replied to.
Again, please. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Emmathom]

So the SubZero - SZC-100 is identical to the good old Apex - 185 and the Alctron - (HS)T-02A, nearly identical to the Apex - 180, the Alctron (HS)T-01A, the Nady CM90 and the CAD - GXL1200. The circuit itself is very similar to the MXL - 991 too.

Hi analogguru, do you know if 3U SDC capsule would fit Apex 185 & SZC-100 please ? 3mm or 5mm ? BR