Universal Audio SD -1 Microphone capsule replacement

[industrialarts]

I have a UA SD-1 I need to replace the capsule on. I have contacted Universal Audio but they have not been able to supply me with an answer.

It does not need to be original capsule but I have never attempted to upgrade or substitute a dynamic capsule (I have worked on plenty of vintage cardiods, so fixing mics is not new to me). I'm not sure where to start - I have done some research and can see that there are lots of dynamic capsules available. Just wondering what parameters I need to search for.

Thanks

 

[pucho812]

The simple answer is order a new capsule from ua.
But more details are needed, like why do you need to replace it?

 

[industrialarts]

I contacted UA, they responded by asking for the original invoice - it's a used mic. I responded that I don't have one, I haven't heard back - about a week ago.

If you look at the picture, you can see the broken wires from the capsule, they got cut on the plastic edge of the capsule

 

[pucho812]

I contacted UA, they responded by asking for the original invoice - it's a used mic. I responded that I don't have one, I haven't heard back - about a week ago.

If you look at the picture, you can see the broken wires from the capsule, they got cut on the plastic edge of the capsule

. If you have a serial number for the mic, I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t sell you a new capsule or arrange service for it.
Then again I tried to get 1/4” jacks for a duel 610 and they gave me the run around, they don’t sell those, yada yada yada. I finally pestered them so much I got free jacks. I didn’t need them free, I offered to pay for them. But in the end they just sent me jacks.

 

[industrialarts]

Here's the response I received from UA:

At this moment, we don't have the capsule available as a spare part. Sorry.

So back to my original question - what's involved in finding a replacement capsule?

 

[Chrisfromthepast]

The capsule is likely good, if an open circuit is the obvious problem, and it looks like the voice coil’s wires are brought out to a pair of solder points.
A new pair of wires to replace (or extend if you need) the current pair that broke off is likely easier and faster than sourcing the correct capsule.

 

[industrialarts]

A new pair of wires to replace (or extend if you need) the current pair that broke off is likely easier and faster than sourcing the correct capsule.

You are correct - what I ended up doing was cleaning up all the glue that held the coil wires in place and gently unwinding a turn in each direction of the coil wire. Not super easy but I didn't have any other options. The length of the un-wrap was enough to reach the solder pads.

What I assume happened was, since the coil wires ran over the edge of the capsule body right across a fairly sharp plastic edge, is that the mic got dropped, the capsule edge hit the metal grill and the wires got sliced like a guillotine. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens a lot to this model. Replacing the capsule is not an easy option since the capsule and transformer are mechanically connected and then held in a rubber surround made to fit this entire assembly.