bluzmn
49 posts
Oct 05, 2011
1:48 PM
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I know a lot of you guys like to put down the Shure 520DX, but I like the way it sounds through certain amps, especially a Fat Dog Model 1A. But, I know that there are better sounding dynamic mics, and I can't help wondering "Why do they sound better?" I also play guitar, so I know that rewinding the coil of a guitar pickup with more wire than the standard pickup will make it sound louder and darker; also, using a stronger magnet will make it louder (although IIRC, that would also make it sound brighter). I'm wondering, would the same be the case with a dynamic mic?
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bluzmn
50 posts
Oct 09, 2011
6:50 AM
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Come on, I KNOW someone on this forum has the answer to this question! gheumann, rharley5652, are you still here? Alive and well?
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528hemi
240 posts
Oct 09, 2011
10:03 AM
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If you like the way the Shure 520DX sounds through a certain amp then it is a good match. There is no such thing as a best Mic and there is not one person on this forum that can tell you that a Mic is best for all amps. I have great Shure CR's that I dont like to play with a dirty Amp. I have another amp that has a reissue jensen 12" speaker that is bright and I like an EV mic as it cuts soem of the highs and soudns great to me.
Joe L fro mthis forum I believe playerd a Shure 520Dx through one if his amps and it sounds great..I might be wrong but sure he will correct me.
528hemi
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Joe_L
1509 posts
Oct 09, 2011
11:05 AM
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The 520DX is not a bad microphone. Its brighter and cleaner than its predecessors. With some amps, it works quite well. With a fairly distorted amp, it not a bad choice.
I used to own a Meteor Mini Meat. It was very distorted with my CM and crystal mics. I really love the tone of the amp, but I was looking for a cleaner sound. I tried the 520DX. It sounded really good with that amp.
I have a Harpgear Double Trouble. I used to use that amp with the 520DX quite a bit. I got some very usable sounds out of it.
I was carrying it quite frequently. I plugged it into all sorts of amps. I picked up a Lone Wolf Harp Tone+ pedal and it became a mic that I was super happy using.
Its heavy. It can be bright sounding. You can work around that with technique. I used to buy them used from unhappy harp players and play it until it the cable breaks. Then I would get another one.
Microphone selections are very personal.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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rharley5652
583 posts
Oct 09, 2011
1:00 PM
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@ bluzmn,.
still alive & kickin,.
I for one have always said the 520DX is a good mic in the right hands,..
"Why do they sound better?"
So many factors as to why one mic might sound better than another.
One could argue the points all night long,.
"If it sounds good to you, it is good." There are very few rules when it comes to microphone choice, so use the one the works best for you.
Top-flight recording studios typically stock a wide variety of microphones to suit many situations, and recording engineers know to try several microphones before hitting the "record" button.
So which microphone is the best one for you?
In the words of a wise man,
"It depends." Use your ears!
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------------click Link Below -----------
Simply Unique Kustom Mic's By Rharley
Last Edited by on Oct 09, 2011 1:02 PM
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jbone
656 posts
Oct 09, 2011
10:45 PM
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it's just the usual quest we all seem to go through. personally i have a brown bullet with a vintage cm which i like a lot, but i also have a heumann-modded e-v m43u which i REALLY like. and there is the ruskin crystal mic which sings very sweetly as well, and a shure 545s laying around here someplace.
friday i blew through a blues junior with an sm58 + impedance tranny. even with an 8" speaker that little rig put out very well indeed!
you just never know unless you try.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
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Greg Heumann
1296 posts
Oct 09, 2011
10:50 PM
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Agree with above comments. "Better" is in the ear of the beholder. Why do mics sound different? I can think of two or four (depending on how you count) factors. In the list below, a and b can be thought of as part of the same factor, so can c and d)
a) frequency response limits
b) freq response curve
c) headroom
d) characteristic of distortion when played beyond limit
a) I simply mean min and max frequency the mic will reproduce. Newer mics tend to have much wider response ranges. Harmonica only produces fundamental tones in a fairly narrow range. Just because a mic "hears" at 20Hz instead of 100Hz doesn't mean you're going to get more bass in your tone. The harp doesn't produce anything that low. But ALL instruments have harmonics and overtones of the fundamental frequency of the note being played - often extended high frequency response helps to capture this. That can be a good or bad thing depending on what sound you're looking for.
b) is the shape of the curve between those points. It is rarely a straight line - for some frequencies output will be higher or lower than for other frequencies.
c) is how much sound pressure the mic can handle before it distorts. An Audix Fireball has HUGE headroom of 140dB if i remember correctly. An older mic will begin to break up at much lower sound pressure levels. When you play harp and hand hold/cup a mic, this factor definitely comes into play.
d) when it does, the "quality" of the distortion matters. For example an electret condenser mic is great for acoustic work - it is cheap and tiny. But when you drive it beyond what it is capable of reproducing cleanly, the resulting sound is generally NOT pretty. The heavier metal diaphragm of older mics doesn't vibrate as cleanly and begins to introduce some serious harmonic vibrations of its own when pressed hard - the tone of a good controlled reluctance element, cupped hard, into a tube amplifier - is a special thing that no simulation can ever fully match - sort of like a hammond B3 with a Leslie. You can get close but "the real thing" is a coveted, beloved sound that has yet to be duplicated by modern technologies.
That's why one mic sounds different from another.
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/Greg
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markdc70
95 posts
Oct 09, 2011
10:58 PM
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@ jbone: unless that blues junior was modded, that wasn't an 8" speaker, it was a 12. I used to have a 520dx and the reason I got rid of it was just too heavy. I could get decent sound from it, but the weight and the smooth, round gripping area just got old after awhile.
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rharley5652
584 posts
Oct 10, 2011
12:35 AM
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Some harp players carry 3-4 different mics in there bag,.& use each for different songs ><
Others carry 2 mics ,.1 they luv the tone of ,.an the other stays in the bag as backup ><
Point is Each harp player has great Tone,.
95% of the Audience Luvs each players Tone,.
Back to the the words of The Wise Man,
"It depends." Use your ears!
If You the player like what you hear ,.That is what matters ,..
The Old Harmonic Greats never worried about the technical side of a microphone ,they just picked it up an started Howling,..
------------click Link Below -----------
Simply Unique Kustom Mic's By Rharley
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bluzmn
51 posts
Oct 10, 2011
9:25 AM
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Thank you all for your responses, but I think some of you are misunderstanding my question; I am not asking "which is the best harp mic" or how to "improve" the sound of a Shure 520DX. I was just using that as an example of an often maligned dynamic harp mic. To put my question more simply; can a dynamic mic be made to sound louder and/or darker by rewinding the coil with more wire than usual and/or installing a more powerful magnet?
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528hemi
241 posts
Oct 11, 2011
8:55 AM
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If you are changing the design specifications of the microphone, the Microphone will sound different given the other devices in the chain remain constant.
Changing the design specifications may change the frequency response of the Microphone. A Preamp will (boost or amplify those frequencies differently) depending on its design. Then you have the power stage of the amp and then you have to factor in the frequency response of your speaker.
So the designer needs to know generally what application the microphone will be used to make that microphone work well.
There is a limit to how much a transducer ( a microphone) can convert sound energy to electrical energy.
You can also have a mic sound darker by adding a capacitor across it output leads to filter some highs.
The answer is not simple to answer.
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