Last night I was trying to convert my cheap vocal mic into a home-made harp mic (putting the dynamic element inside a salt shaker), butt when all the conections was made, the mic refuse to work.
Recently I made a home-made mic, and there was no problem. But in despite I did the same things, the same steps towards the same goal, nothing happened.
I well the connections to the element, and to the jack the same way that I did Before.
As far as I know, all the part are ok.
The mic had an on/of button, I cut the wires before that conecction (going from the element to bottom.
If any of you know what is the problem I will appreciate your help a lot!.
Connections look OK as far as I can see. Was the salt shaker metal? Did you insulate the connections when in the shaker? If not they both may have been shorting with the shaker. ----------
My first impression is that those are really bad soldered connections. You shouldn't have huge globs of solder on the wires. The wires should be twisted together so that, when finished, they look like one nice straight piece of wire.
Second, did you insulate the wires when you put them in the salt shaker? If not, they could be touching and shorting the mic out.
I'm assuming the OP had stripped and twisted together all the wires correctly before soldering. Even with a cold joint they should still be OK (but not ideal). Cold joints can occur if the joint is moved just before it "sets" and can cause a crystalization in the joint which will fail in time. It wouldn't necessarily not work but it could work with a higher resistance. (Once again far from ideal but it shouldn't be a complete show stopper with this). Maybe worth checking the connections on the jack socket. Did you use the right tags. ----------
The solder joints may be ugly but they look like the solder flowed so I doubt they are the problem.
It looks to me like you've wired one of the leads to the switch terminal of the 1/4" connector. That terminal isn't in contact with anything when the cable is plugged in - it is for shorting the signal lead to ground when the cable is unplugged.
Can't say for sure without seeing the connector better. ---------- /Greg
I'm with you on that one Greg. It looks like the tag furthest away is the chassis/earth tag. The one in the middle the tip tag and the one nearest to us is the switch tag. That's the best I can do without having the actual socket in my hand. Use the entre tag and it should work. BANG! Whoops. Only kidding.
Also, if the shell is metal, and you didn't insulate the soldered connections of the wires with electrical tape or heat shrink (which it doesn't look like you did), it could easily cause a short. If Greg's astute suggestion is NOT the problem, then that probably is. ---------- == I S A A C ==
I admit that the soldering job was a bad one, but I don't think that was the problem. (The salt shaker was a plastic one, just in case)
Unfortubably, when I was re-soldering all the conecctions the element fall and now it is broken. The plastic around the element break and some copper wire was release (wtf?).
Maybe it was fate.
I think that the problem was in the conecctionss to the jack, I always use the ones whit two "legs" and works fine. I think that in the 3 "leg" type the position are different.
Now I am searching for another cheap vocal mic to try one more time. I will tell you know how it goes.
@rogonzab. If you are in the UK you can get cheap karaoke vocal mics from PoundLand or the 99p stores. They are OK-ish but you can get higher quality dynamic mic inserts from Maplin for about £3.00-ish.
@rogonzab If you are looking for microphone elements, try Mouser Electronics. They have a huge selection of mic elements. Many are very reasonably priced.
@rogonzab - I admire your learning about this and experimenting. It can be fun and satisfying, and ... once you have a lot of experience ... gives you the knowledge you need to build a good harp mic for less $$. But I wonder if you're really going to be happy with one of these super-cheap elements. In the end they're just not great for harp. By the time you pay for all the shipping and duties, you're going to have spent a fair amount anyway - and yet you probably won't get the tone you're looking for. If I were you I would consider starting with a decent vintage element. The Shure 99S556 dual impedance controlled magnetic is probably the most economical and still has much better tone than any of these new $5 elements.
The frequency response of the old controlled magnetic elements capped out at 7Khz. Newer elements go much higher and CAN sound harsh as a result. Not all do. The dynamic element you're looking at on eBay goes to 14Khz, for example. It is a low impedance element - you'll need to add an impedance matching transformer to make it work.
P.S. - Avoid the condenser mics. The are OK for clean acoustic work but they sound AWFUL when you cup and overdrive them. ---------- /Greg
Thxs for your kind words, it mean a lot for me. I have done one DIY mic before this atempt (whith a telephone speaker), and this is it:
It is the most basic way to do a mic, whit the cheapest element, but I build it and I love it!
For now it suit my needs (and my poor acustic tone), but I wont lie to you telling yo that this is all I want.
I Think you are right, the "thing" that I am looking for it is most probably to be found in a decent element rather then a cheap one.
I am going to save for a good one!
Thx a lot!
P.S: This element is really like the Shure 500dx? http://www.harpmicshop.com/servlet/Detail?no=153 It is possible?
Last Edited by on Mar 13, 2012 8:24 PM
Yes. It's not the exact same element that's in the 520DX, but it's very similar and probably produces the same results. I dunno about the whole 3-hole as opposed to 16-hole setup being less prone to feedback though. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
