HawkeyeKane
1375 posts
Jan 10, 2013
8:03 AM
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Of the mics he has for sale right now, I'm most curious about those vintage European crystals. The others I've seen before, but the mystery surrounding those brandnameless elements is somewhat gripping to me.
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Hawkeye Kane
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Greg Heumann
1938 posts
Jan 10, 2013
10:15 AM
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I know NOTHING about what elements Dennis has to offer. But I've serviced mics made by many builders, many with elements claimed to have some great rarity or exclusivity or other quality. Some builders have even gone so far as to make their mics unopenable/unserviceable so you can't see what the element is. I have destroyed one or two of these just to find out. I can tell you that in my experience, when someone can't name them, they're USUALLY:
a) unknown
b) cheap
c) nothing to write home about
d) all of the above
The correct answer is d.
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/Greg
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2013 10:15 AM
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6SN7
254 posts
Jan 10, 2013
10:36 AM
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I talked extensively to Dennis about his elements last summer when I saw him play together with Doug Deming.
I asked about those super sensitive elements and he told me he puts Adolph's Meat Tenderizer on them before sealing them up in the bullet.
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Kingley
2163 posts
Jan 10, 2013
10:41 AM
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Dennis has many mics for sale on his site. The thing I like most is that he does video demos of each mic through three different sized amps.
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TetonJohn
60 posts
Jan 10, 2013
11:02 AM
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Link to Dennis G's mikes for sale page for those who haven't seen. He rates each microphone on a number of characteristics, and as Kingley said, you get to hear them through three amps.
Dennis G mikes for sale
Yes, the "vintage european crsytal" is a bit of a mystery, but they sound good -- who knows, they may be the next xtal option -- I suspect Dennis cherry picks for the good ones.
I have purchased a couple of his microphones (not the vintage euro xtal) and his descriptions are good. I can't imagine Dennis trying to pass off a crappy element -- he's got a rep to keep up like other respected mike builders.
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Bigtone
6 posts
Jan 10, 2013
11:30 AM
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Over the summer he bought over 50 elements and mics from me. He has a guy named Bob that buys for him when he is gone too. I hit a mother load of mics in East TN and found literally 300 bullet mics. I bought many of them but there are still alot more to get . If any of you guys want anything let me know. Most every shure bullet that was there were all black and white cr in rare colors. I got a couple of those Shure rocket mics from 30's and every jt30 known to man. From what I can tell dennis literally just himself and from help from others just looks harder than anyone for this stuff and he has to doe to buy it. This is about after I sold half of them. TN is full of mics guys. There is a guy here in Knoxville that has like the 4th biggest collection ever. I went to his house it is insane he said he had 1800 mics mostly all ribbon broadcasting mics but there were so many bullets etc you literally had to tip toe over them. Guy I got these from literally had these 3ft by 1ft deep tubbs labeled rca, shure, astatic , turner etc... stacked 10ft high three rows. And this was the stuff he didnt care about he was an old broadcaster and had a "man" room that had every mic ever in mint condition he wouldnt sell one he didnt have one of already.
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2013 11:40 AM
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tmf714
1426 posts
Jan 10, 2013
12:08 PM
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I can tell you that I have one of the european crystals in a brown JT30 that Dennis hooked me up with-it is every bit of the 101 JT30 I own-stout and loud-I would put it up against any crystal out there.
As Bigtone says,Dennis searches and "cherry pics" the best elements and mics for himself and his customers.
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Bigtone
7 posts
Jan 10, 2013
12:16 PM
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Yeah I guess when dennis was on the road months back i think around august his friend Bob who maybe the guy that runs the studio etc with him was buying from me like crazy over ebay. I thought it was dennis as he had got them from me before. Then once we emailed personally instead of through ebay i realized it was another guy. All of them are real nice and know there stuff. He told me that they look all day all the time, ebay, craigslist and not to mention everyone knows him and he puts his name in everyones ear. It is like me when I got to a flea market or auction etc.. I tell everyone im looking for mics, old amps and guitars and sometimes it works i get a call weeks later. Dennis does this same thing but on a much larger scale. My best friend has went up there and taken lessons from him etc and says he is a good dude. I mean just think back in the day these were the mics they used for everything. Check cb radio shops along the interstate for the truckers as alot of those cats have old stuff, antique stores I have found many too. You just cant be afraid to open your mouth all the time and say he you got this or that.
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2013 12:25 PM
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HawkeyeKane
1382 posts
Jan 10, 2013
1:01 PM
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Ham radio enthusiasts are a good connection for harp friendly mics too, bullet or otherwise. My wife's uncle is a ham maniac and has a couple vintage mics himself. He's told me he'll keep an eye out for anything he thought I could use. I'll ask him to be sure, but I'd bet ham radio lovers might have their own equivalents of SPAH and HCH conventions. Bet a convention like that could potentially be a harp mic and vacuum tube Mecca!
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Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2013 1:01 PM
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Bigtone
8 posts
Jan 10, 2013
1:06 PM
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very true and if you get online you can find the nearest ham and cb shows in your area and check them out cause you know there will be some mics there for sure good call hawkeye kane!!
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Willspear
263 posts
Jan 10, 2013
1:37 PM
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At the last local Hamfest I bought an entire milk crate of microphones, a bunch tubes and a sweet hat for 75 bucks total.
All the crystals were dead but I did pull out 2 black cr shure bullets and and a couple cool shells.
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Bigtone
9 posts
Jan 10, 2013
3:24 PM
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dang nice score willspear yeah its amazing what you can find if you just focus on finding it, i have bought like awful condition jt30's etc on ebay and gotten black labels in them, no pics or anything on either side. just luck of the draw i guess
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Frank
1845 posts
Jan 10, 2013
6:33 PM
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Thanks fellers for the interesting read, lotza cool info goin on :)
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2013 6:34 PM
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Greg Heumann
1941 posts
Jan 10, 2013
8:28 PM
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Hey, Bigtone - shoot me an email - I'm always in the market for good elements. greg at blowsmeaway dot com
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/Greg
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shbamac
228 posts
Jan 10, 2013
9:31 PM
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Bigtone, I've been on the look out for a particular Shure shell that has eluded me for a long time. Send me an email please, shbamac at yahoo. Thanks.
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HawkeyeKane
1386 posts
Jan 11, 2013
8:05 AM
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@Bigtone
Looked into it online, found two Hamfests within two hours drive from me, and within a month of each other. Things could get VEEERRRYYY interesting here.
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Hawkeye Kane
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Mojokane
650 posts
Jan 11, 2013
9:27 AM
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unbelievable collection!! and stories of finding treasures!!
As I them, and view the massive collections, I can feeeeel my skin turning green with envy....
The website is cool, too.
A bit pricey for my tastes.
The three amp thing is a good idea...
I wished I lived on the mainland. I'd be at every hamfest within a hundred miles.
There's no such thing here in Hawaii...
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Why is it that we all just can't get along?<
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orphan
196 posts
Jan 11, 2013
10:50 AM
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@ Mojokane: view the massive collections, I can feeeeel my skin turning green with envy....
Yeah, I have been trying to withdraw from mic envy ever since I looked @ those shells you were working on. From there I went to some harder stuff like the Blowsmeaway mic pics Greg has up. That was November. Was doing so good and now this! "Oh the humanity!"
OK orphan, you can do this... Look away. DO NOT page up. Find another topic. DEEP BREATH... easy now, calm down... return to normal, others are counting on you.
CRAP its not working.
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Bigtone
13 posts
Jan 11, 2013
11:10 AM
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wow hawkeye kane!! nice man let me know how it turns out one thing i do to is go on google under craigslist helper the first site i think it is search tempest use it. go under your zip and miles away and type in search all for whatever ya want old microphone, vintage microphone. No joke one time i found a estate sale in KS. Guy who died was a harp player obviously because there were hundreds of new harmonicas and hundreds of bullet mics all displayed nicely. There is also a website called auctionzip.com sometimes i find stuff on there. I need to step up my game and get on those hamfest like you have too. This could get very interesting haha
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HawkeyeKane
1388 posts
Jan 11, 2013
11:40 AM
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@Bigtone
Well, it'll be awhile. The first one isn't til August. But there's no doubt in my mind that I'll wanna share on here if I happen to score anything. ;-)
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Hawkeye Kane
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Mojokane
651 posts
Jan 11, 2013
7:03 PM
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see what you started FRANK!!
Orphan...you are hilarious!
but seriously folks. Flea markets, or ham fests, and places where they're dirt cheap,....
eventually those poor people end up throwing them away, maybe, too.I've heard horror stories like that before..
So it's a good thing...yet sad, too.
How many of us are reeeeeeeally gonna do what it takes to harvest the glut of cheap vintage gear STILL OUT THERE?.
Reminds me of the feeling I get when I watch "Pickers" on cable....
man, what a dream job.
I'm off to get me a nice and juicy vintage microphone sandwich...
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Why is it that we all just can't get along?<
Last Edited by on Jan 11, 2013 7:13 PM
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Bigtone
15 posts
Jan 12, 2013
2:12 AM
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yeah my buddy from vegas back about ten years ago found a maple neck esquire for 175 bucks at pawn shop they thought it was a squire and same guy got a black face vibrolux for 60 bucks at a goodwill where am i when shit like that comes up at a goodwill, i aint never seen anything good at a goodwill lol
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Frank
1852 posts
Jan 12, 2013
5:26 AM
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Would car junk yards be a place to find some mic treasures?
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rogonzab
209 posts
Jan 12, 2013
5:32 AM
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A story for the ones who has lost all hope:
A friend of mine knows an old man in a a flea market that sometime sell mics. He call my friends to see if he want one.
A few weeks ago, my friens buy from this old guy a Astatic T3 whit is original crystal element, and the thing was in perfect conditions! a tons of output! and the mic was whitout a scratch.
My frien paid $40
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Bigtone
17 posts
Jan 12, 2013
10:12 AM
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@frank man i think anywhere is a good place to look, if someone has a collection of anything such as cars or whatever these people have who knows what there are so many people that buy just everything i go to auctions alot and see 85% of the people just buy shit just because. It makes no logical sense. I meet alot of random people with mics or amps that they picked up at auctions or in back seat of a car etc.. haha
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jbone
1172 posts
Jan 12, 2013
11:28 AM
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I have a Ruskin crystal mic here that's built so it would be difficult to get inside it. It's a motorcycle tail light bezel with a cap over the open end, and in place of screws it has a rounded off lump of metal in the face of the grill.
I've always way dug the sound of this mic so never wanted to get inside. It was purported to have a Shure mc-151 in it- isn't that the same as what was originally in the JT30's? At any rate I do love the tone. Not lot of bottom end but this mic is really great for chromatic 3rd position.
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Bigtone
18 posts
Jan 12, 2013
12:17 PM
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@jbone
Astatic made the mc-151
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Frank
1857 posts
Jan 13, 2013
3:37 AM
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Good mornin - I was with Ruskin when he started that mic business, I wasn't a partner, just friends - I hung out at his house. His brother is an excellent guitar player in the vein of Louis Myers. I can't recall where he got his elements, I do remember he came across a mother load somewhere though.
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