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From: Pete Brunelli
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 14:47:03 -0400
Subject: Re: microphones

At 01:02 PM 9/11/96 +0200, you wrote:
>
>the first say you need a very old amp (Roehre) and one of the old
characteristic
>microphones for a sound of 50's and that 'sa enough (?)
>
Thorsten,

It sure helps. The crystal elements in a JT-30 or the "Controlled Magnetic"
element in a Green Bullet gives a type of compression, in both volume and
frequency response. The older tube amps are prone to a great sounding
"break up" at moderate drive levels. Put the two together and you get a big
fat blues harp sound.

>the second group says, amp is not as much important as often said, then use
>a normal
mic , which is almost used for vocal (shure SM 58 etc.) and multi effect
>equipment,
for echoe and distortion ...

I use a Mesa Boogie Preamp. Total Overkill! But man, does it sound great.
BTW, i did not buy this device for playing harp through, and if the real
owner wants it back, it goes back. ;-(

If you can make it sound good, then it must be right. With a solid state
amp you will get a more accurate representation of the input signal. So if
your effect sounds dinky, it will just get louder. I use a Pro-Co Rat
distortion box as my only effect, on the rare occasion that I use one. It
gives real overdrive and allows you to control gain, efect balance, and
tonal filtering right on the box. I clip it to my belt.

>now i am a bit confused ...

Doh!

>the only experience i made was the ohm impedance of the microphone should
be high.
>otherwise (with low Ohm) wind noise and breath will also be heard.
>i played such a vocal mic, it was a shure, with PA and it was easy to
adjust sound
>right, it didn't take long time adn i didn't have any feedback ...

Impedance is abbreviated as "Z".
As long as you match High-Z to High-Z you will get the sound that both sides
were meant to produce. XLR jacks are typically used on high impedance
devices, like crystal and dynamic mic's. Guitar amps are set up for low-Z
devices like inductive guitar pickups. Adapters for high to low impedance
(XLR to 1/4" plug), and low to high (1/4" jack to XLR), are inexpensive and
solve these problems.

>in kevin's fine catalog all mentioned mics have high impedance ...
>
>the problem is i can not understand some technical details , very well:
>when is impedance lown and when is said to be high ? i know aboput frequencies,
>but i need some thumb rules to choose a right mic, i don't want to buy an
expensive
>one, which is a wrong one at the end ...

Impedance is resistance in an AC circuit (Mike C. will kill me for this).
The issue is impedance matching. If a guitar amp is looking for a low (8
ohm- 1K ohm) input device, and you connect a 5 Meg-ohm device, you have
created an impedance mismatch and the frequency response of the circuit has
been altered. You never know, it may sound better to you. The real problem
is that the impedance of that 5 Meg device may be 1K at SOME frequency
(probably not audio range), and the circuit will try to process it. This
can cause problems with feedback and unwanted overtones.

>can someone please sum up what is important for a mic ?

It sould match your system. A SM58, with an impedance adapter (Hi to Lo),
into a guitar amp = a matched system. A GB, internally switched to low Z,
played directly into a guitar amp should also be well matched.

Gud Luk,
Fireproof suit donned, asbestos undergarments ahoy!

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Pete Brunelli p~onnix.com http://www.connix.com/~pcb