| Gauge Mic - Under the Hood
Had a chance to today to look inside a Gauge ECM 87. This is the exact same mic as a Nady SCM 900 manufactured by Alctron in Ningbo, China.
When I say exact, I mean exact - down to the "SCM900" model number silk screened on the back PC board (lower left pic). All components are the same, including the rough sounding ceramic capacitor between capsule and FET. Anyone who has taken the barrel off their budget Chinese mic will recognize the blue push button LF roll-off switch on the front PC board (lower right).
This is a standard issue Chinese mic with Alctron 32mm K67-style capsule driving a flat-response transformerless circuit. It has excessive brightness because the built-in HF rise of the K67-style capsule is not compensated with a HF de-emphasis network as was done in the U 67 and U 87 mics.
Nothing new here except the hype. Same too bright, too "eshhy", too sibiliant sound that plauges every re-branded Alctron HSMC002 mic. |