B&O mod by Mr Stephen Sank?

[prinsnilsson]

Hi!
I've read many peoples opinions in here about Mr Sank and after reading a lot I have decided I want to mod 4 of my B&O mics but I can't get a hold of Stephen Sank. Has anyone any contact info for him, please PM me. Say I don't get hold of him , is Clarence Kane a good alternative you guys think? What are the differences between the two mod's?
Thanks!
//Mathias

[Pohaku]

In the last couple of years there have been several threads on different sites regarding problems with Mr. Sank responding to existing clients and potential clients. He may have had health issues, but it isn't clear. Perhaps all of this has since resolved. In any event, I would check his current status out carefully before you send anything anywhere. Clarence Kane has a significant reputation, but I've never sent anything to him. I'm sure other here have used his services and can comment.

[pramrod]

For the record, I have had nothing but fantastic experiences with Stephen Sank. he has reribboned and in the process fixed my pairs of Beyer M160, Americans, RCA and B&O ribbons. each mic was in different states of being- some worked fine, others didn't work at all, and now they are all great great mics. the americans had little range and were super tinny before they went out to Stephen (actually one didn't work at all and the other a box of tin), now they are much more open mics, infinitely more usefull, and just sound great. i've never had any problems communicating with him and he has always done the work we agreed upon quickly and with great care. my m160's sound so much better since they came back from stephen and were working just fine before. i jam them into the front of loud guitar amps all the time with no issues. and my B&O's have been used on many a famous trumpet player stuck right in front of the bell of the horn and sounded great, even after a trumpetly beating. on a recent major label jazz trumpet release we chose the Sank Modded B&O mic over a bunch of other nice mics including coles and gefell. big for Stephen Sank. sometimes you must persevere to get to the specialized techs... enjo pram

[pramrod]

p.s. his website is:

Champlain Valley Speaker Company

[Pohaku]

That's good to know. Was that work done recently?

I had contemplated sending in one of my Beyer M260s for him to work on before those issues arose. I've actually never heard anyone say anything negative about the quality of his work -- the issues were timeliness and communication, but perhaps the problem has been resolved.

[84K]

Originally Posted by pramrod

For the record, I have had nothing but fantastic experiences with Stephen Sank.

+1

Mr. Sank is great. Last thing he did for me, he moved and I left repeated messages on his answering machine, then one day the mics showed up. He always comes through and is a good guy, just a little strange.

[prinsnilsson]

Thanks for all your advice! I can agree I have never heard anything negative about his work, everyone seems to be more than pleased with what he's doing to the mics and that's why I really wanna send mine to Stephen but since he's not replaying I don't know whether just to send him the mics and hope for the best or if I should wait till I get an answer from him saying that he will do the work, what do you guys think? It's been 6 months with no answer, 3 emails and one phone call, so I guess I can understand peoples frustration over his way of communicating, or lack thereof.

[prinsnilsson]

I forgot to ask about the possible sonic differences between Sank and Kane's mods on these mics, anyone compared them? I've read somewhere that Sank's mods are sonically much "better" compared to Kane's (anonymous poster with no rep I have to add). I guess that is a matter of taste right?

[aracu]

To contact S.S. try googling the proaudioheaven website, go to it and then click the service tab to send him an e-mail. Or call pro audio heaven toll free at 1-888-321-MICS to talk to his neighbor/dealer. I ordered a bm5 re-ribboned by Sank, and sent it back for a refund. The stereo ribbons were way mismatched (the shipping may have broken one). They
would have re-done it if I wanted them to but the gain on the mic was
so low that I didn't have much practical use for it, although one of
the capsules had a beautiful sound. The service was not too slow.

[prinsnilsson]

Thanks Aracu for that info. I actually contacted Proaudioheaven about a week ago but still no answer, I'll give them a ring to see if I will have any luck there. As much as I wanna go for Enak since the reputation is way better than Sank when it comes to customer support I am still worried that I would miss something sonically by doing that.
So any inputs on that would still be very much appreciated.

[Tundradawg]

Clarence Kane. Website: Genuine RCA Microphone Serivce and Restorations since 1952. All work done to exact RCA specifications. reconditioned my B&O and it sounds absolutely wonderful. Kane was responsive, professional and provided good information during our phone conversations.

[pan60]

i would go with Clarence Kane

[prinsnilsson]

Thank you guys for your guidance!
I will send them to Clarence Kane this week. I actually got a response from Proaudioheaven today and they were very kind and informative but they do charge $55(!) more per mic than Kane so I don't find that to be worth it really, but for your info this is what Rodger Murphey of Pro Audio Heaven wrote: "Steve and I are partners and we generally take care of repairs through proaudioheaven.com at this point." So for anyone wanting to contact Stephen Sank, try using proaudioheaven.com and fill out their contact form.

[pan60]

B&O ; )

[prinsnilsson]

Bumping this thread again as I wanna ask anyone who's been in contact with mr Kane for any contact info apart from what is available on his website? I sent him two mics over a month ago and since he confirmed they had arrived I have heard nothing and my emails to him are just bouncing saying his mail server is down and I get no answer on his phone.
Anyone with any info on how to reach him please let me know.
Thanks

[prinsnilsson]

I've managed to reach Clarence and the mics are now on their way back to Sweden! Great!
If anyone wants to contact Clarence about his work, I have a new email for him, just PM me and I'll send it to you.

[pan60]

glad to hear you reached him ~

[drybones]

Originally Posted by Pohaku

Clarence Kane has a significant reputation, but I've never sent anything to him. I'm sure other here have used his services and can comment.

I have had the pleasure of sending him 5 mics. Two were RCA mics, a BK-5A and a 77-DX.. The 77-DX was so beat up I didn't think he could do anything with it. I had found it at a garage sale and it was wasted. When I got it back I was blown away. It looked like it just came out of the box!! Don't expect a fast turn around. That is part of the price of admission. You can't rush an artist.

Mr. Kane is a wonderful man, does incredible work and as far as I am concerned, "The Prince of Pitman New Jersey!"

[pan60]

Originally Posted by drybones

I have had the pleasure of sending him 5 mics. Two were RCA mics, a BK-5A and a 77-DX.. The 77-DX was so beat up I didn't think he could do anything with it. I had found it at a garage sale and it was wasted. When I got it back I was blown away. It looked like it just came out of the box!! Don't expect a fast turn around. That is part of the price of admission. You can't rush an artist.

Mr. Kane is a wonderful man, does incredible work and as far as I am concerned, "The Prince of Pittman New Jersey!"

damn skippy in my book as well!