Will a US Condenser Mic Work on UK Device?

[matt thomas]

Originally Posted by Iain

Hi all,

So this first post from me is pretty much summed up by the thread title; in a bid to save money, I'm contemplating taking the chance of getting the MXL V67G condenser mic from the 'Bay for eighty quid, but the seller is American while I live in the UK. Knowing that these mics must be phantom powered by whatever device they are used with, will this cause complications if I'm using an American condenser with a UK device?

Cheers,
~ Iain.

phantom power is the same the world over, as it is created by your mixer or preamp. You don't plug the mics into the wall.

Tube mics (and a small number of other mics) on the other hand plug into the wall, so if you were buying one (you are not) you would need to check voltage compatibilities.

BTW. Check out the price of shipping before you jump.

Matt

[stella645]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

BTW. Check out the price of shipping before you jump.

Matt

& you may be charged duty by customs as well.

[oldeanalogueguy]

Originally Posted by Iain

Hi all,

So this first post from me is pretty much summed up by the thread title; in a bid to save money, I'm contemplating taking the chance of getting the MXL V67G condenser mic from the 'Bay for eighty quid, but the seller is American while I live in the UK. Knowing that these mics must be phantom powered by whatever device they are used with, will this cause complications if I'm using an American condenser with a UK device?

Cheers,
~ Iain.

phantom comes from your interface. That should be powered by your mains. If that works in UK then your only worry is whether the 48v phantom out is in metric units or american voltage units.

condensors ahve some tolerance for voltage differences so you should be okay whether they measured it in UK or american units.

i would look at thomann.de (?) or similar to compare prices.
I would not use the bay. If you did isnt there a euro version that could work better for you ?

[matt thomas]

Originally Posted by oldeanalogueguy

metric units or american voltage units.

What? First I've heard of that, I didn't think there was any such distinction?

matt

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

What? First I've heard of that, I didn't think there was any such distinction?

Haven't you heard of the US volt?

It's also important to note that due to the fact that the UK has left-hand traffic, signals from a US microphone will be polarity-reversed. On earlier models, they sometimes would even be recorded backwards, but most manufacturers have solved this issue.

[oldeanalogueguy]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

What? First I've heard of that, I didn't think there was any such distinction?

matt

same distinction as american mikes versus european mikes

[TimOBrienFlorida]

It's only in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere you'd have problems.
The peaks and troughs of the sine wave are 180-degrees upside down....
;-)