It has two primary wires and two secondary wires. i don’t doubt any of what you are saying, but anecdotally, i use many many different models of vintage and modern ribbon mics in the studio all the time with a wide variety of different mic preamps (input impedance of which varies roughly between 150 ohms and 1500 ohms) and they all sound good, plenty of high-end. The price seems to have flip-flopped, but I would take the R40 over the R144 any day. As is true of most transformerless microphones, 98% of the tone of this mic comes from its capsule. So I have a pair of R40s, and I just modded one of them. It had a more detailed high end and just sounded better in general to me. Put on some decent headphones and take a listen. ET View Profile View Forum Posts View Articles Junior Member Join Date Dec 2010 Posts 67 Thanks 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Rep Power 105792. It need not be balanced. This is the original factory transformer. So a 2.5K source is supposed to drive a load as low as 600 ohms on the input of a good mic pre PLUS the cable capacitance. the tester may SHOW continuity even tho the leg is not actually shorted to ground. It has a high impedance (Hi-Z) 1/4″ input of 1.5 Megohm. I got a pair of new transformers but figured I would do just one of them and do some tests with modded versus stock test before doing the second. An unloaded transformer may exhibit instability and ring at certain frequencies. In comparison the original seems to have a bit boosted low mids and the highs are a little bit muddy. What would that look like in terms of your wiring diagrams? Required fields are marked *. manufacturer Search for EDCOR on this site and you can see many, many opinions of mine regarding their various wares. The square wave test (usually 10kHz) looks a lot better with just the right amount of resistance across the secondary and the transformer (and mic) sounds better. Was the mic preamp input impedance taken into account? The difference was significant. Sell One Like This; Price Guide. Wow, just Wow, it was so much better than I expected. I am extremely impressed with the quality of the sound. Thread Tools. Then coming back and telling everyone you were misinformed. You can here some sound demonstrations I posted here http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/597135-mxl-r40-ribbon-microphone-4.html. Above, two wires extend from the head (these be the two ends of the ribbon, I imagine…) into the body cavity. A standard ribbon mic consists of a physical body or shell, a thin metal ribbon suspended in a metal frame alongside a magnets, an output transformer and output jack. Before doing it I tried to use it in some recording. The signal is so weak that it is barely above the noisefloor of the amplifier. If you’re mic pre has a hi-Z input (usually for instruments like guitars and usually 1/4″) you can try it yourself. Recording results were much brighter sounding more like a Condenser. Thanks for that. The recording chain is … c. Sorry, I guess the better way to ask that question would have been: which of the wires, what color(s), are the secondaries? After the mod it is a great mic. The Studio Projects VTB1 gets my third place for price performance, plus it has a very quiet front input that’s 1.5 Megohm which can be used to track guitars or use for ribbon mics. Now I love this mic. The MXL R40 is a solidly built, elegant-looking ribbon mic that features passive circuitry to keep the signal as pure as possible. It’s very touch sensitive and expressive. Order today! Pin 3 and pin 1 (ground) of the XLR went to the 1/4 sleeve and pin 2 went to the tip. You are hearing a solo finger-picked acoustic-guitar performance of a gospel classic. Be the first to know when one is listed: Follow this Product. http://www.lundahl.se/pdfs/datash/1927A.pdf. Totally worth it though. Mar 5, 2017 I can’t say for sure yr transformer looks like, or what its colors mean, since i don’t have it to examine. The frequency response definitely increased in the upper mids and highs which is what makes the signal louder. Orders placed before 5 p.m. Brand: MXL; Model: R40 Ribbon Microphone. We have many modification/upgrade options for the MXL 440 condenser microphone: Replace the capsule (3 choices) Replace the circuit (2 choices) Capsule Replacement. The PreSonus sounds as good as the VTB1 but is noisier. MXL 440 Mods. Our Gear Advisers are available Transformers tend to have rising output impedances with frequency, so loading them down with a low impedance resistive and capacitive loads will simply create a low pass filter and make the mic sound dull and muddy. I honestly don’t know how they can make and sell these for $30. A recommend europe source for this rmx1 trafos NOT GOING TO HAPPEN without problems. issued ”. I will need to do a little more experimentation first. Orders placed before 5 p.m. A/B listening tests on various instruments revealed it was hard to tell which was which. I will say this upgrade will be ideal if the mic is used for recording instruments, especially guitar or drums. I followed your instructions and diagram exactly as far as I can tell. Includes transformer upgrade an 2.5-1.8-1.2 and 0.8 micron ribbon installations. I was really hoping to get a lot more output since I often run into noise problems with those mics. I bought the 144 cheap because it had a broken ribbon and replaced it with 2.5 micron which gave it a midrange bump that sounded a bit metallic. A source in general as a RULE OF THUMB should have less than 1/10 the impedance of the load it drives to avoid altering the frequency response. If phantom power is used the absolute lowest impedance of a mic pre is 6.8K (from either of the balanced lines to ground). the latest deals. UPDATE: since this article seems to get an enormous number of pageviews, I thought I should mention that we did in fact carry-out the intended shoot-out of the mod’d R40 versus a range of other similar ribbons (with a Royer R121 as the ‘control’ sample. I’m thinking of doing this same procedure on the R144. It’s a very good product, if a little overpriced IMO (check out the Shinybox 46MXL for a mic that’s 98% as good for 40% the price of the Royer; I’ve used my 46MXL on sessions with my Royer for years). And with these very few elements, sound can be turned into electricity with incredible realism. If my EE degree causes me to get too technical sometimes I apologize. Feel free to laugh at my apparent total lack of fine motor control. There are a number of cheaper alternatives to the Fathead II, and I’ve tried many of them over the years, driven mainly by curiosity. Do you have any experience with the MXL R144 or R77 Ribbon Microphones? Thx for this info though; I’m not at all inclined to a DIY mic, but the cost savings and interest in ribbon mics means I might try this. Try the cont tester first, and if there is no cont, then there is no wiring error. breakdowns, accidental damage from handling Also, would the transformer work on the Fat Head, would it make a noticeable difference/does it even need it? ANYway, that’s about it. So I am going towards the Cascade Fat Head, but…Here’s my question: Does the MXL R40 with EDCOR mic transformer sound better then the Fat Head? I can’t find the information I’ve shared below – I had to figure it out myself but it wasn’t difficult and my experiments prove my theory correct. It also had a dark, closed in sound in the high frequencies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRCFZY3wH4o. . Backing off the screw that mounts the PCB board helped allot. Tube circuits in general are very simple. 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