Here is a replacement mount that we made for a Western Electric RA-1142 ribbon microphone.
It consists of a folded steel yoke mated to a brass barrel, threaded for 5/8″ mic stands. The mount works well in practice and looks similar to the original.
Many thanks to Cicely and Darrel at Gearbox Records for the photograph.
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| 1. Make sure you have all the parts. |
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| 2. Strip and prepare the cable ends ready for soldering. Push through the Mount-a-Mic adapter |
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| 3. Solder the female XLR connector. We recommend connecting the barrel lug to pin 1. |
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| 4. Fit the plastic strain-relief |
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| 5. Slide the metal barrel over the plastic parts |
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| 6. Slowly screw the barrel into the adapter, allowing the cable to rotate freely as you go. |
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| 7. Fit your choice of connector to the other end, and enjoy! |
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| Xaudia – Mount-a-Mic assembled cable |
This simple yet cunning gizmo is designed to convert XLR plugs so that they can be screwed onto a 5/8” mic stand.
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| Mount-a-Mic adapter from Xaudia |
And a Neumann is no problem!
Here are some assembly instructions for those who wish to make their own cables.
We have been selling thread adapters for a while but the latest batch are a step up in quality. They are machined from solid brass and have a standard 3/8″ female thread that will fit most modern mic stands. They can also be supplied with 5/8″ on request.
It fits this RCA77B perfectly.
These fit the following microphones….
Most RCA 44, PB140, PB144, 74b, 77B, 77DX, MI-4010-A, BK-11.
Some (but not all) models of the RCA Varacoustic.
Sony C38, C48, FV300, Some C37s.
Many Aiwa, Toshiba and Matsushita ribbon mics
Syncron / Fairchild AU7a
Some older Amperite mics
Please ask about your microphone.
They are available in a range of ratios, and our most popular model is the 50 Ω to 600 Ω box, which is ideal for Melodium 42B, STC 4033, and Western Electric / Altec 639 ‘birdcage’ microphones.
These can be supplied to order in almost any required ratio to match your microphone.
Xaudia is pleased to announce this little gadget…
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| Melodium 42B stand adapter |
Anyone who has ever tried to put a Melodium 42B on a mic stand knows that it is challenge, if the original adapter is missing – which it often is.
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| Melodium 42B with Xaudia stand adapter |
The Melodium 42B can now be securely mounted on a stand. Problem solved!
This week we have been building lots of little transformer moxes to match vintage 30 ohm ribbon mics to modern mic preamps. Correct impedance matching can deliver a +12 dB increase in level without noise penalty or loss of frequency response, which is welcome for many older microphones. Here is how a Reslo RV microphone behaves with and without the transformer:
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| Frequency response plots for Reslo mic with and without an impedance matching transformer |
They are suitable for many old microphones including the following:
