I'm thinking of getting one of the mic mods for my MK219 by Michael Joly and I wondered if anyone here has tried his service. I see great reviews on his site, obviously, but mixed reviews elsewhere. Thoughts? Worth it? Thank you very much..

 

I've no idea, never looked into mics in this much detail, just seems to be a expensive way of changing the frequency response of a mic to me , but would be interested to know why I'm wrong.

 

If you want first-hand experience, the MK-319 mod is useful. Perhaps MK-219 too, though I haven't personally tried one.
They are also quite expensive. But you can get a used 319 or 219 very cheap. The second-hand need to be properly tested, as the bodies tend to gain rust with age and that may cause noise-screening issues as i.e. the upper part of the body looses contact with the lower part. Easy to fix, though.

The rest of the mods are questionable for price/value. For SDC mics, in average, you will probably have better and more predictable results with i.e. Beyer or Shure. And maybe also cheaper. The mods are said to improve the electronics, but the capsules' quality varies wildly and _that_ the mods do not relieve. Unless you have a well-tested and known to be good capsule, I would suggest against it.

Didn't try the non-oktava mods. Over time they switched more and more to chinese mics, and also got to manufacture some in-home designs which might (or might not) produce better results.

Overall I can tell the guy knows his job at making money out of hype. This makes kinda hard to trust the endless gearslutz threads of happy users.

My 5 cents.

 

Modding and ground up DIY mics, preamps and the rest are all the rage at the moment. It used to be quite a quiet scene but now it's open season. Michael Jolly removes the inner mesh from the headbasket which improves internal resonance, I believe he coats the inside of the mic shell with silicone to minimise resonance through the body.

He has never published his component changes but generally the mics get recapped with high end capacitors and other components. I'm not sure about that specific mic but many of his other mods involve a capsule swap as well.

I have built many a preamp. Api / Neve + a vintage circuit U87 with beesneez capsule with outstanding results. The key components being original. Input / output transformers etc. with regard to mics, there is a lot more to it's sound than a frequency curve.

I suggest you get a cheapo condenser and mess about. You can get kits from microphone parts.com, or just look at the components values and replace them with better ones. Then swap the capsule for a quality one. Lovely.

 

Here's the details from his site: http://www.oktavamodshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_46&products_id=30

 

Google "gearslutz Michael Joly" and you'll get all kinds of interesting posts...
even about the famous kick out/leaving from GS.
The MJ mods should be great tho'.
:dancing:

 

I haven't used Michael Joly for mods but i did use microphone-parts.com. I replaced the capsule on a tlm103 when the original one died and Sennheiser wanted to charge me $600 for a new one. I'm happy with it so far

 

The 219 is considered a good mic, and the mod should improve it. Provided that the mic is in a good condition to start with. Don't believe claims that it's going to "rival" high-end Neumann vintage mics. It will not. But it will sound good for certain sources. Do make sure that the capsule is in good order prior to mj's service. As a side note, i've seen tube Rode mics and they are very good, too, with 0 modifications. Maybe take a look at their LDC's and compare the total prices with MK-219+mj-mod+shipping.

 

I've read that MJ is the man as far as oktava goes. But there is also Bill Sitler whose mod is MUCH cheaper. (http://www.billsrecording.com/BSRS/Mod219.html) Thanks for all the help, guys, I appreciate it. Racking my brain to figure out which to do. I already own the 219. I used to love it. Now I own other mics and rarely touch the 219 anyway. I'm not looking for a miracle, but if it will improve the sound that much like all the reviews say, then it seems worth it, if it'll get me using the mic again. Now the question lies, will there be enough of a difference for me to choose Joly when his mod costs $300 over the Sitler one which costs $175. I've read all the forum stuff about both and obviously there are good arguments for both.

 

Do you mind telling us what are your other mics and for what applications you prefer them? It's always good to hear educated opinions based on comparison.

No way to know for certain, unless someone who owns both posts shootouts. Isn't Sitler a DIY mod btw?

 

Looking closer at the Sitler mod, it seems very similar to the mj's mod. Maybe, just maybe, mj has the electronics matched a little better. But frankly I doubt this would make a big difference. Probably my next time will be with Sitler, as the price difference is significant. It might well be that purchasing the mj mod, you are paying quite a bit to his hype machine (which Sitler seems to lack, as far as gearslutz coverage goes).

It also seems like a nice option to only purchase the electronics DIY mod, and then look up any dumping/acoustic mods on the net (I never checked, but probably there are some to be found) if you are generally into DIY stuff.