Topic: Buying and customizing a pair of dpa 4061's - What should I be aware of ?

[2manyrocks]

Something about that seems amiss.  I have a set of 4061s with the HEB battery box from Core Sound running into an M10.   Recording choirs in church, I think I run no more than 5 and probably more like 3.5 on the M10, and have ample signal. 

[beatkilla]

When i ran the Dpa 4061 with Heb battery box the output was hot , i had to run an 11db attenuator to keep the M10 at around 4 or 5 on gain wheel,

[Gutbucket]

Yeah something seems amiss Ziggz.

4061 sensitivity = 6 mV/Pa, which is pretty average (similar to the AT853)
4060 sensitivity = 20 mV/Pa, which is considerably more sensitive, and makes for a pretty hot output that can overload some inputs when recording loud material without accommodating for it.

When these go bad, they often suddenly drop in sensitivity, but remain working.  Sometimes the frequency response suffers at the same time, but sometimes not.  That may be the case with your used 4061s.  You can send them to DPA USA and they'll check them to see if they are to spec.

Without attenuation, I suspect 4060 may be overly sensitive for you if recording 'moderately loud rock bands' or basically anything where the music is louder than the applause.

[acidjack]

^ [anecdotal response alert] I agree with Lee's conclusions generally. I would add just that 4061>9v BB>M10 line-in tends to be VERY non-sensitive -- to the point that getting good levels (above -12dB) can sometimes necessitate moving to mic-in/power off. I have heard recordings of plenty of amplified rock bands with 4060s that are fine; my suspicion is that if you "stack tape" or you record metal or other stuff that is super-loud, you'll exceed their limits. If you record arena stuff and club stuff FOB that is just "normal" loud, you will probably be OK. But that said, I've even heard stack tapes with 4060s. The safe/smart bet remains as Lee put it (loud rock=4061/jazz/acoustic=4060); just offering some additional perspective.

[Gutbucket]

Thanks, that confirms my suspicion that 4061>battbox>M10 should not pose an overload problem. 

However, since I don't use an M10 I'm not very familiar with it's gain structure or overload points, and I didn't want to state such outright.  I have had 4060's overload R-09 line-inputs for some very loud (but not stack taping) stuff back in the day.

[Ziggz]

Moderately loud might be a stetch, comfortable volume without earplugs.

I borrowed some 4060's for Joe Bonamassa (which was about the loudest thing I've been to), into the MPS 6040 -> M10, think I ran it around 5 or 6 and didn't overload. I mostly tape acoustic stuff, with the occasional rock band in theatre/arenas. I can't locate a recording I did where I ran mic-in, that did overload a tad around 8,9/10- mostly the applause and full on guitar stumming parts pushed it over.

[mysticeyes]

I have pairs of 4061's and 4090's, which are about as sensitive as 4060's, and I usually run my mics through a Naiant Littlebox into an M10, or directly into a Roland R-44. I tape at nightclubs and small venues, never stadiums or arenas, and usually put mics on stage or at stage lip, and I've had no problems with either the 4061's not being sensitive enough, or with the 4090's being too sensitive. I avoided the potential pitfalls of buying 4060/4061's that may have suffered stage abuse by buying a used SMK4061 kit; my reasoning was that whoever bought the whole kit was probably a taper, or some kind of recording engineer, and would have been better motivated to take care of the gear. As it turned out, my kit was in excellent condition and it has served me well. It also cost $500, which is about what a pair of 4061's goes for without all the accessories. Those accessories are not cheap when you buy them separately; most useful for me are the XLR adapters and flush mount rubber disks. At the time, the seller had several of those kits, all for the same price.