Topic: JB3 Newbie

[BlackLab]

Just bought one on EBAy and was wondering if I need a 'digital signal converter'? Any microphone recommendations woul dbe much appreciated (for stealth)
Thanks!

[Ray76]

Just bought one on EBAy and was wondering if I need a 'digital signal converter'? Any microphone recommendations woul dbe much appreciated (for stealth)
Thanks!

well, it depends. Some think the one built into the jb3(though not many) does ok, and others say it definitely isnt. as far as stealth mics go, www.soundprofessionals.com have a nice line of mics/battery boxes that can be used with the jb3, as does http://www.dpamicrophones.com/ both of those companies are popular here, and i am sure that reading through the threads here will give you all the info you need(other than your own ears) for begginer/stealth mic suggestions. There is a ton of info here. Use it to your advantage. Welcome. +T

Ray

[BlackLab]

thanks!

[Brian Skalinder]

Just bought one on EBAy and was wondering if I need a 'digital signal converter'?

Depends on whether you use an outboard ADC, and whether the ADC outputs the optical signal required by the JB3.

Any microphone recommendations woul dbe much appreciated (for stealth)

Budget?

[BlackLab]

Any microphone recommendations woul dbe much appreciated (for stealth)

Budget?

I am on a tight budget unfortunately - something less expenseive but reasonable performance

[F.O.Bean]

we would still neeed a budget, there are small mics that range from 150-3500 dollars a pair

[BlackLab]

for sure less than $200

[Humbug]

(Mostly) acoustic, lower volume rock, clearly mixed gigs: Core Sound Binaurals: $230-260

http://www.core-sound.com/

(Mostly) heavy rock, metal, very loud / bassy gigs: Sound Professionals CMC2 + battery box: $218 

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/

Both the above are flexible mics that are worth the slightly extra money above your budget. If you must stick to your budget try second hand from ebay or the Yard Sale here.

I'm sure others will chime in with their suggestions, and good luck.

[Evil Taper]

I've been experimenting with the JB3 and different rigs and what I can tell you is that if you plan on taping rather regularly SAVE YOUR MONEY!  With cheap mics your going to have decent result, you'll think your recordings are pretty sweet for a while.  Then you're going to say wow, this sounds pretty good but I know I can have much better recordings that this.  Now you're going to buy another set of mics and a decent power supply for them.  Then a bit later, your going to buy better gear and so on.  Save your friggin cash and buy at least decent mics to start with, the sound professionals cmc-8 mics are pretty sweet and there's alot of folks who are very happy with the results.  I'd stay away from the sp-cmc-4 (AT853) unless you can swing the cash for a phantom power setup (search for it and you'll find alot of info).  The JB3s weakness is definately it's ADC.  The recording levels are not as high as you'd want them to be but this can help if you're going to record friggin loud metal shows because you will not overload the jb3 ever without a preamp.  So decide how good you want your recordings to sound and then decide which mics to use.  If you can get the money buy a pair of DPA 4061 mics...best tiny stealth mics out there.  It'd also be a good idea to download some recordings made with the various mics that your looking at since each mic sounds different.

Now if you really want some cheap mics fast I do have a pair of Giant Squid Audio binaurals with a battery box attatched that I will sell you for $50 (these are the "pro" mics that they sell).  I paid $85 and only recorded with them twice.

[dklein]

Don't bother trying to use core sound mics and a JB3 without a preamp - you'll never get decent levels.

[BlackLab]

by 'core sound mics ' do you mean unpowered?

[Ray76]

by 'core sound mics ' do you mean unpowered?

by core sounds mics, he means well um...core sounds mics

www.core-sound.com/

Ray

[Humbug]

My ears tell me this works for Core-sound:

CSB>SPSPSB1>Nomad JB3

A friend (occasional poster on here) had low levels for his CSBs, borrowed my Sound Pro battery box, bought his own, and made some seriously nice recordings. Heres one of them:

http://db.etree.org/lookup_show.php?shows_key=216503

[Evil Taper]

Recordings will sound decent after your normalize them but really there's no way to get hot enough levels without an external a/d or pre when using the jb3.  If you tape really loud shows this shouldn't really matter since they're just playing loud the entire time anyway, you're not gonna lose much dynamic quality.

[Humbug]

I appreciate you've been playing around with different setups for the jb3, but I don't have problems with levels.

Mostly I record at 0dB gain on the Nomad.

I rarely have to add more than 3-4 dB to the recordings in post.

If I increase the gain on the Nomad from 0dB to 3 or 4 dB, sometimes I don't even normalise, besides balance the mics (right mic is around 1dB hotter than the left one).

I do mostly record loud rock shows though (loud enough to use earplugs most of the time).

Still not tempted to add a pre-amp at the moment for the setup below, plus its a very compact outfit for stealthing.

Humbug