Topic: Coffee, UA-5, Guitar, JB3, Xmas, so much to do, so much to know....

[bodegahwy]

Alright,  day after xmas... did the big turkey feed and dropped into a food coma about 9PM and slept 8 hours straight.  My wife is at work, the kids are up with the new X-mas toys and I am on my second cup of of fresh roasted (got a roaster last year... coffee has many similarities to taping you know)

After all the helpful dialog in the last two days, I bought a JB3 on Ebay yesterday (new, in the box $205 shipping included).  I am leaning toward the digimod UA-5 (maybe with the W/mod if I could figure out what it really is)  everybody here thinks so highly of but when I searched ebay for it the ones I found were all stock.  I also found something called a UA-25... so in no particular order, here are some more newby questions for you guys willing to help me spend my money:

1.  What is a UA-25?  Good, bad, indifferent...  sub for UA-5?  Upgrade? Downgrade? Totally different creature?

2.  Mics.  I use to run AKG451eb/CK1 most of the time.  I also used 421's and 441's at times for dead shows (late 70s early 80s)  the bass response was better in the Sennheisers than the AKGs, but overall I like the 451s better. 

So....  for accoustic shows, direct instrument, and for festivals...  if you have to go for one pair of mics (>UA5>JB3) and you do not want to break the bank....  I have read the write-ups of the C-4s  how do they compare to the SM-81, AT4051, AKG451s that I am familiar with?  Any other suggestions. I am willing to go higher $s than the C-4s... how about up to $600 for a pair of mics...

Keeping in mind the variety of uses, what would you buy?

3.  Outboard metering,  It sounds like one of the drawbacks to the UA-5>JB3 combo is the lack of metering.  What do you suggest and how does it integrate?  Where does it go in the chain?

Thanks again,

Steve

[Chanher]

1. Performance-wise, I believe the ua-25 is the exact same thing. they simply made it smaller?

However, I don't know of anyone running the ua-25, so I don't know if it could be digimodded.

I do know that Doug at www.oade.com not only performs the digimod on the UA-5 but he also performs optional performance mods to go along with it: the warm mod, the presence mod, and the transparent mod. (there is also the optional +mod to add on; it enhances the analog and p48 build or something along those lines).

Everyone including me at this board thinks highly of Doug's performance enhancing mods. You have the option of buying a digimod UA-5 from Doug and sending it back later for one of the performance mods.

2. the appeal of the c4's is that you will be able to afford all three caps. a new kit costs ~$320 and includes flight case, bodies, omni and card caps, shockmounts, and windscreens. SP announced that their hyper caps would be available this spring for ~$125 a pair. So you have a versatile setup for ~$450.

Many people here would encourage the field proven akg bluelines (39x) before the newer c4's but there is no way you would be able to get bodies and all three pairs of caps for under $600, even used.

I have no experience with the SM-81, AT4051, or AKG451s.

3. There are outboard metering options for the UA-5. Search the Archive forum or the preamp forum. also try www.nickspicks.com for metering info.

[Tall Adam]

ua-25 is bus powered by the USB. insted of coax in/out it has midi in/out. also, no RCA in (hence no matrix or 3/4 mic mixes, unless you convert one source to digital first).

basically its built for computer use only and probably would be a bitch to use with a jb3.

[T.J.]

hopefully a little help to some of your questions steve:

2. although my knowledge of microphones is limited, b/c i've only been taping for a short period of time, i'd like to make a suggestion. an ADK TL large diaphram microphone seems to be a good option for you because of it's multiple polar patterns. the C4 microphones also look like a good option for your purposes b/c they do have selectable caps for different polar patterns. ADK TL has a switch which allows Cardioid, Hyper-Cardioid, Omni-directional, and Figure 8 patterns in one mic. the flexibility would be good fit for you, plus i think they are pretty popular by tapers here. the only drawback i can see is the size of these things. here is a link: http://www.adkmic.com/specs/TL.html

3. yes, many tapers agree that one drawback of the jb3 is the lack of levels. i believe the levels are not very accurate and hard to read. so, people do opt for outboard metering. i'm sure this isn't expensive, and probably very easy to do.

[Brian Skalinder]

for accoustic shows, direct instrument, and for festivals...[snip] Keeping in mind the variety of uses, what would you buy?

Keep in mind basically any mic you select for acoustic shows and festivals will sound great directly recording instruments - IMO.  I think the suggestion for ADK A51TLs is a good one if you don't mind the form factor of running LD mics and like their lush, musical, if (IMO) less-detailed sound.  The TLs offer multiple patterns (omni, card, hyper, figure-8) and give you a lot of options for configuration in the different environments you mention.

3.  Outboard metering,  It sounds like one of the drawbacks to the UA-5>JB3 combo is the lack of metering.  What do you suggest and how does it integrate?  Where does it go in the chain?

I personally never had a problem using the UA5 + JB3 for meters, never used outboard metering.  I used the JB3 to monitor L/R balance and the UA5 to monitor peak levels.  Yeah, that means you gotta look at two devices, but they're right on top of / next to each other and I found it easy.

One thing to keep in mind on the UA5 - if you buy the digi-mod direct from the Oade Bros, you can always send it back later for a warm/transparent/presence mod.  Unfortunately, I don't have a comp of the digi v. warm/trans/presence mods.  This questions comes up regularly - anyone wanna give this comp a shot?

[Tall Adam]

isnt it up on the website (oade that is) somewhere using C4s

[Brian Skalinder]

isnt it up on the website (oade that is) somewhere using C4s

I don't believe the list of sample posted on the Oade board uses a digi-mod-only UA5 - only warm/presence/transparent (along with V3 and some others).

[Tim]

at $600 I really, really like the Microtech Gefell m300's... fixed cardioid cap mics.

[Simp-Dawg]

i'll throw in my nod to the oktava mc012's...all 3 caps (hyper, card, omni) for $675 matched from the sound room, or less on ebay.  i made many good tapes with those...i would recommend a p-mod ua-5 to go with that, but i still need to listen to a tape with this source...i just think those mics need a bit more kick in the mid-high end which i would imagine the presence mod would add.