Topic: JB3 without A/D...

[slottoken]

ok well I'm a newb, and I've done a few hours of searching and poking around on here.  I have a JB3, but have never used it to tape anything.  I would like to start taping the Irish music sessions at my local Irish Pub once a week.  I don't need spectacular recordings... I am only doing it because I want to learn the tunes they are playing there (so i can play them on my fiddle).

My question is this.  I don't want to spend more than $200 on equipment leading into the JB3 (for now).  Eventually, I can see myself making an additional purchase of a denecke AD-20 (or some similar a/d), but for now I just want to get a decent pair of mics to get me going quickly, but a pair of mics that are high-quality enough that if I were to buy an A/D later, they would be up to snuff for making really nice stealth recordings of rock shows.

So I was hoping to get recommendations on what mics to get.  My requirements are:
1) less than $200 for the pair
2) stealthable
3) would not require an A/D to make "servicable" recordings of music in a pub
4) good enough that when combined with a denecke AD-20, could produce very nice recordings of rock/metal shows.

I saw this thread : http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=14363.15, that recommends a few different mics, but all the recommendations I've seen have included a pre-amp/AtoD. 

I know CSB's are not supposed to be good enough to work w/o a pre-amp, but what about these:

SP-CMC-1 or SP-CMC-2 ?!  (what's the diff between these models?)
SP-BMC-6 or SP-BMC-12 ? (what's the deff here again?)

The CMC's are unidirectional, so I guess I would have to "aim" them.  I don't really like that idea, but I suppose they would produce better quality recordings of rock shows if they are aimed at the appropriate speakers?

If I add a battery box with bass rolloff filter, then any of these 4 options puts me about at my spending limit.  Anyone have samples of music with one of these setups?  SP mics -> battery box -> JB3 ?

really appreciate tips, this shit will take my fiddle playin to the next level
bjh

[Humbug]

I know its a little over your budget, but the CMC2>battery box with roll off works well in stealth situations. You really need the battery box with these mics. Try the Yard sale here, you may pick up a bargain.

Heres an mp3 (may be taken down today) of the above equipment used with a JB3:

http://bart.sm.luth.se/~perekm-8/vr/spectacle.mp3

Its by no means my best recording, and its lost a little in the mp3 conversion.

Yes you have to 'aim them', but this doesnt mean you have to stand rock still.

I'm going against the flow here, but I've found the JB3 internal A>D converter to be perfectly adequate, and I've made some very sweet recordings (mostly of amplified rock music, but also acoustic, if the situations are right). I'm not planning an external A>D right now.

Humbug
UK

[jk labs]

ok well I'm a newb, and I've done a few hours of searching and poking around on here.  I have a JB3, but have never used it to tape anything.  I would like to start taping the Irish music sessions at my local Irish Pub once a week.  I don't need spectacular recordings... I am only doing it because I want to learn the tunes they are playing there (so i can play them on my fiddle).

Hi!

Your cheapest option is to ask if you can patch into the soundsystem at the local bar: all you then need is a single cable (plan to have attenuation built into it) and feed that signal to the line-in on the jb3.
 
If you do need mics right away start by evaluating the performance of the analog input on your jb3 (this requires some insight into electronics).  As a fiddler you just might be more sensitive to ill behaviour than you think. Others think the jb3 sounds just swell.

If you conclude that the mic-input works well enough then a small portable pair of electret mics going right to the mic input would be sufficient.

But under high SPL levels the mic-pre might overload (brickwall).  At this point a batterybox enabling use of line-in is required.

I'll leave it to others to discuss brands :-)

Jon

[Humbug]

Forgot about the SBD option, although I've never tried it.

Also forgot how cheap (and nice sounding, for a budget mic, the Sony ECM-717s can be). This might be a sensible option for you too. Best of luck.

[thierryhenry]

I'd go with SP-CMC-2's (if those are too expensive, get any SP-CMC's, or AT's..) with the Battery Box, you can easily get that for $200.

Nice way to start out.

[Tye]

fwiw you could also go with this mic Sony ECM-MS907 sterreo mic

It is battery powered and you could just plug it straight into the JB3 I have one from when I first started
taping it sounds fine for what you are looking to do.
Here is the cheapest one I could find  http://salestores1.com/sonecstermic.html

[dklein]

If you conclude that the mic-input works well enough then a small portable pair of electret mics going right to the mic input would be sufficient.

But under high SPL levels the mic-pre might overload (brickwall).  At this point a batterybox enabling use of line-in is required.

The mic pre on the JB3 is not usable.  It severely rolls off above 5kHz and sounds incredibly muffled.  The only way you can use the JB3s a>d is to set it to line input and do your best to get line level signals.  There is 12 dB of analog gain available.

[pfife]

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