Vintage Sony Mic Needs Repair C-38B

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Any one on the group know where to get a vintage (not the recently
reissued) Sony C-38B repaired? I tried Korby but they said they don;t
fix them anymore, Stephen Paul is sadly RIP, so where is one to go?
ANy suggestions would be appreciated, thanks very much. BTW For those
that are fans of these cool mics, you should know that contrary to
popular opinion, Sony DOES still provide capsules for these mics (at
least they did about two years ago when I got mine from them).

Please email me at bluejensen@deletethispart@aol.com or post here.
Many thanks.

Kind Regards,
Black Egg Studios, Boston

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

James <bluejensen@aol.com> wrote:
> Any one on the group know where to get a vintage (not the recently
> reissued) Sony C-38B repaired? I tried Korby but they said they don;t
> fix them anymore, Stephen Paul is sadly RIP, so where is one to go?
> ANy suggestions would be appreciated, thanks very much. BTW For those
> that are fans of these cool mics, you should know that contrary to
> popular opinion, Sony DOES still provide capsules for these mics (at
> least they did about two years ago when I got mine from them).

> Please email me at bluejensen@deletethispart@aol.com or post here.
> Many thanks.

Check with Doug Walker. He is doing a lot of the old Neumann and AKG
mics for people in North America. I don't know if he does Sony mics,
but I don't see why not.

Rob R.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Dan appears to have been correct about the switches just not their
location.... looks like they are inside the case....

Look here for the schematics.....

http://www.gyraf.dk/schematics/schematics.html

Regards:
Eric

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"James" <bluejensen@aol.com> wrote in message
news:80b13414.0408310627.457df9c1@posting.google.com...
> Any one on the group know where to get a vintage (not the recently
> reissued) Sony C-38B repaired?

How about Sony factory service?

--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I have been away for a few days and haven't checked newsgroups.

Thanks to all for the very valuable suggestions.

I had checked all the famous and funky sony switches before posting so
i am hoping it is one of the simpler repairs mentioned by a few
others, a cap or something. Just to clarify, indeed the C-38B has the
funky mechanical pattern selector mounted behind the capsule, and the
multi switch located at the base of the mic, plus the two switches
"under the hood".

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried the reissues? do they rate?
they certainly are pricey at $2200 although I guess they figure they
are competing against the U87.

BTW for those that are interested I think this is a fairly accurate
history of the mic from a recent review of the reissue by Barry
Rudolph:

"...the genesis for this mic goes back to 1965 with the original
C-38FET, the world's first Field Effect Transistor microphone and the
successor to the famed C-37A tube mic. The C-38 was then updated in
1969 (C-38A) with a windscreen design change, and again in 1971
(C-38B) with phantom powering (9-volt internal battery or external DC
24V to 48V). The mic was 'reintroduced' to the US market at the 2003
AES Show even though there are over 65,000 in use today."

kind regards and thanks again to all the rec.audio.pro gurus for all
the advice.
james

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Mike Rivers" <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1094554357k@trad...
>
> In article <80b13414.0409061943.47a3b40d@posting.google.com>
bluejensen@aol.com writes:
>
> > Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried the reissues? do they rate?
>
> Like Barry Rudolph said in his Mix (I think) review, the C-38B never
> went out of production in Japan other than the typical Sony thing
> (which often starts "out of production" rumors) of turning production
> off when they have enough in stock, and turning it back on when they
> need more. It apparently didn't sell all that well in the US, so they
> stopped selling it and 10 or so years ago introduced the C-800, which
> uses the same capsule. That was one of those mics where a few people
> raved about it but most were lukewarm about it and it was frightfully
> expensive, particularly the Peltier-cooled version.
>
> I guess that with the interest in high grade/priced mics in the US,
> they decided to ship some C-38Bs over here and send out a press
> release to see if its time has come around yet.
>
>
> --
> I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
> However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
> lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
> you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
> and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Back in the early 70's I bought a brand new pair of Sony C-37 mics. They had
the screw driver (a little green handle screw driver was included in the
carrying case) hole on the back of the grill to change the pattern.
They were not tube mics but fets and used 48
volt phantom power with no internal battery. When I quit recording in 1980,
I gave these mics to a relative who recently sold them on EBay for $1200.00.
Just my 2 cents

Geoley

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

James wrote:
> mrivers@d-and-d.com (Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:<znr1094554357k@trad>...
>
>
>>I guess that with the interest in high grade/priced mics in the US,
>>they decided to ship some C-38Bs over here and send out a press
>>release to see if its time has come around yet.
>
>
> ah... interesting info thanks mike, so they should be exactly the same
> mic, i wonder how they are selling? and no wonder the capsules are
> still available.
>
> i wonder how these differ from the c-48, which I find to be "very
> nice" but a little lack luster. Same/similar capsule?
>
> cheers, and thanks again for your repair advice.
> james

Just to butt in for a moment...
We have a C38B here and have been using it lately on
kick drum much in the same way that lot of folks use a
47FET. It sounds really good in that application. Nice
on bass amp and vocals also. A really nice all around
microphone. However, not worth the 2K that they're
asking for the new ones IMHO.

As for repairing yours, my guess is that it's probably
an electronic issue as opposed to a diaphram problem.
Any decent tech could probably find the offending component.

--
--
John Noll