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Welcome to nickspicks, a page for sport taping enthusiasts where you can read reviews on gear used in field recording and the enjoyment of Hi-Fidelity sound reproduction (stereo geek). | |
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John Peluso...long time schoeps repair man and vintage microphone tweaker has decided to design his own line of modular condenser "pencil" mics. His company, Peluso labs, is probably best known for his large diaphragm tube and solid state mics. A new modular system is a welcome addition to the selection available to the taper crowd, a demanding market (though small). Good news! John did us a favor here. These mics have been described as sounding like a schoeps collette system (by certain vendors) and the name of the preamp body and various capsule options are certainly similar..or exactly the same... as their German counterparts. My review kit came to me in a very sturdy and handsome metal breifcase. Its even got a combo lock on it...just in case. The widscreens were sort of silly, and my kit only came with a single one. I never used any screens with them...even outside w/the omnis, so no big deal there. Right off the bat, let me say that they do not sound like a schoeps CMC6 system, although they do share some characteristics. Both have a wealth of options. The Peluso mics have 4 capsules to choose from at the moment, but there are more in the works. This is a system that will be expanded upon in the years to come. As far as the sound of these mics is concerned, that is where the similarity ends. Well....sort of. The bass responce of these CEMC mics is massive. Very impressive sounding in its robust re-interpretation of the low end of the spectrum. I can easily compare that favorably to a schoeps cmc6/mk4. It really is that good! Other aspects of the mics sound are a very smooth sounding mid range, though perhaps not the "ultimate" in that regard, but better than anything else in this price range...and well beyond for that matter. The high end is non fatigueing and detailed. Overall, I found the mics to be very transparant...but not dry. Lively...but not colored really. They just sounded "real" to me where ever I used them. I ran through all of the capsules, and thought that the cardioid cap is one of the best i've heard. Easily smoking any other condenser mic out there under a grand. And rivaling others that cost more than that. To my ears and experience with other various mics, I thought they sounded a lot like an MBHO603, but with a much nicer bottom end response. These mics have an extended frequency range that goes lower than you can hear...and higher than most stereo's can ever reproduce. What that gives you as the user is a set of mics that is really nice for 24bit recording where this extended range might come into play. For the nitty gritty tapers who want to know how they stack up to other mics out there, let me offer you my opinion. * way better than
the Oktava MC-012. Not even in the same league The build quality of these mics also should be discussed, and this is the *only* part in my review where you will find my opinion drift from anything less than a ravingly good. But before I critique, lets consider where these mics are coming from. The body of the preamp assembly is from a chinese mic. The elements are mylar from Germany. The others parts and pieces come from all around. John refereed to these as truly a "world mic", with all the parts being the cream of the crop from various venders around the globe. All of these parts are then assembled by hand at Peluso Labs. The capsules (hand cut diaphragms) are matched up with very nice B&K calibration equipment at the factory, guaranteeing a perfect sonically matched set when you order. There is no huge factory, assembly line or anything like that. Quality control is tight, but there is a lack of refinement that you get with AKG, Neumann, Schoeps or any of the other megga companies out there. For that matter, does Neumann even make their own mics anymore? I thought I read somewhere that they farmed out to Sennheiser. But...I digress.
The CEMC6 mic body has two switches on it. One is for two selectable attenuations of -10db and -20db. The other is to engage the 75hz or 150hz roll off ...something I recommend when using the omni capsule. Like I said, the bass response is huge, and that roll off seems perfect for these mics when you are recording anything thumpy, or moving a lot of air. The switches protrude from the mic body, which can easily be turned on/off by accident when handling the mics. John mentioned to me that he is going to start recessing this switch to eliminate this problem. My other little nit pick with them was the screen grill inside of the mic body housing near the threads. Its a little "home made" looking. The pins on the capsules and mic bodies are not straightly aligned on mine. Some are ...while others are not. Still, they make good contact and everything works flawlessly with my review kit ...which included all 4 pairs of capsules currently offered. All of the capsules sound amazingly good. The cardioid is as good as any other out there, and can run right along with the "big guns" in the industry. The hyper cardioid caps was my least favorite. It was a tad anemic sounding to me. Lots of presence, detail, no nasty off axis coloration that I could hear..but not quite as nice as the other hyper card caps from other mics. The wide-cardioid capsule is very smooth sounding. Basically, its an omni with a -10db attenuation after a certain degree of off-axis. I'm not sure exactly where that happens, but no matter. It sounds great! Only the omni and hyper caps have the polar pattern stamped on the metal. Not sure why that is, but I would guess that this is due to the way the metal bodies come to Peluso. Perhaps they are like that from the get go...who knows. its not really important as you can easily distinguish between them by looking.
Looking to the
Future another new line of active cable microphone is also currently in testing...and will probably see the light of retail day sooner than later. This is a microscopic sized cardioid that will actually live up to "pencil sized" condenser. No kidding..the size of a standard pencil! If it sounds as good as its big brother, then it will be a popular mic for low profile operations. I have no doubt. Giant killers? I'd say so. With those higher end mics, you are paying for the way that they sound. They all have their own flavor, and that might be *exactly* what you want in your mics performance. They will give some of the higher-end condensers a run for their money. But when you get down to it...and if your stereo can resolve the difference, then you'll hear that this $500 odd pair of mics is not quite the same as a $2k pair. But if you are looking to get a great sounding pair of mics for cheap money, then you'd be fool hardy if you didn't give these a serious listen. And doing that is no more difficult than pointing your browser to the live music section of archive.org. Do a search on "peluso" and you'll find examples up there from every capsule. Way to go Peluso Labs. You offer a 5 star product in the CEMC6 condenser. Type: Condenser
Pressure Gradient w/ 20mm capsule
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http://www.pelusomicrophonelab.com/