Award-winning microphone engineering from Michael Joly

MK-219 mod with Premium Electronics for your mic

$299.00

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Want your 219 to rival a $4500 mic?

"...Michael Joly takes these cool, unique little gems and turns them into true works of art. Professional, high-quality, great-sounding pieces of art. That is as simple as I can think to put this. OktavaMod is amazing"

Joel Hamilton, Tape Op Magazine, November 2006

Listen for yourself. You'll be surprised by the timbral similarity between the OktavaMod MK-219 PE and Neumann M 149. Notice the authoritive lower midrange presence and smooth, sibilance-free top end.

SOUND FILE: Neumann M 149

SOUND FILE: OktavaMod MK-219

OktavaMod client Jitendra Ramprakash - a professional voice trainer based in New Delhi recites an excerpt from the 20th century Indian classic 'Andhere Mein' by Hindi poet Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh. 4MB .wav files. (English translation by KB Vaid. Non-commercial use only.)

OktavaMod rivals a $4500 Neumann - how?

Well, a great-sounding capsule installed in a modified headbasket feeds a classic FET / transformer-coupled circuit upgraded with best-available parts. Here's the the full story...

...in the 1980's, the same city that spawned Tolstoy, the Kalashnikov AK-47, ornate tea samovars and irresistible "pryaniki" (spice cookies) produced a coffin-shaped microphone that stunned the pro audio world - the Oktava MK-219. Designed and manufactured in Tula, Russia by true microphone artisans, the MK-219 set a price / performance standard for professional studio microphones unequaled to this day.

Now, OktavaMod upgrades the MK-219 with twelve modifications that elevate your microphone from good to great.

This is Michael Joly writing, the guy behind OktavaMod. If you think I'm pretty exuberant about the MK-219 you're right. Want vintage sound? Your stock MK-219 has the potential to sound like it was time-shifted forward from the '60s to the present. You're invited to contact me directly to discuss your mic needs and discover if a modified MK-219 is right for you.

Stylistically reminiscent of the late '60's Oktava MK-13 tube mic, the MK-219 was formally brought to the West in 1994 with a list price of $550 (The equivalent of $780 today). It was considered a great bargain at the time - the MK-219 was one-third the cost of the lowest priced Neumann LDC mic then available (the TLM-193). Even in its stock condition it gave that Neumann a run for its money.

80 Years of Quality and Value

Oktava has been designing and building microphones in Tula, Russia for 80 years. By offering fine sound at low prices, the MK-219 and MK-319 went on to become two of the most popular large diaphragm condenser mics in the world with over 75,000 units sold.

The OktavaMod MK-219 modification with Premium Electronics upgrade for your existing mic consists of a dozen electrical and mechanical improvements. What do you get? Nothing less than more open & less veiled sound, improved transient response, extended bass and treble, increased midrange detail, smoother high end response, reduced self-noise and eliminated body "boink".

You'll have a microphone with a natural top end that stack tracks like a champ. With its classic low-parts-count circuit and transformer output you'll record hit-quality vocals, acoustic guitar, amp cabinets, drum overheads, room ambience, horns and more.

What's a PE upgrade?

My Premium Electronics upgrade modifies the circuit topology and replaces 100% of the PC board components (transformer excluded - its terrific) with best-in-class components that required years of bench and listening tests to identify. These include Black Gate and other specialty Mylar, Silver Mica and polypropylene capacitors, low-noise metal film resistors and a modern, lower-noise, faster transient performance version of the same FET type used in the original Neumann FET microphones.

You'll hear highly detailed sound free from noise and top end edginess.

Each FET is personally auditioned for best sound and lowest noise twice - once during installation (after biasing for minimum distortion using a real time spectrum analyzer), then again after a three-day burn in period.

Evidence Audio LYRIC IGL conductors are used in the critical capsule-to-FET path to deliver better fundamental / harmonic time alignment for punchier sound with more impact.

When your limited-edition microphone emerges from this hand-crafted remanufacturing you'll win shootouts against some of the best and classic workhorse mics found in studios today.

Easy To Order a Handcrafted Mic

Click "Add to Cart" to purchase the MK-219 PE mod for your mic. You'll get an immediate confirmation email. By the close of the next business day you'll receive a personal email with your scheduled shop modification and return shipment dates. Questions? Just click "Contact Me" - best, Michael

New MJE-K47H Large Diaphragm capsule head for SDC bodies

Award-winning Microphone Design by
Michael Joly

Current Reviews: 52

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