On 9/15/20 9:35 AM, Mike Rivers wrote:
> On 9/15/2020 10:12 AM, slinkp wrote:
>> I'd like to try the shunt resistor trick, as per eg. that old Paul
>> Stamler article, but i have no idea where my soldering kit has got to,
>> and exercising my soldering skills (terrible) is no longer on my list
>> of "fun things to do
>
>> So if there's a place or person that sells eg. an XLR barrel with a
>> suitable resistor already correctly wired into it, I'd happily buy one.
>
> This isn't the sort of thing that becomes a commercial product, though
> you might find some on this newsgroup or some other recording-related
> forum who will volunteer to make one for you for cost and shipping.
>
> I would, but I won't - because the 600 ohm resistor that Paul came up
> with for his article was the best compromise, as evaluated by his
> students, for the mic, preamp, and source. Different resistors sounded
> different and may sound better than 600 ohms (or no resistor) on a
> different source.
>
> The other thing - and maybe now that I think about it, it might not be a
> 600 ohm resistor after all, but a different value - is that what they
> really determined. This is the load on the microphone, which equals the
> preamp's input impedance with a resistor in parallel that total 600
> ohms. I may not have the number right, but that's the principle.
>
> Paul conducted his experiment using a preamp that he designed and built
> himself, so your preamp will be different.
>
> If you want to experiment with varying the load on a microphone, I'd
> suggest that you give some consideration to buying a Cloudlifter Z. It's
> a pre-preamp with a built-in variable load resistor. Even with the load
> resistor switched out, the Cloudlifter will make your SM57 sound better,
> and you can fiddle with the variable load to see how (and if) it affects
> what you're recording.
>
> https://www.cloudmicrophones.com/cloudlifter-cl-z
>
> Unfortunately it costs about $250 new, but they're available on the used
> market.

I realize this is an old thread and that Mike Rivers is no longer with
us, but I've recently become interested in messing around with this
concept with some different mics and preamps. Soldering isn't among my
skills, although I might summon the courage to try it at some point. In
the meantime, I happened to come across another device and was wondering
if anyone had thoughts on it. It has been around over a decade but I
wasn't aware of it until recently.

Magento Audio Labs ML-V01 VariOhm Mic and Preamp Matching Processor

https://www.magnetoaudiolabs.com/product-page/magneto-audio-labs-ml-v01-variohm-mic-and-preamp-matching-processor

It's described as passive. A spokesman in a video interview at an old
trade show indicated that it uses a transformer. Does that mean it
probably wouldn't be as audibly clean as simply soldering a resistor
between the pins of an XLR cable?

On 30/11/2023 7:52 am, Tatonik wrote:

>
> I realize this is an old thread and that Mike Rivers is no longer with
> us, but I've recently become interested in messing around with this
> concept with some different mics and preamps.  Soldering isn't among my
> skills, although I might summon the courage to try it at some point.  In
> the meantime, I happened to come across another device and was wondering
> if anyone had thoughts on it.  It has been around over a decade but I
> wasn't aware of it until recently.
>
> Magento Audio Labs ML-V01 VariOhm Mic and Preamp Matching Processor
>
> https://www.magnetoaudiolabs.com/product-page/magneto-audio-labs-ml-v01-variohm-mic-and-preamp-matching-processor
>
> It's described as passive.  A spokesman in a video interview at an old
> trade show indicated that it uses a transformer.  Does that mean it
> probably wouldn't be as audibly clean as simply soldering a resistor
> between the pins of an XLR cable?

Depends on the quality of the transformer, but any transformer will have
losses of some sort that a simple resistor won't.

geoff