Fire Sale - Sold Out

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$95

Dynamic Element Harley Mic

I put a modern dynamic mic replacement element with a high impedance transformer in a Harley Tail Light. It has a Volume pot and a classic 2501mp style connector. I've included an adapter for use with a guitar cord.

This is a vocal type mic that you can sing through, but if you cup the mic and play harp loud, it will saturate and give you the fat horn tones that you are looking for.

If you play country, folk, jazz, or old time and you are disappointed with the "dirt" of a crystal mic, then this is a good harp mic for you. It will give your playing a good bottom without much feedback and you can use a good warm tube amp to reach your audience.

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$400

1939 T-3 with CR Element

I have a beat up 1939 T-3 with a 1940s Shure Controlled Reluctance Element. Killer Tone.

I found the T-3 at a flea market in Connecticut at the bottom of a box of plumbing tools. It was in poor condition. The stand extension was snapped off and the wires hanging loose. The element was dated 5/39, but didn't work. I took out the remains of the stand arm and put a ground-down guitar jack in the slot without otherwise modifying the mic.

I found the CR in a Shure Model 710 at a flea market in Maine. It came with tape recorder and I had to buy the whole thing just to get the mic.

The old mic is scratched, pitted, dented, and corroded, but it is a cool gigging mic with that amazing Controlled Reluctance tone.

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$175

Steel Shell with MC-101

I have another Harley-Davidson Motorcycle shell mic with a 1950s MC-101 element and volume control. The element is weak, not very loud, and will probably only last a few months, but wow!, what a sound.

The MC-101 is a cool find, but this mic might not be loud enough for gigging. A smaller amp might not put out much volume with this element.

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$125

Turner Lavaliere Microphone

This is a very nice Lavaliere mic, model ML-11 by Turner. It has a new crystal replacement element. It fits nicely in your hands and you can unscrew the clip on the back. It comes with its original cord in great shape. The cord is in good condition and is quite long.

The element is very hot and has a nice crunch. This is perfect for the person that finds a bullet mic is too bulky, but is not satisfied with the poor quality of electret ring mics.

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$160

American D-4

This is a great, high quality, high impedance mic. It fits nicely in the hand and has a good sound. It is similar in tone to a Shure CR element. If you open it up it has a similar large magnet element. This mic has a lot of miles on it and is scratched, but it sounds great.

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$195

Black JT-30

This is 1970s JT-30 with a NOS Astatic MC-151 crystal element. I did not add a volume control to this one either. The element is brash and brassy. The black finish is scratched and chipped. I think this one is a good candidate for a paint job. I think candy apple red might look good.

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$225

Sold

I will make another one as soon as I get some more 1 meg pots.

Tone Monster Sold

Your guitar player has a tone control on his axe, why shouldn't you?

I made one of these for a sale on ebay, and the response was so great that I made another. A friend was going to get this for his birthday, but the car payment is due.

It has a real Astatic Blues Blaster element in a heavily chromed light steel body. This mic is just a little smaller and a quite a bit lighter than a JT-30. It has a volume control on one end and a tone control under that. It has a an integral guitar cord jack so there is no need for an adapter. I used a Fender Stratocaster circuit as my guide for making the tone control.

You can adjust your tone from a brash splashy hot tone to a dark brown tone with very few highs.

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$200

Mercedes Mic (Teisco Japanese)

The grill of this mic is kind of similar to the Mercedes logo. It is a small bullet mic. I put a Hi-Z Shure Controlled Magnetic element into it with an impedance transformer to get a good deep tone. (The shure elements improve considerably with a good transformer).

It has a 1/4 inch jack and a volume pot in the back. The Switchcraft 1/4 inch jack has some nicks on it. It was removed from some old equipment. I used the mic for a few years and it has a few scratches in the paint, but is still class A.

This is a good smaller mic for hand effects and it has a natural sound with a big bottom, perfect for chromatic.

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$240

T-3 With Ceramic Element and Volume Control

Even if you can find a T-3 on eBay, you have to find a good element and a then come up with a cord for it. This one has all the work done for you. It has a NOS MC-127 black face ceramic element. This is the kind preferred by William Clarke and used by Gary Primich. These elements are tougher and don't break when they are dropped. I added a 5 meg pot and a vintage type connector and I am including the adapter so you can use it with a guitar cord.

A T-3 fits nicely in your hand and looks beautiful. This is an old one and has some scratches, but still looks nice.

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SOLD

$225

JT-30

This is 1960s JT-30 with a NOS Astatic MC-151 crystal element. It is hot and gives that genuine James Cotton Chicago sound. The back of this mic is smooth and polished, the way only a harp player could have made it. This mic must have been used for years by some harp player, but when I bought it, the seller could tell me nothing about it.

I decided not to add a volume control, because many harp players feel that it only gets in the way.

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SOLD

$140

Shure Unisphere I PE-56

Forget the Fireball. This is a better mic.

I found this poor fellow at a guitar show, and was told that it worked. When I got it home, I discovered that someone had pulled the capsule out, tearing the wires out of the impedance transformer. I finally found the perfect replacement transformer rated 500 ohms input and 50k output. This mic has all the bottom that you will ever need in a harp mic. If you want a good mic for those third position ballads, this is the one for you. It is clear and clean and would make a good mic for chromatic.

It has some minor corrosion on the ball and the body has some scratches. I made an MC3M adapter so it can be used with a guitar cord. I've sold the adapter alone for $50 on eBay!

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SOLD

$150

Scratched Candy Apple Red JT-30

This is a new JT-30 shell with a NOS MC-151 crystal element. I had 6 of these that I spray painted candy apple red over silver. They came out deep and dark red with a lustrous finish.

When I was drilling this one out, the drill seized and it jumped out of the jig. The result is that it has some scratches and the volume hole is slightly off kilter.

It has a direct 1/4 inch jack - no adaptor needed. The gill cloth is scarlet parachute nylon.

It sound great and looks great (if you don't examine it too closely)

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