What base desktop mic to buy?

[kidx]

I live in Canada, I am looking for a base mic. Also people call them desktop mics, I wanna use it with my PC68LTD Uniden radio.

[Biggie Z]

You can never go wrong with the good ol' tried and true Astatic D-104.

[Deleted User 14541]

A lot of people like the d104. They are nice but they are old and many of them have bad elements. Its rare to find 2 that sound alike. Most guys around here use a d104 or a Turner desk mic.

I went from hand mics to studio microphones so really haven't used a lot of desk mics. I do have a Kenwood mc60 that sounds nice. Just be careful if you buy any old microphone.

[295 antenna]

Im a big fan of a d104 good ones are still out there

-- Monday, 27 February 2017, 17:41 PM --

If the uniden needs the mic to acivate the recieve then a d104 tug 9 is good (six)wire

[MDYoungblood]

I use Heil microphones on my ham equipment but I have an Astatic D104 on the CB. I replaced the original ceramic element with a electret condenser element to get a better sound out of a pretty good amplifier circuit a Astatic microphone has. If you are leery of buying used the Astatic AST-878DM is a decent alternative.
I thought I saw a nice boom mic in a video you posted kidx, if you have rack sound equipment it would be hard to wire it up to the radio and a PTT trigger to transmit.

3's

Greg

[Deleted User 14541]

A few guys here have installed condenser elements in their d104s. Some also use a circuit board that a local guy builds. It replaces the amp and the contacts with a relay. They sound great but really arent d104s anymore.

[Big blue]

Shure SM7B, Electrovoice RE20 or RE27 are all nice base microphones.....studio quality.

[PA629]

A few guys here have installed condenser elements in their d104s. Some also use a circuit board that a local guy builds. It replaces the amp and the contacts with a relay. They sound great but really arent d104s anymore.

That's the route I took, I have a W2ENY conversion element in a D104, nice flat frequency response. W2ENY's kit is easy to install, but after seeing what's involved, there are cheaper ways to go and achieve the same end results.

[Deleted User 14541]

Shure SM7B, Electrovoice RE20 or RE27 are all nice base microphones.....studio quality.

Yes they are but if you plan to use one on a stock CB set its a waste of $400.

[Scipio Kid]

$400.00 for a mic??? My wife would kill me (then shoot me for good measure). If money is no object then solutions are easy but if you're like me and just looking around for a good deal on used equipment, you might find, as many here have, some excellent deals on ebay or craigslist or the like for a whole lot less, but you have to remember you might get burned. I was thiiiiis close to buying a real nice Sure for my base mostly because it was almost new and a killer deal. Who wants to pass up an unbeatable deal? But, I asked about compatibility here on the forum and quickly found (from brighter minds than mine) it simply wouldn't work with my rig. So, bad deal averted. I'm still looking and something will come up. Good luck with the hunt.

And, Biggy Z, are you new here? Howdy and welcome. Give us a shout over in the introductions thread so we can get to know you.

[295 antenna]

converting a D- 104 to wifi defeats the purpose of having a D - 104

[Scipio Kid]

I'll pretend I understood that and simply follow your advice.

[pabxone]

My list in order of priority , Keeping in mind these are all "old" microphones that can be found in good condition for well under $100 U$D if you look around :-

Leson TW232 IF you can find one that doesn't have a broken PTT bar - These are a compression mike (But not the Cobra CA72 / Voicecraft versions which are very poor copies)
D104 T-UG8 or T-UG9
Turner Plus 3B ( +3B ) Compression mike
Turner Super SideKick
Turner Expander 500 Compression mike
Mura PRX Base / Sylvania SDX200 are good but the PTT and lock buttons are a bit clunky ( Compression mike of sorts using Peak Redistribution Modulation )

The Sadelta / Galaxy Echo Master and variations are worth a look but the goose neck assembly is a bit flimsy and breaks easily.

Astatic Echo Max 2000 is a very impressive looking digital mike but I haven't had enough exposure to them to comment on their long term reliability,

Avoid the Base mikes that come with the Sears Road talker bases and the Cobra and Piezo versions of the same thing as they are rubbish.

Having said all that a D104 is always a safe choice as they are infinitely repairable by anyone and will last a lifetime.

The W2ENY Electret conversion for the D104 is a good choice if you have a D104 with a dead or low output crystal / ceramic element in a D104 , They sound very similar to the original D104 but with slightly reduced sensitivity ( You wont hear a pin drop at the other end of the room which to be honest is a good thing )

The reason the W2ENY conversion kit costs a few dollars is the 4 armed mount the Electret Element is fitted into - That centres the element right into the middle of the D104 head to give the correct acoustics.

Sure you could shove a surplus electret into a D104 head with a bleed resistor to power it up - but as anyone who has tried to fit another mike element into a D104 head will know - It's hard to securely and reliably get anything other than an MC320 / MC321 cartridge to fit in and it never sounds anything like the original.

[Rabbit Ears]

Turner Super Side Kick!

FAT HINT!!....... I use the thing on everything!!

Works awesome.

[sonoma]

I like the super side kick or the turner +2 or +3 mics myself also. if the element on the D104 goes bad there is no new ones to be found now.

[Scholar]

MFJ-299

[jon6667]

as most of you know i'm a shure fan. i have 4 shure 526ts next is my d104.
then my sadelta bravo. it has no echo. i hate echo. or beeps.
that's just me. then i have a few turner desk microphones. and
a few off brand desk mics.

[Pioneer621]

The d-104 is an overall decent desk MIC, and plentiful. I've had a couple that needed caps replaced, but generally all of the ones I've owned over the years (owned around 10 or so), got good reports.

I've also owned a couple Turner Plus Three's, and a Super Sidekick, they were pretty decent as well, also easy to find. Different tone than the Astatic though.

The astatic 1104c is not bad either, and the astatic echomax 2000 is a very clean sounding mic, I liked that one even if the echo isn't used, it is a great mic.

Also had a Sadelta echomaster or whatever it was, not bad, but prefered others.

I don't talk on the radio anymore, but the last number of years I was active, I used studio mics on a scissor boom with the audio processed through my PC, and keyed with a foot switch. Which to me, beats any desk microphone, but of course pure opinion.

I sold off all my desk mics years ago since I ran studio mics, but did keep at least one d-104 for general purpose use as they work fairly well. Other than that , I prefer aiming for broadcast quality audio and only keep other mics around for quick use / testing purposes; although when doing that I usually just use a d104 m6b hand mic.

Don't mind any bad typos, I typed this on my phone which I hate doing.

[kidx]

How do you from XLR to 4pin?

[295 antenna]

All im saying is that converting a D104 for me takes away the reason i have one ....the sound.. To each his own i mean some guys are going for the studio sound and thats great especially On SSB for that i use an MFJ-299 i just like the sound of CB like the days of old as long as i can understand you of course lol
73,s