https://adkmic.com/

Their range is now simplified. The Custom Z2 Mics are the $3k daddy's and the T-Fet mics are the ones most mortals will save up for!

Always fancied an ADK mic too. Wonder who makes their capsules now.

They still sell a collection of FET mics and the popular Zigma's as well as the Z Mod series. It's my understanding they dropped several mics in favor of improved designs. My fave was the ADK A6, which they don't sell any longer. Great service and support, excellent products.

https://adkmic.com/collections/adk-t-fet-collection

The A6 is still available new on eBay for £99.

I'm a dumpster diver, I have an A-51 that I use for my voice. I replaced the ceramic-looking capacitor coming off the capsule with a polystyrene one and it helped a lot.

Going from ceramic to polystyrene is kind of like going from worst material to best material. But maybe the original capacitor was a disguised polystyrene and it's all in my head.

I've recently grabbed a Cremona 251T-FET and a Frankfurt 49T-FET and they are really nice mics, especially for the price.

Hello, Im a longtime user of the A-51, does it really make a difference modding this mic? its my main vocal mic and I love it but as we get better at singing and recording ourselves theres the need for better sounds. I have a couple of mics I could rip open and mod but does just swapping a cap make that huge of a difference? I mean there are alot of different types of caps. Ive built and recapped a few tube amps but never tried modding a mic.

Well, here's my experience: The original A-51 had a kind of "tongue-on-raw-steel" sour aspect to the sound. It was subtle but it was there. Switching to the polystyrene capacitor, not an audiophile version but a plain old generic one, removed that sound.

Yeah, I agree: ”Tongue on raw steel” thats a good description! ? Thats the thing with them, they sound really good up to a point then it gets too tinny and all s:es gets too harsh.

The one I have is the A-51 type V, but I guess theyre all similar in character.
Do you know what Cap number it is on the board? And what value it is? Cant seem to find a schematic.

Are there any other mods? I know on Ebay you can buy a kit for this and other similar, I guess LDC mics. But I think thats just the same value resistors and caps but not as cheap as the stock ones.

Do you have any experience of other ADK mics? I know they vary ALOT in price nowadays.

Sorry about all the questions but its not everyday you meet a fellow ADK user! ?

And thanks for the reply!

My recollection is that it's not on the board. That's a very high impedance point in the circuit and putting it on the board would suffer too much leakage. It is in the air between the capsule and the board, on some kind of standoffs.

It makes sense that they wouldn't use generic polystyrene capacitors in production mics. Generic polystyrenes have very thin leads, I suppose to not conduct the heat of soldering into the capacitor. It would probably be a failure point if the mic got shook around too much.

Current ADK mics are too pricey for me nowadays, and my voice sounds better on a Shure anyway.
.

Thanks for replies!
Ok, should be easy to spot then, been years since I opened mine up so I might post some gutshots.

Last times Ive used mine Ive noticed how much I had to boost it in the highs (+5-6db!) and how boomy it is, lots of proximity effect probably too, so I tried my Sennheiser MD21 since its a new purchase. Blew me away how much better my voice sounded, didnt need to boost any frequencies either.

So I might check out some more dynamics for my voice. Have tried Shure 58 and 57 but theres something with them that I dont like/ doesnt work for my voice. Too much boxyness and a sorta ringing lower mid. Cant really explain it but I hear it on others voices too, most in live recordings.
However Id like to try a SM7B someday since its so loved by everyone.

I'll revive this. ADK sent me their entire T-Fet microphone lineup and I was able to do a whole song with them. They all sound great and the build quality is some of the best I've seen, regardless of the price point. They all share a really similar circuit, so the differences between the models are purely capsule and transformer combination differences for the most part. The T-Fet line does a great job of showcasing their custom capsules and really good quality transformers (they use a few different ones from great companies).

There's full session files in the video description, give it a download after watching the video and give everything a spin!

Really nice video. I have the Cremona 251T, Hamburg 67T, and Frankfurt 49T here. I never thought about using the 49 as a kick mic. Good thought.

The 67 is certainly the work horse of the bunch. I much preferred the 67T to other budget options like the Warm Audios WA67. I’ve been itching to try the Munich 7T. Love the piano recording, although I’d be curious to hear that set up reversed with the Vienna as close mics and the Munich as rooms. The 49T is much beefier and closer to my FleA49 than the TLM49, which I also have here. That said, I tend to use them for different things. Some day I’ll get some brass in here. I think that’s where the 49T will shine.

Whenever someone asks me these days about budget mics, I always recommend these.

How are you liking the 47 and 67? I have the 49 and Vienna.. Vienna gets used alot I am interested in the 67 in how close it is to a 67 without the tube of course.

How you looking the 67 and 47? I am interested to know how the 67 sounds and how close it is to a 67 without the tube of course. Also, the 47 and how bright it is.

I have a Z47, I like it very much.